SYDNEY (Kyodo) Prime Minister John Howard and Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane are in talks with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to save its South Australian manufacturing plant from closure, a spokeswoman for MacFarlane said Wednesday.
"We have got the doors of communication open with Mitsubishi, locally and in Tokyo, as well as DaimlerChrysler in Germany," Kirsty Boazman told Kyodo News. DaimlerChrysler AG holds a 37 percent stake in MMC.
"We are also working very closely with the South Australian (state) government," she said.
Mitsubishi Motors Australia's plant in Adelaide is producing the Magna car and is one of the state's biggest employers, with a workforce of 3,300.
Parent company MMC is struggling financially and reports from Japan suggest the company will cut 4,500 jobs internationally when it announces a restructuring plan April 30. Other reports said DaimlerChrysler is considering selling or closing the Adelaide plant.
It is important for South Australia to keep the Adelaide plant open, she said.
"But it has to be kept in a global context and we just want to be kept in the link and know what's happening," she said.
Discussions between the Australian government and MMC have not involved additional grants to the company, Boazman said. "It's not at that stage. We are not discussing packages."
In 2002, Mitsubishi Motors Australia was granted an assistance package of 35 million Australian dollars (about $25.6 million) from the federal government to assist with the establishment of a global research and development center and the creation of an additional 900 jobs. The South Australia government provided a further A$50 million.