Book review: What happened to the Car Industry?

Ian Porter is a widely admired journalist who has been writing about the automotive industry for 45 years.

But you might be forgiven for thinking he's a melancholic old misery guts, based on reading his new book, 'What happened to the Car Industry?'

Porter tells it as it is, explaining that this important segment of the manufacturing sector was wilfully tossed around by federal government over a protracted period like some kid's plaything – before finally being tossed aside altogether.

The problem, Porter says, is the inflexible free trade dogma that has framed economic theory for governments as far back as the Hawke/Keating government of 1983.

Despite the heavy-going nature of the message, the book is not a difficult read, and covers what will be old ground for many who have watched the automotive industry in its death throes these past few years.

If you're not an economist, some of the theory might be outside your terms of reference, but Porter explains it all pretty well in layman's words. Throughout the book are little anecdotes, such as Akio Toyoda, with tears in his eyes, making the announcement the Altona plant would close in 2017.

Adding a lighter touch to the tone of the book are the cartoons from Mark Knight and John Spooner. Knight, a veteran of Melbourne's Herald-Sun, is clearly a car nut. His Holdens are identifiably Holdens – whether they're VE Commodores, HQ Monaros, FX Holdens or Brocky's LJ Torana. And he's equally adept with Fords too, from XK right through to FG Falcons.

Knight is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve in his work. Most of his cartoons walk the line between funny and thought-provoking, but one that I found particularly moving was the picture of an XP Falcon that had stopped suddenly for a kangaroo crossing the road. A 48-215 (FX) had slammed into the rear of the Falcon, and the milieu is seen from the perspective of a terrified couple in the front seats of a Toyota Camry set to plough into the back of the Holden.

The Kangaroo is Knight's apparent metaphor for the ignorant and apathetic Australian public (and more specifically, the agenda-driven government representing the public).

Spooner, with a law qualification and experience in journalism also, takes a much more cerebral approach in his cartoons. His cartoon of Labor industry minister Kim Carr wearing an industry policy suit of armour and wielding a lance – all while riding a free trade dragon – takes a little while to process.

His crowning glory appears on page 59 of the book, where Joe Hockey is asked to explain why the automotive industry received no assistance during the years of Aussie dollar parity with the greenback, but the banking industry could rely on deposit guarantees from government, farmers could receive rural assistance during periods of droughts and floods, while investment property owners could take advantage of negative gearing.

Spooner pens the afterword too. Known to be an economic conservative – rather than a neoliberal, economic rationalist – he is quite obviously opposed to market deregulation and free trade, which he blames entirely for the demise of the local manufacturing industry.

If Porter seems a determined critic of free trade in the main body of the book, Spooner absolutely skewers free trade in his afterword. And his view of government's handling of industry and economic policy is not exactly forgiving either. He makes some telling points; no economics degree required to follow those points either.

If there's one weakness in Porter's book, it's what seems like a one-sided view of who the good guys are and who are wearing the black hats. He mentions that it was the Button plan (named for the late Senator John Button) in the days of the Hawke/Keating government that kicked off the whole free trade bandwagon.

And he does point out that Julia Gillard syphoned millions away from the Automotive Transformation Scheme to pay for the damage done during the 2011 Queensland floods.

But Porter reserves his scorn primarily for those on the LNP side of the fence. Warren Truss (acting prime minister at the end of 2013) and former treasurer Joe Hockey – now safely ensconced in a cosy little sinecure as the ambassador to the USA – are on the wrong side of Porter's disdain.

As for Sophie Mirabella, the former member for Indi can't take too much (or any?) blame for Holden's announcement it would close its Elizabeth plant. She might have been hostile to the automotive industry, but her own electorate saved her from a legacy of being the industry minister that oversaw the destruction of the car industry – by voting her out of her safe Liberal seat.

Unfortunately, if Porter is writing from a partisan view, that suspicion is further inflamed by having the foreword penned by Senator Kim Carr, a leading light on the left of the Rudd/Gillard Labor government. It might have been preferable to have the foreword written by someone not directly associated with a political party. That said, Kim Carr does come across as someone even more passionate about the automotive industry than he is about his own political party...

I say this as someone who is by no means a rusted-on conservative voter: Both sides of government have been remiss to the point of negligence where the industry has been concerned. Three out of the five manufacturers announcing plant closures over the last 30 years (Nissan, Mitsubishi and Ford) did so with Labor governments in office.

Porter raises some interesting points in the book, not least of all the Brazilian economic model. A commodities market like Australia, Brazil has a floating import tariff in place for its homegrown automotive industry, one that rises and falls with the value of the Brazilian currency.

It ensures that the domestic sales of locally-built cars that underpin the Brazilian industry are never under significant threat from imports due to currency exchange rates. Whether the same idea would have worked in Australia, with our volatile currency, remains a question for another day. But importantly, there's no indication that the economically inflexible governments of the day even considered it as an idea.

Porter, looking ahead, also speculates that any future recession in Australia will have at its root massive job losses from the closure of car manufacturing plants – tens of thousands of people queuing for jobs.

Meanwhile, the worst Joe Hockey has to face from an uncertain future is the possibility he might have to deal with a US administration led by Hillary Clinton (or Donald Trump).

On sale now in shops and through SAE Australia and priced at $24.99, 'What Happened to the Car Industry' is part history, part commentary. And as much as Ian Porter's a good bloke – and he writes perceptively – you'd pay $25 for Knight's cartoons and Spooner's afterword alone.