COMBET CLUELESS ON INDUSTRY COMPETITIVENESS
14-December-2011
New Innovation Minister Greg Combet is trumpeting improvements in productivity and competitiveness now that his empire was been expanded - despite his disastrous history with industry.
Leopards don’t change their spots. Imprinted on our minds should be Mr Combet’s history including his:
· Role as union boss in the waterfront dispute where he rallied with unprecedented vigour against any notion of increasing productivity and competitiveness;
· Responsibility for whipping union extremists into a frenzy which spilled into an unlawful and forcible entry into the Australian Parliament;
· Part in precipitating the collapse of Ansett, which contributed to thousands of lost jobs and years of delayed payments of entitlements; and
· Useless attempts to patch up the failed pink batts scheme.
If productivity and competitiveness were his true aspirations for industry then he should listen to the voices of the overwhelming majority of businesses and industries and not go ahead with the world’s largest carbon tax – which will only serve to reduce the competitiveness of Australian made products.
Mr Combet’s indifference to industry is a continuation of Labor’s failed approach over the last four years. The icy relationship between Ms Gillard and former Industry Minister, Kim Carr, intensified after another year of industry policy failures. Ms Gillard’s axing of the Green Car Innovation Fund in January without consulting with Mr Carr was the catalyst that eventually led to his Cabinet post becoming untenable.
Ms Gillard’s real agenda was to shore up her position and reward the faceless men who put her there. The reshuffle is all about political expediency and will do nothing to advance the economy.
And now industry waits with bated breath to face off with Mr Combet, the architect of the confidence destroying, innovation inhibiting and competitiveness crunching carbon tax.