Senator Kim Carr

Today, 2500 auto workers will lose their jobs as Toyota closes its assembly plant at Altona in Victoria.

On October 20, Holden will shut its Elizabeth plant, with an expected loss of nearly 1000 jobs overseas.

This is a sad day for these thousands of workers and their families, and it's a sad day for Australia.

Today the last Australian-built Camry will roll off the production line at Toyota’s assembly plant in Altona.

Some Australians who might not instinctively describe General Motors Holden as an American firm still think of Toyota as a Japanese car maker.

Yet the company has been making cars here for more than half a century, since 1963, and has shaped Australia’s automotive industry and its culture as much as Holden and Ford have.
 

The ANAO’s report into the Turnbull Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) has confirmed what Labor has been saying all along: that NISA is innovation-lite.

NISA is nothing more than a collection of piecemeal initiatives that will not prepare Australians for the jobs of the future, and which reveal the government’s complete disregard for manufacturing jobs. 

A Shorten Labor Government will create an Australian Space Science and Industry Agency to ensure that Australia does not miss out on the opportunities provided by the rapidly growing global space industry.

Today’s announcement is the first phase of Labor’s Australian Space Science and Industry Plan.

Labor’s Australian Space Science and Industry Agency will be tasked to double the size of the Australian space industry within five years of its establishment – creating 10,000 new high skill, high wage jobs in advanced manufacturing, research, earth observation and space technologies.

Labor welcomes reports that Westpac has today acknowledged fears over the use of combustible cladding throughout many of its building investments around the country.

This follows reports last week of insurance agencies warning property owners they may not be covered if their buildings contain non-compliant cladding.

The Senate today called for urgent action from the Turnbull Government on building fire safety, finding that the de-regulation and privatisation agenda that has been underway since the 1990s has comprehensively failed to protect the public. 

There must be an end to buck passing and abrogation of responsibility. This is not something that can, or should, be swept under the rug.

It is time to restore public accountability for public safety in the building industry and the Turnbull Government cannot avoid its responsibility here.

After two years of waiting, the Government has finally released its response to the 2015 Senate Inquiry into the future of the automotive industry following a Senate order to do so.

The response is a true reflection of the Abbott/Turnbull Government’s apathetic attitude towards the automotive industry.

We find ourselves facing the closures of Toyota and Holden next month, purely because the Liberals failed to see the value in retaining this high-tech, advanced manufacturing industry and the high-skilled, high-wage jobs it sustains.

Last night’s ABC Four Corners report is a damning indictment of the state of the Australian construction industry and the complete and utter failure of the de-regulation and privatisation agenda that has been underway since the 1990s. 

The program, along with the evidence received from over 160 submitters to the Senate inquiry into Non-conforming Building Products, detailed the widespread use of non-compliant, highly flammable aluminium composite panels in tens of thousands of Australian buildings.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC NORTH AND WEST SA
FRIDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2017

SUBJECTS: LIBERTY ALLIANCE TAKES OVER WHYALLA STEEL PLANT,

PRESENTER: Today is a good day for the region, as the handover of the steelworks to the Liberty Alliance occurs.  A whole lot of politicians are in the region for the handover, and one of them is Senator Kim Carr, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. Good morning.

SENATOR KIM CARR: Good morning. 

PRESENTER: Are you taking any credit this morning?

CARR: Oh, I have been very closely involved in the process. I am very pleased with the outcome. I think it provides a certainty for the city of Whyalla, and certainty for the workers across the entire company. It provides greater opportunity for Australia insofar as it secures our steel industry.

This is an strategically important industry in terms of Australia’s manufacturing capability. It’s an extremely important part of our industrial base and therefore it’s important that the Commonwealth take a very keen interest in the development of the Liberty alliance work.

I am very pleased that Liberty has such a strong plan for re-investment and the commitment to provide an employment guarantee and the opportunities for massive export growth for a basic metal production.

Today marks the end of 17 months of uncertainty for the Whyalla community as ownership of the steelworks is officially transferred to the GFG Alliance.   

Labor believes that the metals manufacturing industry has a bright future in Australia, particularly in our regional cities.