Joe Hockey, Toyota at odds whether union to blame for car maker's closure

Date
    February 12, 2014


Treasurer Joe Hockey and Toyota are at odds over whether generous workplace conditions should be blamed for forcing the car maker to leave Australia.

And on Wednesday the Treasurer and the car maker gave conflicting accounts of a private meeting they held in December to discuss Toyota's future.      




Mr Hockey backed reports that during the private conversation with Toyota Australia president Max Yasuda on December 3 that say Mr Yasuda blamed overly generous workplace conditions for pushing Toyota out of Australia.


“I saw the report this morning and it is a correct report,” Mr Hockey told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday of the story in the Financial Review.

The Treasurer proceeded to attack the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union for placing unreasonable demands on Toyota.

But Toyota's management has strongly rejected the report of its December meeting with Mr Hockey, issuing a statement to deny allegations that it blamed the union for its decision to leave Australia in 2017.         

“Toyota Australia has never blamed the union for its decision to close its manufacturing operations by the end of 2017, neither publicly or in private discussions with any stakeholders,” the company said in a statement.         

“As stated at the time of the announcement, there is no single reason that led to this decision.

“The market and economic factors contributing to the decision include the unfavourable Australian dollar ... and low economies of scale for our vehicle production and local supplier base.

“Together with one of the most open and fragmented automotive markets in the world and increased competitiveness due to current and future Free Trade Agreements, it is not viable to continue building cars in Australia.”

In a more positive consequence of Toyota's decision, Australians could be saving between $1000 and $2000 on each imported cars before the next election, with Mr Hockey giving his strongest indication yet that he will abolish tariffs on luxury and imported cars.

Now Toyota is stopping building cars in Australia in 2017, heralding the end of car manufacturing in this country, Mr Hockey admitted there was no longer a local industry to protect with 5 per cent tariffs.

“There's a legitimate case put forward to remove tariffs where there is no local motor vehicle manufacturing industry,” Mr Hockey told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday.

“This is something that will certainly be considered by our review of taxation, which will occur in the next 18 months or so, and certainly before the next election,” he added.

But the tariffs would be painful for the Abbott government to reject, with revenue of $920 million a year and rising to more than $1 billion over the forward estimates.

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said he would focus on improving skills and training systems which are currently a “convoluted mess” and “close to broken”. But he denied that training centres such as TAFE or research organisations such as the CSIRO need more money. Simply offering more funding was the “Labor way”, Mr Macfarlane told ABC radio on Wednesday.

“What we're saying is there will be efficient use of the money that's there,” he added.

“I can guarantee that the skills training that will be offered will be of a higher calibre and will present workers that are better work-ready than we've seen in the past.”

Despite his concerns about mounting government debt, Mr Hockey dismissed the idea of reintroducing Labor's plan to save the budget $1.8 billion by tightening the rules on tax benefits for salary-sacrificed cars. The Abbott government reversed Labor's pre-election decision, missing out on the much-needed revenue.

“My lord, if Labor had have gone ahead with their $1.8 billion hit on fringe benefits tax on motor vehicles, let me tell you [car makers] would've walked out the door in January rather than in 2017,” Mr Hockey said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/joe-hockey-toyota-at-odds-whether-union-to-blame-for-car-makers-closure-20140212-32h1u.html#ixzz2t4DVQRR4

Probably breach the Trade Practices Act.

BlOoDy RiPpEr wrote on Feb 12^th, 2014 at 12:10pm:

It may be unconstitutional, depending on the structure of such a law. I would have no problem though with a law that requires all the grants to be paid back.

Bam wrote on Feb 12^th, 2014 at 12:30pm:



  Have to go with that one!   

Did you see that?



I.E - POOR MANAGEMENT DECISIONS

Not workers pay & conditions as the LNP wants you to believe.

Bam wrote on Feb 12^th, 2014 at 12:30pm:


They want promised on going grants to stay, they're not going to pay them back.

A lot easier to just pack up and go make cars some where cheaper.

Quote:

FriYAY wrote on Feb 12^th, 2014 at 1:16pm:



I think you'll find the Poms, Germans and Italians earn more than $5 an hr for building cars.
We are a western country so lets compare apples with apples.