Job fears over “Ikea-style’ bus imports, Transport Minister accused of breaking pledge

Jo Haylen vowed to build more buses for NSW, but by importing “Ikea-style” flatpack vehicles, much of the manufacturing will be done overseas, costing Australian jobs.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen has been accused of breaking a pre-election pledge to build new buses in NSW by importing “Ikea-style” flatpack vehicles from China.

Transport for NSW last month announced that it had procured 300 zero-emissions buses, to be in service by 2028.

But The Daily Telegraph can now reveal that much of the manufacturing will be done overseas, with local workers only tasked with bolting together ready-made components.

The government’s former bus tsar John Lee has now warned that Australia’s bus industry could follow car manufacturing out the door unless local builders are supported.

The former bus industry executive who was a top Transport bureaucrat under Labor has now rebuked his old department for buying “cheap overseas imports rather than supporting an industry that has built buses for over 80 years”.

Minister for Transport Jo Haylen at Leichhardt bus depot. Photo: Tom Parrish

“We have always used European engines and chassis like Volvos and Mercedes, but this idea of Ikea-style imports where the seats, the flooring and even the drivers cabin are all pre-built in China, will just cost Australian jobs,” Mr Lee said.

“The difference is that previously Australian workers spent a minimum of 200 hours to assemble a bus here, but under this policy two unskilled workers can bolt together and drive away a bus within a day,” he said.

Last week, Transport Minister Jo Haylen announced that manufacturer Foton Mobility Distribution had received a contract to deliver 126 of the 319 new electric buses at a Nowra facility.

Ms Haylen said the buses would be locally built, but initially the work will just involve assembling imported parts.

“Over time, the local content of the buses will increase,” she said.

She said that parts and components will be sourced from local manufacturers “over time,” to meet a target of 50 per cent local content by 2027.

Minister for Transport Jo Haylen at Leichhardt bus depot on Monday to present the findings of the Bus Industry Taskforce's final report. Photo: Tom Parrish

Ms Haylen now risks a separate front in her war with the Rail, Tram, and Bus Union over the failure to build buses in NSW.

RTBU Tram and Bus divisional secretary David Babineau said that for the majority of the new buses, there will be “absolutely no local manufacturing component, unless you want to count people who are bolting in the seats that are shipped with the buses”.

He said the Minister risks breaching the Labor Party’s policy, and a pre-election commitment to build things here.

“Getting buses overseas, in Ikea mode, where 95 per cent of it is done and you’re (just) bolting in seats, in no way constitutes anything that a reasonable person would call local manufacturing,” he said.

A Transport for NSW spokeswoman said the NSW Government is “progressively increasing local content in the Zero Emissions Bus Program”.

“Even if a bus can’t be made almost entirely in Australia, we often see local assembly of materials when plant and components are imported.”

Originally published as Job fears over “Ikea-style’ bus imports, Transport Minister accused of breaking pledge