Asked his intentions on Friday, the best Tony Abbott could offer, in an interview with Melbourne's 3AW, was: "I do wish Holden would clarify their intention because at the moment they have got everyone on tenterhooks." Prime Minister Tony Abbott, with Treasurer Joe Hockey, has refused to support giving Holden any more federal government assistance. Credit:Andrew Meares Well, quite, but this was hardly the commanding aura of authority or national leadership one would expect from a prime minister. Neither could one imagine such resignation from John Howard, whose tabloid instincts and empathy for blue-collar battlers would at the very least have brought a sense of urgency. "... there's not going to be any extra money over and above the generous support the taxpayers have been giving the motor industry for a long time," Abbott added, lest hopes were building. In practice, people facing gross uncertainty as they head into Christmas, whether as Holden workers, components suppliers, or for that matter, those in Qantas, are looking for a good deal more than that.

Paul Keating was vilified for his "recession we had to have" comments, yet the Abbott government's glib indifference comes from the same place. That the Prime Minister appears cavalier in the face of Holden's likely closure is no accident - it reflects the majority sentiment in his cabinet. After the GrainCorp decision last week, one is tempted to quip that perhaps auto workers should have had the Nationals as their union. The rural party's record of securing industry protection from this government looks pretty good at this point. But where Treasurer Joe Hockey blocked the GrainCorp takeover on the grounds of national interest, such arguments seem to cut no ice in the heavily unionised automotive sector. A glance down the cabinet list reveals just a couple of ministers likely to favour government intervention in the auto sector.

Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane is one, but arraigned against him are Hockey, deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop, Finance Minister Matthias Cormann and Senate leader Eric Abetz. Even South Australian ministers Christopher Pyne and Jamie Briggs - both close to Hockey - back turning off the tap. Loading All are urging Abbott not to blink in what they view as a political game of chicken with Detroit, which has demanded a pre-Christmas decision on further assistance. The cruel kicker for automotive workers and struggling state economies such as South Australia is that the special pleading acceded to in the GrainCorp case has made subsequent sectoral assistance harder to get through cabinet, even if it proceeds from stronger national interest grounds.