Mr BILLSON (1:38 PM) —It is my pleasure to rise in support of my colleagues the members for Boothby, Sturt and Barker, and to assist the House in putting an end to that previous contribution. The motion before the House talks about how the new tax system will benefit the car industry and the car component industry, a number of manufacturers of which are in my electorate of Dunkley. It points to a number of changes. What may have been lost on members of the opposition is that the industry actually supports the change. They are standing here seemingly saying that there is something terrible about this transformation in our tax system, yet those whom they are seeking to represent actually do not agree with them. The car industry actually thinks that the changes are a good thing, and that is why they have consistently called for those changes.

They are supporting the changes for a number of very sound reasons. One is the improved affordability of cars for people. Most people in my electorate have the acquisition of a car as their second biggest personal expenditure item, and any improvement in affordability is a good thing. It would seem that if cars are more affordable, if they are cheaper and if our car industry is assisted, that would be a good thing for our country. Just about everybody can see that except those persons opposite.

The other thing they talk about is the crisis in the car industry. It is a bit like saying that the Essendon Football Club are only walloping every other team by 40 points this year when it was 45 points last year and don't we have a crisis! The car industry is going extremely well. Sales figures are extremely positive and, as Parliamentary Secretary Brough at the table recognises, if you are winning every game by 40 points, that is still a mighty fine outcome. It might not be 45 points, but 40 points is still a mighty fine outcome. And that is what is happening in the car industry. Those opposite stand up and refer to figures about car sales that go off the base of the highest ever car sales in this country. They are saying, `Gee, car sales are down from last year, and this month's from the year before. Isn't this terrible! The world is coming to an end!' What they do not tell you is that these are among the highest car sales figures this country has ever seen. So, while we are seeing some modest reduction at this time, these figures are still exceptionally good news.

To back up those statistics, I actually visited two of the dealerships in my electorate at the end of last week, both of whom told me that they are having very strong car sales at the moment, and both of whom point to the quality of their product and to the fact that people want to buy the models that they are offering. New model releases has been the issue that is driving their sales. Some of the companies that have previously said they are concerned about sales figures know, like all of us, that when the market is not that attracted to elements of their products people may shop somewhere else. To the credit of the car industries, those car companies, the assemblers that are having those difficulties with sales, have gone back to have a look at their product and have found that they can improve their product and now they are starting to see benefits through their sales. That all seems to make sense, but that is lost on those opposite.

The other thing that I would like to point out is the fact that the GST and the tax package are actually delivering a $12 billion reduction in income tax. That reduction in income tax is not only welcomed by households around Australia but we realise that savings and that the paying-off of loans is made with after-tax money. So, if you can reduce the amount of personal income tax, that actually makes savings more attractive and an easier task. It actually makes the repayment of any debt you may have also a more attractive assignment. So, for the people like those in my electorate who may have to borrow money to purchase their car, this is also good news on the financing side of the equation—more good news for the car industry but, again, something lost on those opposite as they are wandering around the car yards looking for cars that are not there because they had been sold.

This week we have got people coming to Canberra to talk about the health of the car industry. I would like to put on the table my call for the federal government to get the support of the big four vehicle assemblers, the industry itself and the components industry to work together on something I have called the Australian components content alliance. Some of our domestic car manufacturers are still importing car components from overseas that we can make here, of just as good quality, at a better price and with better reliability of supply. I am calling on the government to work with the Australian auto industry council, which is meeting here in the next couple of days, to support our domestic component manufacturing industry. There are parts still being brought in from overseas and going into cars being assembled in this country. We can replace these with parts we make ourselves, and we should do that. That should be part of the mutual obligation between the car industries that are benefiting to the tune of $2 billion over four to five years through industry support. It is something that is already being led by Ford and other companies. Even Toyota had an open house where they showed all the component manufacturers the parts they were importing and invited people to compete to make those parts domestically. That is a positive step forward and an example of where mutual obligation can help the industry. (Time expired)