CURTIS: Penny Wong, welcome to Capital Hill.
WONG: Thank you for having me.
CURTIS: Labor has criticised the Government for not doing enough to save Holden but in its statement today Holden says it faced a perfect storm including the sustained strength of the high dollar, high cost of production, the small domestic market and arguably the most competitive and fragmented auto market in the world. Three of those things the Government could do nothing about, could it?
WONG: Well, the first thing I want to say is this, it is a very sad day, it is a sad day for workers and their families, it is a sad day for communities and as a South Australian it is a very sad day for my home State as well as the State of Victoria which will be, both will be severely impacted by this decision.
But let's talk about what the company faced. They faced this Government taking $500 million out of assistance to the auto industry between now and 2015. They faced this Government promising nothing but uncertainty beyond 2015.
CURTIS: It did have
WONG: No, and in this last week, they faced this Government, frankly sabotaging attempts to negotiate with Holden and to help Holden. We saw economic Ministers, senior economic Ministers briefing media, backgrounding media, something I think is extraordinarily irresponsible and we saw the Acting Prime Minister and the Treasurer demanding they make a decision.
CURTIS: You say there was uncertainty beyond 2015, but the Government did have a Productivity Commission inquiry that was going to report at the end of March next year. Wouldn't that have resolved uncertainty?
WONG: But the Government or some parts of the Government chose to demand that Holden make a decision before this process had finished. I mean the extraordinary thing that we have seen over this last week is one voice in the Government, Ian MacFarlane, saying he wanted to work with Holden, urging them not to make a decision prior to the Productivity Commission Review finalising. And then we see the Treasurer, the Acting Prime Minister and before that anonymous senior Ministers all demanding that Holden make a decision.
And in fact it was extraordinary today, Mr MacFarlane's media release says he is disappointed that Holden hadn't given the Australian Government time to complete that process. This is less than 24 hours after the Acting Prime Minister of Australia writes to Holden, demanding that they make decision. This Government's one voice, trying to do the right thing and I am afraid, too many senior Ministers sabotaging that.
CURTIS: Would it have taken putting more money in for an unspecified period of time, perhaps forever in order to saver Holden?
WONG: We had a very clear plan when it came to the auto industry. It is a competitive industry. It is an industry that is obviously affected by things like the movement in the dollar and so forth. It is also an industry, that not only employs directly many Australians, it is an industry that does enable us to ensure we have skills, a manufacturing base and a capacity in our economy, which I believe is economically important. That is why we had a plan that did provide support for that industry.
CURTIS: But would that support have overcome those problems I mentioned that Holden raised the high dollar, the small domestic market and a very competitive market it faced here?
WONG: Well, Ill tell you what we do know, what Holden was facing was less assistance, only uncertainty from 2015 onwards and a Government that had senior Minister backgrounding against them.
Now I think it is extraordinary that people in this Government have decided that as Ministers of the Crown they should background media suggesting that a closure decision has been made at a time a Government is trying to negotiate supposedly with a company to keep operations going.
CURTIS: There is now a real question mark over the future of Toyota, what should the Government be prepared to do to help Toyota?
WONG: Well, I think it is very concerning the statement from Toyota and it is one of the things that Labor always said, one of the reasons you have to keep working with the industry is we recognise the knock on effect because its not just the directly employed workers, as you know, its also the suppliers, the component manufactures and many many more firms which are reliant on having appropriate economies of scale in this industry.
CURTIS: Given that the economy is undergoing a transition and has been for some time, is it the reality that Australia will lose some industries and will get the opportunity to build others up?
WONG: What the Government has to do is what we did which is to decide what it is you need to ensure we have investment in, and what it is you need to ensure remains in Australia. The reality is the reason Governments around the world have continued to provide assistance to their car industries is because of the level of skills and the contribution to our manufacturing base that that industry provides. Thats the economic basis of it, of course you have to work with the companies to make sure that is delivered.
CURTIS: Australia recently did a free trade deal with South Korea and part of that deal included increasing competition in the automotive sector over a period of time. Should the Government reconsider that, in order to help out Toyota?
WONG: Well, what the Government should do is be upfront with the Australian people about this agreement as well as the other agreements that it is negotiating and the reality is this we have had a statement from the Prime Minister in the House but weve had nothing in terms of detail and I think from a party which recognises the benefits of trade, the potential benefits of trade its actually in the national interest for the Government to take Australians into their confidence.
CURTIS: Should the Government table it in Parliament?
WONG: Well, weve just passed a motion in the Senate requiring them to do that. To provide the same level of transparency that the US Congress and American citizens expect from their trade representative and thats what we think the Government should provide. Once the agreement is done you should table it in the Parliament. Why shouldnt Australians get the same level of transparency, Americans expect.
CURTIS: Penny Wong thanks for your time.
WONG: Good to speak with you.