Unsure Bazz.
The sad event was going to happen in any case.
But look me in the eye and say the following is untrue.
Abbott,s factory door stops seem bland after the loss of so very much manufacturing under him.
And had these events took place before last years election Abbott would have blamed Labor for each of them.

Well that makes 50,000 jobs lost. I think it was going to happen no matter what. Abbott and co have been there for 5 months and done nothing , they are just marking time. 40 billion lost in three months by now it will be 60 billion. When are they going to do something, or they don't have the expertise. This mob were all talk, before the election and since then nothing has occurred.

Yes Belly, the doorstops are very bland and will continue to be so
while ever both parties fail to face up to what happened in 2006 to 2008.
They can only waffle around the subject.
I guess they must understand as they suppressed that BITRE117 report.
They would not have done that if they were not afraid of it being
generally understood by business and the public.
The car factory closure decision was not made in the in the last couple of months.
They have been mulling it over for a while, that is how it is done.
A government bailout would have only kept the wolf from the door for a couple of years.

Hasbeen, the public transport situation is worse in the US and that
trend is strong in the US and likewise here many young people are not
even getting driver's licences. The local trend was reported in the
local papers following the US report.
Roads are still packed bumper to bumper !

What is 579 on about $40billion loss becomes $60billion ?

Let's look at the car industry and go back ten years.

During this time the only reason they have stayed here is because they have been subsidized.

Also, during this period the unions have been relentless in their quest to secure wages and conditions well above manufacturing industry standards. They pushed and pushed, then they pushed even more.

Finally the industry has become so over burdened by costs that not even a nominal amount of tax payer subsidy can save them, so the only solution is to quit and even that is going to cost a small fortune as the average production worker with Holden will walk away with between $300K and $500K. Any wonder they don't want to renegotiate their greedy union gains.

Of cause costs is just one issue, but it was a boil waiting to burst and it has finally burst.

To blame Abott is typical of a labor supporter, but just-look at the mess they encouraged with their unconditional support over the past six years of labor.

I also find it amusing that the likes of 579, less than a year ago said, don't worry, we are in great shape.

As an example I recently got a quote to have a tipper body built for a new truck. 4m x 2.2 m and was quoted a staggering $20,900. For what amounted to about two grands worth of steel, two grands worth of hydraulics.

The problem is costs as the charge rate for these workers is now around $120 per hour.

Manufacturing in this country is dead!

The Labor government went out of its way to increase the cost of doing business, and to empower the unions to extract increases in the face of falling revenues.

Since Electricity Bill and his green partners in crime have blocked all legislative attempts to rectify the situation, the Labor party has to accept 100% of the blame for the closures.

"Ford had signalled it would pull out of local production in 2016, and General Motors-Holden was girding its loins for a similar announcement. Local production of Toyota's next generation Camry – and its larger Aurion spinoff – was up for grabs after the current model ran out in 2017. Toyota Motor Corp was due to make the crucial decision this year.

In the circumstances, you'd think the Toyota workers and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union would play ball. But instead, the union orchestrated a Federal Court challenge by a handful of shop stewards to prevent Toyota putting the changes to its workers for a vote, citing a "no extra claims" clause in the enterprise agreement."

The wages of holden tradespersons 15 november 2013 was. New starter tradesperson $1147/wk as the person gained experience in the particular work and over many years the top rate was $1547/wk.
BUTCH your walk away prize money is for employees that have been there for twenty and thirty years.