Labours plan to boost auto industry.

[vztrt]

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-new...806-11me2.html

Boosting auto industry a 'Labor' of love
August 6, 2010 - 12:35PM



Labor has outlined its plans for a re-energised automotive sector, to drive the industry forward over the next decade if it's re-elected.

A re-elected Labor government has dreams of a re-energised automotive sector, where electric and lightweight cars rule.

It has released a blueprint for where it wants the industry to head over the next decade.

The Automotive Australia 2020 roadmap sets a path for the future growth of the sector, currently exporting $3 billion worth of products and supporting 50,000 jobs, Industry Minister Kim Carr said.

It was about pinpointing where Australia's future opportunities lay - and how best to take advantage of them.

"Innovation is the key to putting the industry on an economically and environmentally sustainable footing," he said.

"Australia has a proud history in automotive manufacturing and it is important the industry continues to modernise and adapt to meet today's challenges."

More than 220 people from 160 organisations within the industry contributed over 2500 hours to creating the roadmap.

With increasing competition from low-cost countries such as Brazil, India and Thailand, the local industry will continue to feel the heat, the industry believes.

A growing trend towards more sustainable vehicles, and the increasing cost of oil prices will also change the way the sector will operate over the next 10 or more years.

There are four areas of opportunity Australia will need to seize, the experts say.

Electric cars, developing gas fuels such as LPG, lightweighting - making cars that consume less energy - as well as improving data and communications systems.

Senator Carr said manufacturing had a significant role in boosting Australia's long-term productivity and Labor was unashamedly a "firm friend" of the car industry.

He said a re-elected Labor government would continue to support the sector.

The Automotive Industry Innovation Council will consider the roadmap and advise the federal and state governments with some recommendations.

[vztrt]

Eco battery gets jump start from Canberra

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...257777000C7C0C

Green Car grant for Century Yuasa battery project as Carr reveals industry ‘roadmap’

6 August 2010

By IAN PORTER

BRISBANE-based battery maker Century Yuasa is set to start production of a new lead-acid starter battery that it claims can cut fuel consumption by up to two per cent.

The company has received a $996,000 grant from the Government’s Green Car Innovation Fund to help move the new design into production.

The grant was announced today by the federal innovation, science, industry and research minister Kim Carr, during a speech to the annual conference of the Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers (FAPM) on the Gold Coast.

The minister also revealed details of a new Technology Roadmap for the Australian automotive industry, highlighting the strengths of the local industry and the products and directions that should be pursued if the Australian car industry is to prosper.

The Technology Roadmap was compiled in conjunction with the Victorian government and was jointly sponsored by the state industry and trade minister, Jacinta Allen.

Senator Carr told GoAuto the new Century Yuasa battery would re-charge faster than regular starter batteries, reducing the load on the car’s engine and, therefore, saving fuel.

Senator Carr said that the grant was made under the normal Green Car Innovation terms, which means the recipient company has to contribute three times or more money of its own to the project.

This means the Century Yuasa commitment is at least $3 million.

General News center imageUsing Century Yuasa’s current market share forecasts, it has been estimated the battery could save as much as 86 million litres of fuel by 2016, equating to a saving of 124,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Company spokesman Allan Woodford said the fuel saving benefits were realised when the new battery was used in conjunction with a “smart charging” system in the car’s electrical system.

The battery will be made at Century Yuasa’s Carole Park, Brisbane, plant, which makes more than a million batteries a year and employs 300 people. A further 300 people are employed around Century Yuasa’s distribution network.

The grant to Century Yuasa is the latest in a series of small grants designed to help component manufacturers to adopt leading edge technology and stay viable in a competitive environment, Senator Carr said.

In March this year, Orbital Corporation was granted $440,000 to help develop a liquid LPG direct injection system in a joint project with Chang’an Automobile Company in China.

Orbital is one of Australia’s leading engine development companies and the leading provider of LPG fuel systems. It will provide the state-of-the-art system to be adopted for the next E-Gas Ford Falcon.

In April, the government granted $2.4 million to SMR Automotive for the development of environmentally friendly vehicle mirrors.

SMR is based in South Australia and is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of rear vision mirrors. It was formerly known as Visiocorp, Schefenacker and, originally, Britax.

Senator Carr said the Technology Roadmap had been compiled as a way to assess the capabilities of the local components industry, which had been shrinking under pressure from low-cost imports, and focus on its strengths.

”The Roadmap charts the industry’s capabilities, needs, commercial potential and opportunities for expansion over the next decade,” he said.

A total of 32 technologies have been indentified, falling into four broad categories: vehicle electrification, gaseous fuels (LPG and compressed natural gas), light-weighting and advanced data and communication systems.

“The aim is to promote industry collaboration, encourage scientific and research activities, education, training and action plans,” he said.

“Obviously, we want to build the supply chain. That’s the fundamental area of attention in terms of sustaining the automotive industry here over the longer term.”

Senator Carr said the Roadmap project, which was managed by the Co-operative Research Centre for Advanced Automotive Technology, pointed out the importance of retaining and strengthening the industry’s existing capabilities.

“Our aim must be to build competitive advantage wherever we can, but not to squander the advantages we already have.”

[flappist]

Reading between the lines....bye bye performance vehicles

[rodderz]

Consumer demand and the current climate will dictate what carmakers do with their vehicles in terms of power, fuels etc. Once again labor thinks they can dictate how businesses should be running.

[Falcon Coupe]

As soon as every Government car (that we pay for) is a Hybrid they may have some credibility behind the push.

[bobthebilda]

This Green car Fund has got to be one of the biggest frauds ever invented by the labour government.

BRISBANE-based battery maker Century Yuasa is set to start production of a new lead-acid starter battery that it claims can cut fuel consumption by up to two per cent.

A company can get a $1 million dollar grant, because it "claims" it can cut fuel consumption by 2 percent. If the australian motorist wasnt so overtaxed, it could afford to update its fleet, or better maintain its current fleet, with a far better efficiency result than bloody two percent.

General News center imageUsing Century Yuasa’s current market share forecasts, it has been estimated the battery could save as much as 86 million litres of fuel by 2016, equating to a saving of 124,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Oh. its not a "will" or a "shall" its a "could". You would think that if you were going to hand out $1 million, you could extract more than a "could" from the marketing department.

If you start with a 2 tonne caprice government car and you add a 150 kilogram, overweight, moronic senator like Kim Carr, then all we need to do is replace him with someone who maintains a brain within a normal body cavity and weighs less than 110 kilograms. Thus our two percent saving idea now becomes eligible for the green car fund.

[ltd]

I wish people in high places would stop calling carbon dioxide "pollution". Get rid of carbon dioxide and watch how quickly the world starves to death. Even Al (lower, lower) Gore has stopped saying carbon dioxide is causing global warming; do we have to wait 10 years for the idiots who make decisions for us to get in step?

[Seduce XR6]

Originally Posted by flappist

Reading between the lines....bye bye performance vehicles

I am getting too old to care anyways well not really but whenever I go driving mostly I am stuck behind a few cars so I pass them & am then stuck behind a few more & so on which means I hardly ever get to really enjoy the performance my car has along with the high speeding fines & cameras popping up all over the place (they are now placing them in my area at traffic lights) so now what will I do when I choose the left lane so I can leave the 10 cars in the left lane for dead before my lane runs out?
I mean one may as well have a Eco car these days lol

[Biggav]

How the H*** can a battery lower fuel consumpion by itself?

unless they talking lesser weight = better numbers overall.

[ltd]

Doesn't government also have a 4 cylinder only policy? How many locals make 4 cylinder cars here (not imports)?

[oranpark addict]

Originally Posted by ltd

Doesn't government also have a 4 cylinder only policy? How many locals make 4 cylinder cars here (not imports)?

Ecoboost or camry

[bungarra]

Originally Posted by Falcon Coupe

As soon as every Government car (that we pay for) is a Hybrid they may have some credibility behind the push.

Diesel Focus has better fuel economy than most hybrids. Mate swapped out his wifes Prius for the Focus and he has seen better performance and mileage from the Focus.

[vztrt]

More local hybrids, EVs in pipeline

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25777B0015542A

Kim Carr sees new Australian-built hybrids, EVs on sale inside five years
10 August 2010
By TERRY MARTIN
FEDERAL industry minister Kim Carr believes Australian-produced hybrid and electric vehicles will broaden beyond the Toyota Camry Hybrid within five years, and has vowed that the government, if returned to office, would invest heavily in building local capacity in EV and related technologies.

In an interview with GoAuto, Senator Carr, who is also the innovation, science and research minister, refused to commit to EV or low-carbon-car subsidies, arguing that such incentives would support overseas car industries to the detriment of Australian industry.

Instead, the minister said the Labor government’s focus remained on investing in specific programs in partnership with local car-makers, component suppliers, science bodies such as the CSIRO, and other organisations, with several significant new green car-related projects in the pipeline.

He said the government had also relaxed the requirement for companies applying for a slice of the $1.3 billion Green Car Innovation Fund to provide 75 per cent of program investment (with taxpayers tipping in one dollar for every three private dollars in a project), revealing there was now flexibility in the guidelines.

When asked if the government had any indication of projects, other than the Camry, to build hybrid or electric vehicles in Australia, Senator Carr said: “Yes, we have.

“There are new projects in the pipeline from the MVPs (motor vehicle producers) and the CSIRO and other options that are being investigated right now. I’m not at liberty to discuss those because they are commercial-in-confidence, but you shouldn’t assume that this (Camry) is the only project that is on the go.”

Asked if he could see locally produced hybrid or electric cars on Australian roads in the next five years, Senator Carr also said: “Yes. I do.

“I think there will be more diversification in regard to development of electric capacity. But it’s not just electric capacity. I’m saying that fuel systems are also an alternative that should not be discounted. And that includes LPG and CNG, as well as petrol.”

One of the likely big-ticket green cars in future years is the Holden-built Cruze small car, which enters production in conventional-engine form early next year but was described at its program announcement as a vehicle that could offer hybrid, LPG, CNG and E85 ethanol capability.

GM has since shown a Cruze prototype in the US with running gear from the Volt hybrid, while the latter is based on the same platform as the Cruze and – like a plug-in Cruze – could potentially be built here after being launched as an import from 2012.

Senator Carr, who specifically referred to the Cruze when asked about future Australian-built cars using alternative powertrains, said: “Our task is to develop the investment, or the business case for new investment, for new models – to strengthen those capabilities – and I’m confident we can do that.

“But you’ll only do it if the New Car Plan is able to be put into place. You’ll only do it if you have a government that is committed to the future of the industry. You’ll only do it with a government that is prepared to work in partnership with the industry to ensure that both workers and managers know they have a secure future. And the key to our success is attracting that new investment.”

Senator Carr said he was certain that Australia would still have three manufacturers – Ford, Holden and Toyota – building cars in this country in 2020, although he could not specifically say that this would include engine production.

As GoAuto has reported, Toyota Australia is negotiating with Japan over engine production at its Altona plant in Victoria beyond the current-generation Camry/Aurion, while the future of Ford’s Geelong engine plant is also uncertain beyond the current Falcon and Territory.

“I’m confident in the future of the three manufacturers being maintained here, in the full range – the full range – of capabilities, from design and engineering through to manufacturing,” Senator Carr told GoAuto.

“I say to you, the (Geelong) engine plant is working well. We are working with Ford to develop new markets for that plant, and we are working with Ford to make sure that it increasingly meets the international standards in terms of tailpipe requirements.

“I am very confident in the strength of our relationship and I have every cause for confidence about the future of the industry at our three motor vehicle manufacturers.”

Senator Carr said a key to this was strengthening Australia’s supply chain – “the 200 companies that make up the industry, not just the three (car-makers)” – and that the highest priority area under the so-called Automotive Australia 2020 roadmap released last week was vehicle electrification, including hybrid and electric vehicles.

Despite other countries being targeted as EV hubs – particularly China, which GM, for one, last month identified as the future home of an all-new global EV and green tech centre – a Gillard government, and indeed a Carr-led federal automotive ministry, will work to build capacity in the same area.

“With electrification, in terms of supercapacitors, in terms of the electric vehicle power modules, battery technology, electric motors and generators, the various elements of the powertrain for electric motors – these are capacities that we’ve got to put a lot more energy into,” he said.

“But we can’t predetermine an outcome because we can’t say in advance what are the areas that are going to be commercially viable. We’ve got to develop capacity – that’s why we ask people to put their own money in; we co-invest – but we don’t try to predetermine where these technologies will take us.”

Senator Carr also said that the conventional internal combustion engine “has still got a long way to run in Australia” and highlighted other key planks of the new roadmap – which will draw its funds from the existing $6.2 billion New Car Plan for a Greener Future – including gaseous fuels, light weight technology and data communications.

“Existing vehicle technologies – we can squeeze a lot more out of it in terms of fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas reductions,” he said. “That’s why we’ve got electrification as one stream, (but) we’ve also got new fuel systems and light weighting as another, and IT, as being a very important part of driving future industry directions.

“At the end of the day, our whole program is geared toward co-investment. It’s about attracting new investment that transforms the industry.”

This unapologetic support for the local industry has seen Senator Carr reject warnings from car companies and representative bodies that Australia is being left behind on the electric car – and low-emissions-car – front.

He refuses to accede that the government should follow other countries in providing subsidies that attract more electric car imports, despite obvious potential environmental benefits.

“People are jumping the gun on all of that,” Senator Carr said. “It’s not been our intention to provide the subsidies that some of the importers want. We are committed to domestic manufacture. We see as our priority for the program as building capability in Australia.

“One of the serious problems at the moment with electric vehicles that are being imported is their cost, and there is this expectation that there should be some sort of subsidy to reduce the cost. Well, we say that we can actually build capacity in Australia rather than develop the capacities of other people’s automotive industry.”

[vztrt]

Coalition will ‘kill’ Carr-led plans

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25777B000CC832

An Abbott government would ‘kill or cripple’ Labor’s innovation policies: Carr
10 August 2010
By TERRY MARTIN
A COALITION government would “kill or cripple” the Labor government’s policies on innovation in the car industry and would not have the same level of commitment to Australian vehicle manufacturing, according to federal innovation, industry, science and research minister Kim Carr.

Speaking to GoAuto after launching its Automotive Australia 2020 roadmap in conjunction with the Victorian Labor government – also up for re-election later this year – and the Co-operative Research Centre for Advanced Automotive Technology (AutoCRC), Senator Carr said Labor was the only Australian political party that provided “genuine commitment” to the local car manufacturing industry.

In response to a question on the future viability of Toyota and Ford engine operations in Australia, Senator Carr said he was confident the parent companies of local car manufacturers supported the Labor government’s commitments under its $6.2 billion New Car Plan for a Greener Future, for which the new roadmap will provide further direction.

“I want to be really clear about this,” he said. “We are working closely with the major MVPs (motor vehicle producers) – that’s why I’ve spent so much time overseas talking to the senior leadership of the companies – I’m very confident of the value the international motor companies’ leadership has in Australia.

“They understand that because of the Australian government’s commitment, this is a very important component in their assessments.

“They know the New Car Plan is a measure of our commitment, and you contrast that with what our opponents are saying, which is essentially to kill or cripple our innovation policies.

“The international motor industry is looking for certainty, it’s looking for continuity and it’s looking for genuine commitment. And only the Labor party provides that.”

Senator Carr said in a speech to the annual conference of the Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers (FAPM) in Queensland last week that the imminent retirement of South Australian minister Nick Minchin meant the industry now had few friends on the conservative side of politics.

He pointed to the Coalition’s intention to take $278 million out of the Green Car Innovation Fund, and quoted shadow minister for employment and workplace relations Eric Abetz as dismissing the New Car Plan as “industry welfare”.

He also said shadow industry spokesperson Sophie Mirabella agreed with that approach.

Senator Carr later told GoAuto: “We’ve put $6 billion on the table. Six billion. All we’ve heard from our opponents is how they want to cut back support for the automotive industry. That’s the contrast.”

Ms Mirabella’s office declined a request from GoAuto to respond to Senator Carr’s comments, and to outline the Tony Abbott-led opposition’s position on the car industry in general. However, a spokesperson said the Coalition would release its industry policy before the August 21 election.

The 2020 roadmap has cost about $954,000 dollars to develop, with the federal government contributing $384,000, the Victorian government $350,000, and AutoCRC $220,000.

Senator Carr told GoAuto that the roadmap did not seek to replace the New Car Plan, but would provide direction for the next decade and was designed to be developed further in consultation with the Automotive Industry Innovation Council.

The roadmap also builds on the $6.7 million Victorian Automotive Manufacturing Action Plan and will be managed by AutoCRC.

“Obviously the supply chain is critical to the future of manufacturing in this country,” Senator Carr said. “However, this (roadmap) is directed at both the MVP and the component manufacturers. It will be a question of the extent to which these issues are picked up by investors.”

As GoAuto has reported, the core tenet of the roadmap is vehicle electrification, including hybrid and electric vehicles.

Specifically, six applications in this area were identified as high priority: development and manufacture of supercapacitors for EVs; design and local assembly of electric vehicle power electronics modules; high energy density batteries; low cost, robust efficient electric motors/generators; standardised battery packs for large passenger vehicles; and development of a modular EV powertrain.

The other “long-term opportunities” identified covered gaseous fuels, light weight technology, and data and communications.

Specific applications for gaseous fuels in the roadmap include: a dedicated direct injection system for LPG engines; fast-filling technology for LPG; and a high-capacity, low-cost on-vehicle CNG storage tank.

Asked about supporting the fledgling CNG industry’s quest for a national refuelling infrastructure, Senator Car told GoAuto: “That’s part of the difficulties. (But) this is also about on-vehicle storage tanks. There’s also the issues about export arrangements – capacities for export arrangements – and there’s R&D that’s required for these projects.

“That’s one of the other issues in this roadmap. We want to build much stronger links with the universities and the CSIRO and our other science agencies.”

In the ‘lightweighting’ area, the roadmap identifies the following high-priority applications: replacement of traditionally steel components with lightweight alternatives; manufacture of lightweight body panels; commercialisation of lightweight road wheels; reduction of vehicle structure weight by 30 per cent while improving safety; and use of 3D composites for interior structure and seats.

With IT, the main thrust will be to develop improved human-machine interfaces and driver information systems.

Senator Carr: “Our aim must be to build competitive advantage wherever we can, but not to squander the advantages we already have.

“The Automotive Industry Innovation Council has undertaken to advise me on how we can use the roadmap to best effect after the election – and I hope I am around to receive that advice.”

[Polyal]

There is no doubt that the government (whoever it is) should push behavior, but some of the ideas above are crazy.

Cant wait until the 21st, then shortly after that we wont have to worry about labour anymore.

[JPFS1]

What do we make of this???

SEP candidate for Calwell addresses the social crisis facing workers and youth
By Peter Byrne
10 August 2010
The following is the text of the speech delivered by Socialist Equality Party candidate Peter Byrne to a public meeting held last Sunday in his electorate of Calwell in Melbourne’s working class northern suburbs. Byrne, who works as an architect and is the son of a car worker, focussed his remarks on the social crisis confronting working people after decades of de-industrialisation and economic restructuring.
The well attended meeting in Calwell involved students, several workers from a local car components factory, and other working people and retirees who have become aware of the SEP in the course of the election campaign. The reports delivered by Byrne and the SEP’s candidate for the senate in Victoria, Patrick O’Connor, were followed by a lively discussion, with questions including the economic policies of a workers’ government, the function of money in a socialist society, and whether Labor is a “lesser evil” than Liberal. The meeting was part of a series being organised by the SEP prior to the August 21 election. Details, as well as extensive election coverage, can be found here.
As an architect and member of the SEP for 27 years I am standing as a candidate for the SEP in Calwell because I want to develop this party to advance the long term historical interests of the working class in the struggle for world socialism. The SEP is the only party standing on a socialist program to defend the working class in opposition to the entire official political establishment—Labor, Liberal and Greens.
In this election campaign the government and the media are telling us just how lucky Australia is to have sailed through the economic crisis unscathed—but this is certainly not the case for most residents of Calwell. In our election statement we refer to a few statistics, which indicate that many people are living in a state of permanent economic recession. Officially unemployment stands at just over 5 percent, but one third of the workforce is employed in part-time or casual jobs that are often low-paid and temporary.
As the SEP’s election statement explains: “Even according to the official figures, there are 610,000 unemployed—about 200,000 more than when the financial crisis erupted in 2008—and another 1.2 million people are “under-employed”, taking the total to nearly 16 percent of the workforce. This does not include the estimated half a million workers who have had their hours cut, those who have given up looking for work, or the 770,000 people placed on disability support pension.
“Real wages for low-paid workers have fallen by 15 percent since 1999, fuelling the explosion in personal debt over the last two decades, which is even higher, per capita, than in the US. Between 1996 and 2007, credit card debt rose by 460 percent and household debt overall by 340 percent. At the other end of the scale, bank and corporate profits have soared at the direct expense of the working class, sending social inequality to new levels.”
Here in Broadmeadows the official unemployment rate is 15.7 percent. That is the highest in the state of Victoria, and means that nearly 1 in 6 workers do not have a job. Craigieburn has an unemployment rate of 7.7 per cent; the median household weekly income in Broadmeadows is only $619, compared with $1,027 Australia-wide, i.e., it is less than two thirds the national average. And this is the case in working class suburbs across the country.
I would like to discuss how this area was transformed from a booming centre of manufacturing industry following World War II to one of the most disadvantaged suburbs in Australia. This process was a direct result of the offensive waged by the ruling elite over the past three decades against the social position of the working class.
In the aftermath of the betrayal and defeat of the revolutionary upheavals that shook the very foundations of capitalism in the period from 1968 to 1975, the ruling class internationally unleashed a major assault. Millions of jobs, particularly in manufacturing industries, were destroyed, working conditions ripped up, and wages and living standards undermined. The measures carried out in Britain by Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and in the United States by Republican President Ronald Reagan were undertaken in Australia by the Hawke-Keating Labor governments, with the active collaboration of the trade unions under the Accords, between 1983 and 1996.
Before this period, from 1949, the government-owned Housing Commission began to develop cheap mass housing in Broadmeadows to provide a workforce for the development of manufacturing industry. Many new factories were built.
But today most of those industries are gone. Kodak in North Coburg, South Pacific Tyres, Yakka, Kraft, Nestle, Ericsson, and Kayser Hosiery, among others, have all closed at the cost of thousands of jobs. The Ford factory is a shadow of its former self. Car seat belt manufacturer Autoliv, which employed 1,000 workers a decade ago, now has just over 100 workers. In December management will cut that number down to 35.
The industry at the centre of this electorate is the Ford Motor Company. It bought a large tract of land in Broadmeadows in 1956, and the first Ford Falcon rolled off the production line in September 1960. The rise of the Australian car industry was bound up with the development of the national manufacturing sector during the post-World War II stabilisation of the global capitalist system. By 1959 there were a total of 24 car assembly plants in Australia, mainly Ford and General Motors. In the 1960s and ‘70s other firms, including Nissan, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, and Mitsubishi, also established operations.
The early 1980s marked a turning point for the Australian car industry. By then the conditions that had led to the industry’s development after World War II—a relative stabilisation of the world capitalist system and the development of a highly regulated and protected Australian national economy—no longer existed. Today just five car factories remain in Australia—Ford’s assembly plant here in Broadmeadows and the component and engine plant in Geelong, Holden’s assembly factory in Adelaide and engine plant in Melbourne’s Fisherman’s Bend, and Toyota’s plant in Altona. About 200 component part manufacturing companies also remain.
Over the past three decades the Labor Party and the trade unions have overseen and organised the “orderly” closure of factories and the destruction of jobs—in other words, they have actively suppressed any independent struggle by workers to defend their jobs.
The destruction of these jobs is tied up with the fundamental changes in the world economy as a result of the globalisation of production. The only alternative is the unification of the struggles of workers around the world to end the profit system itself—against the program of “international competiveness” under which workers in Australia are set against their class brothers and sisters in other countries, in a never-ending downwards spiral to provide the cheapest labour and highest profits.
The SEP is the only party standing on an international program in this election. The program of the Labor Party and the unions is the opposite—their nationalist program aims at tying workers to the interests of the corporate elite.
I want to explain in a couple of cases what the unions and the Labor Party have done and how they are responsible for the situation that workers now confront.
In February 2009, Pacific Brands announced it was closing ten factories and sacking 2,800 workers in Australia, New Zealand and China. The company was shifting production to low-wage Asian contract manufacturers. Here in Coolaroo, Kayser Hosiery workers faced the sack. Initially workers were shocked when the company made the announcement, as Pacific Brands had already cut many jobs and they had accepted the company’s insistence that they agree to speed ups and other cuts, on the basis that this would help the company “compete”. Pacific Brands had also benefited from millions of dollars of government assistance not long before.
The Textile Clothing and Footwear Union did everything possible to prevent a fight by workers against the plants’ closure. The union’s first tack was to plead that the company retain a few of the jobs rather than impose a total closure. In order to hoodwink the workers, the government raised fears that redundancy payments would not be paid, and then told workers that it would force the company to pay. They threw sand in the eyes of the Pacific Brands workers in order to defuse any opposition to the company’s plans and allow the job destruction to proceed unchallenged.
Take another example—the new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) rammed through at the Ford plants in Broadmeadows and Geelong last June, which cuts real wages and undermines conditions.
What was the role of the unions? Ford workers received their last pay rise in 2008. A new EBA was presented last year in which newly hired workers were to receive 15 percent less in wages than existing workers as well as an effective wage cut over the life of the agreement. A slightly modified EBA was hailed by the unions as a “remarkable” deal and pressed on workers, who nevertheless initially rejected it. To ram the rotten deal through, the unions engaged in a series of manoeuvres, including taking ballot boxes around the factory floor and making workers vote as they worked, right in front of the union’s people.
Most workers were rapidly forced to accept the new EBA—except for 300 skilled tradespersons who were members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union (ETU). For the first time in many years, the workers went on strike, staging two 24-hour actions. As far as the unions were concerned, the strikes were utilised as a mechanism to let off steam among the resistant workers. The company was extremely grateful. Last July, Ford Australia president Marin Burela heaped praise on the “professionalism and maturity at every level of the trade union movement”.
One of the Ford ETU shop stewards, who opposed the whole process, has since been removed from his position. Such is the nature and the role of the unions that they have become the most ruthless policemen for the company’s interests.
The legacy of job destruction, deindustrialisation, and decades of government neglect is one of enormous social problems in working class areas. Young people have few job prospects, are provided with virtually no recreational activities, and have few public places where they can even meet and socialise. Just last week, on Thursday, reports emerged of a fight involving some school-age youth and up to 100 onlookers at the Craigieburn shopping centre. A number of people, including the local school principal, were doused with capsicum spray by police during the fracas. The next day there was a large police mobilisation, with horse-mounted and uniformed police officers surrounding Craigieburn Secondary College as students left the school for home. A police helicopter also flew overhead. Such measures will no doubt be stepped up over the next period, while nothing will be done to resolve the underlying economic and social problems that give rise to such incidents.
The SEP advances a socialist program to resolve this crisis. A massive increase in community facilities, sports, cinemas, theatres, libraries and live music venues must be built for use by youth at no charge. Young people must be guaranteed well paid, full-time employment, with reduced hours on full pay for those under 21 to allow them to fully participate in recreational and cultural activities. There must be a vast expansion in apprenticeships and technical training. All tertiary students should automatically receive a living wage. Student fees must be abolished, including for overseas students, and loan debts cancelled.
To resolve unemployment, we call for a massive public works program to provide well-paid and secure jobs for all. An emergency public works program must be launched immediately, including the building of new, and the repairing of old, social infrastructure—roads, rail and other public transport systems, adequate water storage capacity and renewable energy supplies, sewerage systems, public housing, aged and child-care facilities, schools, universities and TAFEs, hospitals and other medical facilities.
None of these policies will or can be implemented through parliament. What the coup against Kevin Rudd clearly revealed is that behind the façade of parliamentary elections, the real decisions are made behind the backs of population, by powerful unelected and unnamed forces, whose interests and agenda are diametrically opposed to the fundamental interests and democratic rights of the vast majority.
It is now long overdue for the working class to draw the lessons of its bitter experiences with the Labor Party and the unions. Workers must make a decisive political break with the reactionary nationalist programs of these old organisations and turn to a revolutionary socialist perspective. That is why the SEP is standing in these elections—to politically prepare workers and young people for the major social upheavals that lie ahead. The defence of jobs, conditions and a future for youth requires nothing less than the overthrow of the current social and economic order, and the establishment of a workers’ government that will place the banks and major industries in public ownership and under the democratic control of the working class itself.
I urge everyone here to read the World Socialist Web Site, carefully study the SEP’s program and analysis, and make the vital decision to join and build the SEP.
Click here for full coverage of the SEP 2010 election campaign
Authorised by N. Beams, 307 Macquarie St, Liverpool, NSW 2170

[castellan]

JPFE1.
Maybe we have government that does not have the interest of Australians as there first priority. and they and we are under pressure to follow in line with the new world order.
A world order may be OK.
But what if they are so incompetent or criminal they end up crashing the car so to speak.
A lot of people do not believe there is a new world order.
But the president of the USA was always talking about it.
Basically as i understand, it's about helping the 3RD world countries catch up.
I think we Aussies should be more involved in it then just back room people puling the strings of puppets like Rudd and co.

[Brazen]

So Senator Carr thinks more EV and hybrids will be built in Australia. I am betting it is Cruze hybrid or EV or even the Volt EV - which is based on the Cruze platform.

My take?

I will continue to think that one of the dumbest things Ford has done was not to take advantage of the $1.3billion Green Car fund and shifting market conditions to build local Focus and Kuga with their future hybrid and EV derivatives. More and more in the future, car production in this country will be politicised. For local manufacturers, building local hybrids and EVs will ensure them continuing government and community support.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Brazen

So Senator Carr thinks more EV and hybrids will be built in Australia. I am betting it is Cruze hybrid or EV or even the Volt EV - which is based on the Cruze platform.

But if you read on he does say that the fund will be added for alternative fuels like LPG/LNG (that we have tons of and in 10 years we aren't going to be selling to the chinese anymore).

[GasoLane]

I wonder how many politicians realise that 'Eco friendly' (Hybrid, Elec etc) cars are only good around towns.

On highways the hybrid types use petrol and batteries wont get you very far.

[vztrt]

More of the same from Coalition

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...2577830025BD03

Shadow industry ministry reveals its me-too pre-election industry policy

18 August 2010

By MARTON PETTENDY

THE Coalition’s industry policy has been announced just three days before the federal election this Saturday (August 21) and it contains no surprises for Australia’s automotive sector.

Contrary to claims by the federal Labor Party that, if elected, a Coalition government would “kill or cripple” the government’s plans for innovation in the car industry, policies announced today by the shadow minister for innovation, industry, science and research, Sophie Mirabella, basically bring the Coalition into line with Labor’s direction.

A statement issued today by Ms Mirabella’s office said the Coalition would proceed with its plan to slash $278 million from the current federal government’s $1.3 billion Green Car Innovation Fund following a lack of interest by car-makers and vehicle components manufacturers.

As we’ve reported, the federal government criticised the Coalition’s plan to cut GCIF funding, before at least partly following suit by announcing its own $200 million cut earlier this month.

“The Coalition does not believe that taxpayers are receiving value from the Green Car Innovation Fund,” said the shadow minister in a statement issued today. “The Coalition will therefore reduce allocations to the fund by $278 million over the next four years.”

General News center imageThe Coalition labelled as a stunt the Gillard government’s proposed vehicle scrappage scheme, labelled the Cleaner Car Rebate, which it has previously described as a further waste of taxpayers’ money.

Incumbent industry minister Kim Carr told GoAuto in March 2009 that scrappage schemes were expensive and would be less effective than the 50 per cent tax break for small business it announced a month earlier.

“Labor blasted the Coalition for making reductions to its Green Car Innovation Fund but then, as it scrambled to fund election stunts like Cash for Clunkers and its $2.1 billion rail project through marginal electorates in Sydney, did a U-turn and confessed it would make a similar cut.”

The Coalition confirmed it would continue with the federal government 2020 car plan, dubbed the Automotive Transformation Scheme, as its primary form of industry support, but said it would consider reinstating the previous system of providing financial assistance in the form of import tariff bonuses.

“The Coalition will maintain the Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS) as the principal form of government support for the automotive industry although we will consider a return to the system of paying ATS grants via duty credits,” said the Coalition.

Falling into line with the federal government’s plan for future vehicle emissions standards, announced in July, the Coalition said it will support average mandatory CO2 emission standards of 190g/km by 2015 and 155g/km by 2024.

“Labor spent much of its term in office proposing the imposition of new Euro 5 and Euro 6 emission standards on Australian vehicles by 2012 and 2016 respectively,” it said.

“These timelines were plainly unworkable and placed unreasonable pressures on Australian car manufacturers. It promised a different approach during the election campaign – when it suddenly committed to average mandatory emission standards of 190g/km by 2015 and 155g/km by 2024 for light vehicles.

“The Coalition supports these more realistic deadlines, and will work constructively with the automotive industry to ensure the outcomes are achievable.”

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Biggav

How the H*** can a battery lower fuel consumpion by itself?

unless they talking lesser weight = better numbers overall.

Probably to do with the ease with which the battery fills with charge and reduced alternator load on the engine.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Probably to do with the ease with which the battery fills with charge and reduced alternator load on the engine.

Correct, but it has to be with a 'smart' charging alternator to work.

[ltd]

All falcons from late 2003 had smart alternators installed in them; won't charge a dead battery.