The May 18 federal election presents a difficult choice for many automotive businesses around the country. The VACC has widely promoted its automotive industry policy priorities, particularly to the ALP and Liberal/National Coalition, through its election manifesto, Keep Australia Moving.
VACC has also undertaken an examination of the policy platforms of both major political parties against its industry priorities, with the results presented in the attached “scorecard’.
VACC’s scorecard indicates that whilst there has been progress on some industry priorities from both parties, there has also been a failure on the part of the ALP and Coalition regarding policy support for many key automotive industry objectives. These include:
- A failure of both parties to indicate policy support towards a mandated motor vehicle insurance and repair industry code of conduct
- A failure of both parties to prioritise skills and training policy initiatives towards the automotive industry
- The lack of support for an end-of-life vehicle program amongst both parties
- No indication of the abolition of the luxury car tax amongst both parties
- A lack of concrete measures for business red-tape reduction and improvements to Australian Consumer Law from both parties
For an industry that employs 380,000 people and contributes more than $37 billion dollars annually to the Australian economy, it is inconceivable that such key industry priorities have been largely ignored by both major political parties.
Regardless of whoever wins government, the VACC will continue to lobby and pressure for meaningful reform that recognises and promotes the merits and key needs of the automotive industry amongst policy-makers.
