Productivity Commission review

[BroadyFord]

I took the day off work today to attend the Productivity Commission's public hearing into the future of the car industry (in Melbourne).

Some observations:

- The commissioners continually referred to "certainty for taxpayers" when a party outlined the need for policy certainty and very much gave the impression that they don't see the industry as having a viable future.

- The best presentation was by FAPM who thoroughly and carefully outlined the value of the industry to the economy and explained that it was critical that the industry gets back up to 300,000 units per annum in order to increase competitiveness. They also mentioned that they believe this could be done by attracting another niche manufacturer to Australia - something which easily be achieved should the right policy settings be in place.

- Graziano spoke as president of the FCAI, along with Tony Weber. They're presentation was actually quite weak and both of them struggled to give meaningful answers when pressed about whether or not it's worth taxpayer's money to invest in R&D.

- Toyota had a good presentation but again struggled to provide an answer when pressed about the cost to taxpayers.

- The underlying themes regarding policy settings included not proceeding with the $500 million cut to the ATS, the need for fairer rules with the regard to FTAs and long-term certainty. Not much was discussed in terms of IR or labour policy.