Can Australian workers manufacture electric cars? Yes we can – dump the nuclear subs.

 

Written by: Ned K. on 22 January 2024

On Sunday 21 January 2024, there was a "Holden Day" event held at the beachside Adelaide suburb of Glenelg. Hundreds of Holden cars manufactured in Australia were on display for the thousands of people who attended the event. 

The display included the first Holden cars to roll off the production line in 1948 to the last Holden cars made at the Elizabeth production and assembly plant in Adelaide in October 2017.

The time and work done by these Holden car enthusiasts to maintain and where necessary restore the earlier models to their former glory demonstrates not only their individual interest in Holden cars. It also shows younger people that Australian workers are capable of producing forms of private and public transport that have a use value for the people of this country.  

The display of Holden cars at the Holden Day is a timely reminder that there IS an alternative future for manufacturing industry in Australia which serves the needs of people in Australia. The Holden cars on display embody the work and skill of hundreds of thousands of workers in Australia over three or more generations. This is conveniently forgotten by politicians who tell people that the country's future lies in spending $380 billion or more on other countries building a majority of “our” nuclear powered submarines and subsidizing multinational companies along the way.

Why do politicians continue down this war-mongering path rather than invest in public-owned electric vehicle manufacturing and manufacturing that will assist the people in the "war" against climate change, global warming and destruction of the environment?

Thousands of people in Australia and indeed throughout the world are taking to the streets demanding their governments take action to force Israel to stop its genocide against the Palestinian people.

People are "joining the dots" and seeing the disastrous ink between Israel's war machine and their own country's increasing dependence on a military related manufacturing base.

Our young people need to be able to look back at their lives when they are older and see that they were part of an Australia manufacturing useful products like electric cars, rather than feeding the US war machine.