Productivity Commission to report on auto industry by Christmas

The Productivity Commission is set to announce findings on the future of Australia’s car manufacturing industry by Christmas, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has said.

“We are trying to put together a process where we can assess, through the Productivity Commission initially, whether or not we can make the car industry viable,” Macfarlane said at a press conference at Toyota’s Altona North plant earlier this week.

“I’m asking them to produce some interim findings by Christmas so that I can make some assessments, along with Joe Hockey and Cabinet, about where we go from there.

“I am committed to the car industry. More importantly, I am committed to those people who work out the back behind me in sheds, and in the sheds in Adelaide, and in the sheds in Broadmeadows, whose livelihoods … depend on Australia making vehicles here.

“We don’t know what that outcome will be, but we know that the PC [Productivity Commission] will produce a response probably six months or so from now, and then Cabinet will make a response to the PC, and then that report will be released.”

Macfarlane said that even if Ford moves its manufacturing operations offshore, he aims to keep the company’s design and R&D plant in Australia.

“I’m very keen to see us make vehicles here, but if we can’t make vehicles here … then I want to make sure the really smart end of that - the design, the R&D, the stuff that goes into cars these days - is staying here in Australia, and staying for a long time,” Macfarlane said.

But South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill claims the review will not provide a satisfactory outcome, Sky News has reported.

“The Productivity Commission is likely to recommend we allocate resources to another sector and just allow an industry like this to pass into oblivion,” Weatherill said.

“That’s a very worrying suggestion that the future of this industry is put in their hands without some very clear guidelines.”