Part 3 of 3. Why Tesla and 200,000 Australian auto workers need each other
There has been no mention of the elephant in the room during the lead up to the election. In his final blog of this series, Stewart Nattrass suggests to vote in the Senate for those that will support investigating how to attract Tesla to Australia.
Jobs, jobs, jobs. Well, what about them? The release of the May 2016 employment data showed an increase of 25,000 part time jobs, totaling an increase of 225,000 part-time jobs YTD – welcome to the new part time economy.
Ask those 15- 25 year olds and they will tell you there are part-time jobs: by the shift, pouring beers, making coffee, cleaning poker machines, or then there are always internships for no pay at all. But we have 500,000 (soon to number 1 million) international students with 20 hour a week work permits also competing for these part-time jobs. The mining boom is said to be over, so where are the full time jobs going to come from? This is why I believe it is so important to find a way to resurrect our auto industry.
The political landscape needed in Australia to rewind the auto industry decision.
For the idea to have a long lasting position in the federal government it will need to be by-partisan. How can this be achieved? My belief is that it must first and foremost be supported by the Senate for stability, as they are elected for two terms, normally six years. The problem in recent history is that the Senate has been controlled by Independents holding the balance of power. The labor party needs the Greens and some independents whilst the liberals have needed the National Party and some Independents. So how to do we get the right combination no matter who wins the next election? Let’s start with the Greens. Read this great article on the same topic by Richard Dennis, the chief economist at the Australia Institute and former adviser to the Greens. It seems the Greens are up for it. What about the Independents? It seems that Nick Xenophon will get three to four Senate seats and he has been supporting the auto industry all along.
Malcolm Turnbull could even get to drive what he wants – his party’s agenda and a Tesla. This photo is from an article by RenewEconomy “Should Turnbull follow French lead and invite Tesla to build EVs in Australia?”.
What will it take to get Tesla to seriously contemplate setting up a second production center here in Australia?
Australia will need to put together a bid team similar to what we did for our successful 2000 Olympic campaign and approach Tesla to show our Government and the nation are serious. We are perfectly positioned to supply both domestic and export markets throughout Asia. We have a competitive advantage, in shipping terms, to back freight EVs to the Asian countries, with one million cars currently being shipped into Australia in purpose built vessels and returning back empty.
How could Tesla raise its share price by 5 to 10% over night?
The role of a CEO is after all to improve shareholder value. I suggest this could be achieved by coming to Australia and standing with our politicians before the next election. An announcement could be made that Tesla is investigating the possibility of setting up a second production plant, supported by the Australian Government here in Australia. Tesla would effectively double its production capacity at no cost. The Australian Government would be supporting the deal using funds already set aside. The pressure currently being exerted on Tesla about scalability and meeting orders would be alleviated. That’s definitely a win-win situation for all concerned.
How we can change the destiny of the 200,000 strong Australian auto industry?
The stars are perfectly aligned. It’s the perfect storm. We just have to get the elephant in the room to be spoken about before the election. We can cast our preferred vote in the Lower House for whomever, Liberal, Labor, National party, Greens etc., but in the Senate we should vote for those that will support investigating how to attract Tesla to Australia.
This article first appeared on LinkedIn and is republished with the permission of the author. Read the first and second blog.
Stewart Nattrass started out working in his family’s plastics company, winning innovation and small business awards and an Australian Design Award for his innovative design. Taking his product overseas his company won international product awards, stumping the world’s best tool makers as to how it was done. He later moved into the travel industry, building his own business up over ten years, expanding and positioning himself in a new industry. Stewart has empathy and affinity with the autoworkers affected, knowing firsthand what it’s like to re-engineer a new career and start again; twice. He wouldn’t wish that process on anyone, least of all 200,000 Australians.
