p align=”justify”>Yesterday Toyota announced that it would cease manufacturing vehicles in Australia.
This is devastating news for the workers at Toyota and also to those workers employed throughout the car component supply chains. My thoughts are with these workers and their families.
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Yesterday Toyota announced that it would cease manufacturing vehicles in Australia.
This is devastating news for the workers at Toyota and also to those workers employed throughout the car component supply chains. My thoughts are with these workers and their families.
Australia’s car makers directly employ thousands of people – indirect employment through their supply chains results in many more thousands of jobs – many of which are in regional Victoria.
Local businesses in the Ballarat region make metal pressings and assemblies, disk brake pads, seatbelts, exhausts, and automotive electrical harnesses.
The jobs, design expertise, manufacturing skills and investment provided by our automotive industry flows right through the economy and into other sectors.
The end of Australia’s automotive industry will have a lasting impact on our economy and in particular in Victoria and South Australia.
This was not inevitable – this is a direct consequence of the Abbott Government that has abandoned the car industry and abandoned manufacturing jobs.
By bringing the automotive industry to a halt – the Abbott Government will cut $7.3 billion from Australia’s GDP by 2018 and the economy will be $21.5 billion smaller.
Without the car industry – Gross Regional Product in Melbourne and Adelaide is expected not to recover for almost two decades.
The Abbott Government failed to recognise the consequences of their $500 million cut in assistance for the industry would have on our automotive manufacturing industry and our economy.
We must now see a structural adjustment package for the component makers and the workers in our region.
The Government needs to take responsibility for their actions and do the right thing by the workers they have betrayed.