The Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers (FAPM) has launched a campaign to remind Australians that the manufacturing industry in the country, specifically the automotive sector, is “too important, too valuable, and too strategic to let go.”
The organisation released a video animation depicting the excellence of Australian manufacturing and their “Plan for the Future”, which outlines several action plans that the industry must take in order to overcome the challenges being faced by the manufacturing industry today.
FAPM emphasised in the video that manufacturing employs 800,000 more workers than the mining sector, and it feeds all types of industries with skilled workers.
“Australia is one of only 13 countries in the world who can design and build something as complex as a car from scratch,” according to FAPM. “That’s pretty clever given that a car consists of over 30,000 individual parts. To make these parts the car industry in Australia employs over 50,000 people directly, and indirectly up to 300,000 Aussies.”
FAPM also said that compared to other countries, the Australian taxpayer contributes a tiny amount in the car industry. Australians pay only $18 a year to the auto sector, while German and American taxpayers shell out $90 and $264 dollars a year. The Australian car industry has also contributed over $50 billion to the Australian economy in the past decade.
The organisation believes that the greatest challenge for Australia’s car and component makers is convincing business owners to continue putting in investment in the country to support innovation in the area of new technology and the development of new skills and manufacturing processes.
FAPM proposes that the Australian Government and the industry leaders get together to create a stable and competitive long-term policy that will ensure new investments are poured into vehicle and component manufacturing.
They also want the government to continue negotiating with trading partners that have placed tariff and non-tariff barriers that hinder the export of Australian manufactured automotive products.
Other recommendations that the FAPM included in their action plan are:
- Extension of the current LPG scheme to continue providing rebates for ‘greener’ cars
- Support a national plan for Government procurement of Australian made cars
- Establish a national approach to vehicle inspection
- Requirement for local vehicle manufacturers to provide opportunities to Australian suppliers to enter international supply chains
The FAPM says local vehicle manufacturing industry must be able to produce at least 300,000 every year, with a third of those exported to markets abroad, and the organization believes that implementation of their action plan by the Federal and State Governments will help the industry reach sustainable volumes in manufacturing, and attract capital for new investments.
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