END OF ROAD FOR ‘AUSTRALIA’S OWN CAR’
Last vehicle rolled off Holden factory line marks demise of national industry
THE last car rolled off the production line of Australian carmaker Holden yesterday, marking the demise of a national industry unable to stand up to global competition.
The closure of the Elizabeth plant in South Australia is the end of an era for Holden, which first started in the state as a saddlery business in 1856 and made the nation’s first mass-produced car in 1948.
“I feel very sad, as we all do, for it’s the end of an era, and you can’t get away from the emotional response to the closure,” said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told Melbourne radio station 3AW yesterday .
Holden was marketed as “Australia’s Own Car” and became a symbol of post-war prosperity Down Under despite being a subsidiary of US General Motors.
At its peak in 1964, Holden employed almost 24,000 staff. But just 950 were able to watch the final car leave the factory floor yesterday
“There are a number of people who have been here since the sev- enties and today will be a very emotional day for some people and a very sad day,” said Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary John Camillo.
The union blamed the federal government for causing the closure by withdrawing support to the auto sector.
The death of the industry was always on the cards after subsidies were cut off in 2014.
Some A$30 billion (US$24 billion) in assistance was handed out between 1997 and 2012, according to the government’s Productivity Commission.
Among their reasons was the small size of the domestic market and competition from lower-cost manufacturing sites in Asia.
“It’s obviously very sad if you are an auto worker, but for the Australian economy it doesn’t mean a lot,” said National Australia Bank economist Alan Oster.
“The economy is very strong at present in the services area. If you go back into the seventies, manufacturing was 25 per cent of the labour force and roughly the same numbers in terms of GDP.
“Today’s it’s about seven per cent and slightly less in terms of employment. It’s a process that’s been going on for a long time.”