LABOR SPLIT ON PROTECTIONISM
04-October-2010
At best there is a split within the Labor Party and, at worst, it is hypocritical when it talks about protectionism.
Trade Minister Craig Emerson‟s comments yesterday that it was wrong for governments to use a green cloak of respectability to hide their old protectionist instincts are precisely the approach his own party has adopted under Industry Minister Kim Carr.
Labor‟s actions must speak louder than their words.
Mr Carr has displayed an insatiable appetite for throwing billions of dollars at poorly-targeted, old-style grants programs.
This has included badly-designed programs like the Green Building Fund and Retooling for Climate Change, and an injection of more than $3 billion in new money to the car industry under his so-called „New Car Plan for a Greener Future‟.
The Labor Party can‟t say one thing overseas and another at home.
It is pointless for Dr Emerson to beat his chest about free trade when he can‟t even win the argument with Labor‟s Industry Minister.