What you had to say on the end of Australian Manufacturing

WITHIN a handful of days, the lights will go out at Toyota’s Altona manufacturing plant and we will be closer to the end of Australia’s rich history of building cars on our own shores.

Holden will be the last local manufacturer to fall, with the Elizabeth factory closing its doors on October 20.

It’s a difficult time to be an Aussie car enthusiast.

We ran a survey recently in order to give you, our readers, a chance to voice your feelings on the issue. More than 1400 people took part in the poll.

This is how you responded:

• A strong majority (77 percent) believe the government should drop taxes and tariffs on all imported cars following the closure of local manufacturing. 17 percent were against that move and 6 percent remain uncertain.
• Readers were mostly united on feeling proud of Australian manufacturing with 97 percent sharing the sentiment.
• When probed if Australia should still be manufacturing cars, 93 percent believed we should, while 7 percent disagreed.
• There was also a strong response to if you felt the government let Australia down with inadequate support for local manufacturing. A vast majority, 82 percent, agreed the country was let down, while 15 percent responded ‘no’ and 3 percent were left unsure.
• As for how you felt about the end of manufacturing, anger and sadness were the most commonly felt emotion with 46 and 45 percent respectively. Some felt indifferent (6 percent), while others were confused (2 percent). A tiny group felt happy (1 percent).
• Australian-built car owners were well represented within respondents, with 74 percent having one in the garage. Of those, 67 intend to hold onto their vehicle, while 7 percent didn’t.
• With no Aussie-built cars available to purchase, just 20 percent of respondents believe overseas cars offer better value than those built on our shores. The majority of readers disagreed (58 percent), while 22 percent remain unsure.
• The majority of readers (85 percent) believe locally made cars were better suited to Aussie conditions than imported vehicles, while 11 percent disagreed, and 4 percent were unsure.
• There was a divide on who people blamed for the end of local manufacturing. One in four people thought the Liberal/National Party Coalition was predominately to blame, while 24 percent believed not one group could shoulder the responsibility. 19 percent fingered the Australian Parliament as a whole, while 16 percent took aim at unions. The Manufacturers were to blame according to 8 percent of readers, while four percent blamed The Labor Party, and another four percent were unsure on who to blame at all.
• Finally, 81 percent of respondents believe the government should create new incentives to encourage car companies to set up manufacturing facilities in Australia again – 14 percent disagreed, while 5 percent are unsure.