The demise of manufacturing in Australia

[lukeb1961]

go read it.
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1999-2000/2000rp07.htm

[Curly3]

I did my apprenticeship at Malleys in Auburn. When I started in 77 there were about 600 employees and we made everything from Fridges & Washing machines to Jugs & Toaters, even Heating Elements for other companies.
When the Government took away Tarrifs on imports Malleys died overnight.
OH&S has become a growth industry on its own and makes it bloody difficult for the little bloke to stay competitive.
My theory is that both the Legal System and the Big end of town are trying to force the Little bloke out of business because in todays litigese society the Little bloke aint worth persuing compared to other big company's.
Sorry to here whats happened Stan and best of luck.

[Mike52]

I was making [ here in Warwick ] a small hobby press [ 45kg]  which was a pretty good seller.
Was for leather work and the like . [ Malcom Douglas bought 2 ]
We were exporting them but thought we could do better, SOOO we went to the AUSTRALIAN EXPORT ENHANCEMENT PROGRAMME and asked them what we could do .
The answer ?
Make them in CHINA
We pay these people and this is the answer we get. 
Why don,t we get CHINA to pay these people and We can spend their wages elsewhere?
I remember The worlds smartest politician [ Jones ], winner of many TV quiz shows, saying in the early 80,s that manufacturing was a dud and that information teck was the way Australia would be heading in the future.
I wondered at the time if you could eat, wear or drive this magical " information " .
Guess NOT.

[Ktm181]

You know what Stan, GOOD people are good people no matter what, you will get a job.  I dont know any of you guys personally but i am a memeber and have read a lot and learned a lot, mostly that you guys are all mates and dickheads dont have a lot of them, so i reckon good people one and all, YOU WILL GET WORK EASILY, good people always do.

cheers,
Kt

[VMX247]

[quote ]
Its sad isnt it. im sick of the junk made in asia, especially China [/quote] 
ps Stan S has got a job since this thread started  Thought Id reboot this out of interest of whats coming into the country !!

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) has come under fire after 600 tonnes of what was supposed to be Chinese fertiliser turned out to be dirt.
A dozen farmers from Condobolin in western New South Wales ordered the fertiliser through a supplier listed on a Chinese website of accredited companies.
The shipment arrived in Australia in May, but because the material was carried in bags smaller than 50 kilograms it was not inspected by quarantine officials or the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.
It was only when the parcels reached Condobolin that the farmers discovered the bags actually contained soil, which is considered contaminated because it could contain seeds or diseases.
Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan says the farmers are now paying storage costs for the dirt until it can be safely disposed of.
He says they have had no help from the Federal Government.
"Both the Australian Government and the Chinese government have decided to look the other way and I have to say I have every intention of making sure that they address this problem," Senator Heffernan said.
"Because it's not only a breach of trade protocols, it's a breach of everything we stand for in terms of keeping Australia clean, green and free."
Senator Heffernan says the quarantine and Customs authorities must be held accountable.
"If you can put 34 containers of earth through Customs and quarantine that's actually supposed to be fertiliser, what else can you put through?" he said.
The ABC has contacted AQIS for a response.

[micks]

fertiliser hey!!!  all they had to do is to address it it to "farmer mohammed of condobolin" and i bet your bottom dollar it would of been checked.

[bazza]

its the way of the world.There will be naf all manufacturing in Unzud in 5 yrs,thats why youth of nz are going to Auz for jobs,we are becoming a land of logistics ,freight and warehouses selling chinese shit,drive around and 90% of factorys are full of service industry not manufatureres.never mind our Govt  is trying to get a trade deal with India and India is the new China, Feck we are screwd.

[Curly3]

Carbon tax will be the final nail for any manufacturing still in existance.
 

[tony27]

its the way of the world.There will be naf all manufacturing in Unzud in 5 yrs,thats why youth of nz are going to Auz for jobs,we are becoming a land of logistics ,freight and warehouses selling chinese shit,drive around and 90% of factorys are full of service industry not manufatureres.never mind our Govt  is trying to get a trade deal with India and India is the new China, Feck we are screwd.

You're not wrong there Bazza, I'm a toolmaker & once Fonterra & Goodman Fielder ditch plastic bottles for bags for their milk I'll be tossed on the scrap heap 

[motomaniac]

yes and the current and previous governments ( labour and liberal) were/are quite happy to sit back and watch it all happen. fork those governments and sucking up to the Septics/Asia and every other nation thats undermines our industry's be it agriculture, manufacturing for what they call fair trade "fair for who" not future generations that's for sure. 

I'm with you Hoony. Why on earth do we allow it ? No one no union or pollie spoke up about keatings " level playing field" , now everyone complains that everything is made in China where they work for $100-$200 a month.Privatization ( selling the farm) got a whimper but not much else .Our PM's kept brown nosing the Yanks when they were destroying our wheat exports with their subsidies.Why?
Globalization - Carbon tax (Gillards Handicap) what else can they throw at us? We are still the lucky one but our future generations won't be so lucky. Shits me too.

[Mike52]

It all started earlier than Keating .
I can remember a labor polly called Barry Jones [ he was on sale of the century and was real bright, apparently ]
Anyhow he said that it was time [ 1982/3] to drop manufacturing because it had no future and to go down the IT information path.
[During that time we lost a lot of manufacturing in Aus.]
Like all pollys he didn,t realize that you have to have some one to do the work.
Anyhow myself and lot of my mates [ all fitter n turners ] left the trade and went truck driving , earth moving and farming and most of us NEVER went back to our trade.
Muggins me went back . Duhh
When they were making the power station at Millmerran they suddenly discovered that they could not find any fitter n turners and they were wondering why.
I asked my mates and they said that they wouldn,t work for shit money anymore.
Now if you want a fitter n turner you have to pay through the nose , how times have changed.

[motomaniac]

It all started earlier than Keating .
I can remember a labor polly called Barry Jones [ he was on sale of the century and was real bright, apparently ]
Anyhow he said that it was time [ 1982/3] to drop manufacturing because it had no future and to go down the IT information path.

Yes I remember him , 82- 83 was Hawke /Keating government .Keating was treasurer. Keating made most of the changes -I thought he was behind "the clever country" - all computer programers but maybe he just had a bigger voice than Jones. Anyway it was about the same time. The level playing field came after the deregulation of banks and the beginning of selling the farm . 84 he proposed GST - my father always wondered what those two were doing in the labour party.

[vmx42]

"If the government wants these smaller communities to prosper, they are going to have to commit more funds to them, to create better infrastructure and services to both keep people in, and attract people to, the communities."

Alision,
You are 100% correct the whole concept of FIFO is crazy.

But the mining companies are the ones that set the rules for this practice, and now you are asking that the community at large fund infrastructure in these towns to accommodate the [relatively] short-term requirements of the mining companies. Wouldn't every business like this kind of support which would effectively be a huge benefit to their bottomlines.

It is amazing that the miners can spend $25 million to scuttle the Mining Tax and then ask for what are more hand outs to enable them to send even more money offshore. Now that the public has wised up to the lies used to propagate this farce it seems too late [politically] to remedy the situation and get a fair return for our mineral assets.

My heart goes out to the residents of the small towns affected, but throwing money at the problem is a simplistic solution to a problem created by corporations well aware of the realities of conducting business in remote locations. Sure we can spend public money to expand these towns, but then in 20 years time we will be reading the reports of towns dying now that the miners have moved on… or the mining companies can deal with the reality of their enterprises and fund the requirements of their workforce from their enormous surpluses and profits.

Or they can put their hands out… [again]
VMX42


As for your dream to go back to an earlier time where life was supposedly perfect… I share your dream, but reality has a habit of squashing those kinds of ideals.  Or maybe we are just getting old?

[firko]

The demise of manufacturing in Australia isn't wholly an Australian problem, most of the (previously) industrialised world is losing its manufacturing to China, India or wherever the items can be produced for a viable price. Detroit auto maufacturing would shut up shop tomorrow if it wasn't for US government subsidies and tax breaks. When Japanese cars are being made in China and much of the worlds electronics made either in China or Korea the plight of Vegemite manufacture going offshore seems a bit insignicent. This has been slowly happening for 50 years but we've all turned a blind eye because in the end we all love a bargain.
Blaming governments and big business might give us something to vent our angst upon but the bottom line is that we're all to blame and it's now way too late to very much to alter the course. Greed wins every time

[Marc.com]

its the way of the world.There will be naf all manufacturing in Unzud in 5 yrs,thats why youth of nz are going to Auz for jobs,we are becoming a land of logistics ,freight and warehouses selling chinese shit,drive around and 90% of factorys are full of service industry not manufatureres.

The economic theory is the labor that was previously involved in manufacture is then freed to move into areas of the economy where we have some comparitive advantage over the competition, like mining, logistics or agricultural production.

So I think the decline of manufacture is not all bad as it allows us to focus our labor resources where we have an advantage, so more labor can migrate to mining reducing production costs or move into the service industry armed with new skills.

I originally trained as fitter turner, saw the writing on the wall for manufacture and returned to University and graduated in logistics. Really Aussie an NZ only have the option of raw material and service business, the Indians and Chinese have endless pull of cheap labor for manufacture and smart labor for high tech, so in all other areas can stomp us like a bug.