In a meeting between Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, and leaders of the main union of Toyota Australia revealed that it is unlikely that public assistance will be coming to help rescue the ailing Australian auto industry. The meeting happened just before GM Holden announced that it would be shutting the auto manufacturing plant in Adelaide by 2017. The union which represents about 4,200 workers in Melbourne stated that the prime minister seemed ?uninterested? in providing assistance to the manufacturing sector as a whole. Auto companies have said labor costs are the primary motivator for moving jobs out of the country, citing Europe as two times cheaper and just as productive. Currently Australia?s auto production only amounts to 0.25% of global production.
See "Toyota: Abbott uninterested in providing assistance, says union", Mark Skulley, Guardian Unlimited (UK), December 19, 2013