GOING, GOING, GONE
IN THE March issue, Bob Kotmel wrote in his Stage Write column of how angry he was at “the politicians, unions and company executives who have combined to shut down the Australian car manufacturing industry come October”. It’s clearly a sentiment shared by many of you, as this sampling of responses on our Facebook page shows.
Josh Scanlon – It’s not rocket science; if the government used all locally produced Holden and Ford cars or utes in police and emergency services vehicles, they could extend it into local governments, which would be enough to keep the industry afloat. Why do we need police in Lancers and Pajeros, for example? I believe this would keep the Aussie car industry alive.
Brian Harman – I totally agree. This is one of the most shortsighted things done by politicians in my lifetime. It doesn’t make the slightest sense to close all this down, but someone is getting paid somewhere to make it happen at the expense of a hell of a lot of jobs and expertise that will never be replaced.
Gavin Evans – Funny how everyone is blaming the unions, the government, etc. Did all of you buy a new Aussie-built car every other year? If you did we’d still have an industry. Building something no one wants or buys can never last.
Peter Scrivener – And why didn’t we buy them? Because due to the way numbers were moved around by someone in an office somewhere, they were somehow no more affordable, and in many cases less affordable, than their imported rivals.
Scott Cornell – Manufacturing as a whole has been in a decline for some time now. I don’t know about you but when I was at school, commerce 101 clearly defined that no economy will remain stable and continue to grow without a substantial manufacturing base. What the upper echelons of management and government are privy to that us plebs are not I don’t know. But it scares the crap out of me.
Shane Knight – Australian car manufacturing had it coming, building big barges from another era and wondering why no one buys them. I love the old big cars, but those days have gone.
Aaron Lofts – The reality is that we grew out of the large family sedan quite some time ago, and unfortunately our local manufacturing industry did not adapt to it, and nor did the buyers. We are buying small economic hatchbacks, and family-friendly SUVS. The general public didn’t support the local manufacturers because they weren’t building the cars that the majority wanted. It is really that simple. The end of local manufacturing is your fault. It’s my fault. It’s our fault. Nobody likes it – but that’s the truth.