From the AFR:
In the wake of Holden’s announcement that it will withdraw from Australian manufacturing in 2017, the government will provide $100 million to invest in “potential employment generating” projects in South Australia and Victoria to compensate for job losses. The government will also commission reviews in both states of the “strategic prospects” for their economic future.
“Our manufacturing industry can do well and our challenge as a government is to try to get conditions right for it to do even better in the future,” Mr Abbott said.
“In the end no government has ever subsidised its way to prosperity. Just as no government has ever taxed its way to prosperity. I want to be very candid with the Australian people. This government will be very loathe to consider requests for subsidies, to do for businesses in trouble the sorts of things they ought to be doing for themselves.”
Mr Abbott’s words appear to close the door on hopes that the government will provide financial help to the struggling national airline, Qantas.
“We don’t believe in corporate welfare, we do believe in trying to give entities a fair start in life,” Mr Abbott said.
Let’s hope he’s good to his word though simultaneously seeking to repeal the carbon and mining taxes is just a little contradictory given one prices externalities that we’re all paying for and the other retrieves rents that we’re all losing, in both cases to corporate interests. Not to mention protecting the sluggish Graincorp monopoly.
Unfortunately, he concurrently announced a taskforce would look into the competitiveness of manufacturing. Why? If there’s going to be no corporate welfare then it’s the competitiveness of the entire nation he should be looking at.
There’s more than one way to protect a cat, Tony. Fix the macro settings and market structures then let the cards fall where they may.
