As the former senior adviser to a premier of South Australia in the nineties, take it from me – Mitsubishi is f-cked. It was back then. It’s even more f-cked now. The best thing the SA Government, the Feds and the company itself could do is stop telling lies.

Mitsubishi is the Kursk of the Australian car industry. It’s sunk. All hands are lost. The rescue efforts are a cruel hoax.

It’s not the fault of the local management. It’s not the fault of the workers. They’ve tried. But they’ve failed. They got desperate. They bet the farm on the 380 sedan. The gamble failed.

Yesterday’s ABC reports that the company’s Tonsley Park plant will close by Christmas do not appear to be accurate — but senior sources in Canberra confirm it’s gone. It’s only a matter of when, not if.

SA seems to be on the cusp of a mining boom. The skills of Mitsubishi workers could be handy there.

This agony has been stretched out for years. It went past the cruel and unusual punishment stage long ago. It’s time to come clean and end the pain and fess up. A premier with integrity – and confidence in himself and his government – would do that.