Toyota rejects assertion it told Joe Hockey that the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union was behind Altona closure

Updated

Toyota has rejected a claim that it told Treasurer Joe Hockey the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) was behind its decision to cease manufacturing in Australia.

Toyota this week announced it would stop making cars in Australia at the end of 2017, blaming a combination of factors including the unfavourable Australian dollar, the high cost of manufacturing in Australia, as well as trade deals and the fragmented car market.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott suggested the AMWU was also to blame for refusing to renegotiate a workplace agreement for workers at Toyota's North Altona plant.

Mr Hockey today said that Toyota Australia president Max Yasuda raised concerns with him about the generous conditions during a private conversation last year.

"They were very concerned about the conditions that existed at Toyota in Australia," he told Fairfax Media.

"[Mr Yasuda] warned it was proving to be very difficult to sustain the business with those sorts of conditions and I stood in Parliament actually and said quite bluntly that if the AMWU continued down this path, it would be very difficult for Toyota to stay in Australia."

Mr Hockey said the Australian plant closed for 21 days over Christmas and was unable to supply its biggest market, the Middle East.

He said when Toyota asked workers to instead agree to a 10-day shut down, the union intervened and took Toyota to court.

"We all have to do the heavy lifting here, and the militancy of some of the union representatives - not all of them, but some of them - needs to be addressed by unions themselves," he said.

"They've got to understand that we've got to compete with the rest of the world; we're not an isolated economy in a glass jar."

However Toyota has released a statement saying it has never blamed unions for its decision to close, in either public or private conversations with stakeholders.

The car maker said as stated at the time of the announcement, there was no single reason that led to this decision.

Later in Parliament, Mr Hockey said there was no contradiction between his comments about Toyota and those made by the company.

"The report as it related to the content of the discussion between myself and Toyota was correct, and Toyota's statement today is also correct," he said.

"Toyota did not blame the unions because at that time Toyota wanted to stay in Australia, they wanted to stay in Australia."

Labor, union criticise 'Government's slander'

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has labelled Mr Hockey's comments "cruel and heartless" at a time when many Toyota workers were coming to terms with the company's decision.

"Aside from how heartless it is, it's just wrong," he said.

"Toyota has been forced to issue a statement repudiating the claims, showing up Joe Hockey's pathetic attacks on these workers."

The AMWU has also released a statement critical of Mr Hockey.

"It's unfortunate that companies should have to continue to correct the Government's slander," it said.

"It's another blow to the government's credibility - after GM Holden and SPC Ardmona both refuted the Government's claim that workers' pay and conditions were to blame for industry troubles."

Meanwhile, there have been calls for the Government to scrap the 5 per cent tariff on imported cars - which adds between $1,000 and $2,000 to price consumers pay for foreign-made vehicles.

The Australian Automobile Association says there will be no need for the tariff once local production shuts down in 2017.

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says he will not be rushed in to an decisions regarding the industry.





Topics: automotive, industry, business-economics-and-finance, australia

First posted