Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned an Abbott government would spell the end of car manufacturing in Australia, as he defended fringe benefit tax changes blamed by Ford for a halt in production.
The carmaker has announced a series of rolling stoppages at its Geelong and Broadmeadows plants, attributing falling demand for new cars to Labor's $1.8 billion FBT changes.
Mr Rudd talked up his government's assistance to the car industry on Friday.
He has previously said Tony Abbott would strip $1.2 billion in government funding.
"Mr Abbott is effectively saying vote for him (and) that's the end of car manufacturing in Australia. We know that, everyone in the industry knows that," Mr Rudd told Sky News on Friday.
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"If you want to see a car industry in Australia at all - and the 50,000 workers who depend on it directly, and the 200,000 workers who depend on it indirectly - then there is only one course of action, which is to get behind our approach."
Mr Rudd on Saturday announced a further $500 million in funding for the Australia's automotive sector up to 2020, with a pledge of more support into the next decade.
But Mr Abbott rubbished the promise as policy-on-the-run, and accused Labor of waving a blank cheque at the auto industry in response to the worsening polls.
