Mitsubishi disaster offers wealth of opportunity

Media release

Australian Protectionist Party National Chairman and South Australian Spokesman Mr. Andrew Phillips today called upon both State and Federal governments to act quickly to protect the jobs of thousands of South Australians following the announcement by Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi that they will close their last remaining plant in S.A.

“Following revelations in the media that only one third of retrenched workers from Mitsubishi’s defunct Lonsdale plant have found fulltime work 12 months later and the obvious flow on effect to other manufacturing plants in Adelaide, the need for governments to act quickly is obvious” Mr. Phillips said.

“It is clear that Mitsubishi, either mistakenly or with deliberate intent, made the wrong choice to continue producing six cylinder models at a time when market trends dictated a desire for smaller, more economical cars” Mr. Phillips continued, “however, here we have a great opportunity for a revitalized Australian car manufacturing sector yet all the governments wish to do is continued hand wringing”.

“Australian governments have ploughed enough taxpayers’ money into keeping the plant going up to now. What we need is for statesmen of the caliber of Ben Chifley to step forward, promote the vision of an Australian owned car plant, producing four cylinder cars designed for Australian conditions and for the Australian market” Mr. Phillips continued, “the infrastructure and equipment are all there, the skilled workers know their roles- all that is needed is for government to get their act together”.

“This venture could be a combined project between the Australian people through government agencies and private investors, with both sectors profiting from the co operation” Mr. Phillips concluded.