Salisbury Council to only buy Holdens

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SALISBURY Council has thrown its support behind northern manufacturing by pledging to only buy Holden cars.

Deputy mayor Chad Buchanan, who successfully moved the motion, said it was important local government supported manufacturing, which employed 10,447 locals, including more than 1000 at Holden's Elizabeth plant.

"We are committing council only employs Holden vehicles in its fleet," Cr Buchanan said at the April 29 meeting.

"It is investment in manufacturing and it leads to job security."

The move will apply to the council's 114 fleet cars.

It already has 36 Holdens with the remainder made up of Fords and Toyotas.

Cr Buchanan said Salisbury needed to be proactive because a closure of Holden would cripple the area and take generations to fix.

The motion contained a promise the council's passenger vehicle fleet be Holden-made.

The only exception would be if the council needed a specialised vehicle, such as a truck, which Holden did not make.

It comes as Holden announced last month it would shed 400 jobs through voluntary redundancies at its Elizabeth manufacturing plant.

Cr David Balaza said adopting a buy local policy should have been done years ago.

Cr Alex Coates said more measures to protect the future employment of Holden workers needed to be taken.
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