Free Trade

A mate of mine went on a family holiday to China in January. He relayed an interesting item from a local English language newspaper about a new pay deal which had been struck for manufacturing workers in Macau. Under the deal, the workers will be paid AUD $239. Not $239 a day. Not $239 a week. But $239 a month.

Factoids such as this are illustrative, and depressingly so, as countries such as Australia grapple with the future of manufacturing jobs. The current discussion about the future of the car industry has been complicated by the high Australian dollar, which is driving up the cost of everything we export.

Regardless of whether our dollar was at 70 cents or at parity with the greenback we would still be wrestling with the exact same problems of competition amid the unstoppable forces of globalisation.

Continue reading "Propping up car jobs won’t save them in the long run" »

President Barack Obama’s speech to the Australian Parliament, like those of his predecessors, was indeed an historic occasion.

Amidst the hype and ceremony, I can’t help but wonder if a couple of Labor Ministers didn’t squirm a little in their seats as the President reminded us: “We seek trade that is free and fair. And we seek an open international economic system, where rules are clear and every nation plays by them.”

In a reference to the G20 and the World Trade Organisation, which just days earlier had welcomed Russia to its ranks, the President stressed: “We need growth that is fair, where every nation plays by the rules – where workers’ rights are respected and our businesses can compete on a level playing field… so no nation has an unfair advantage.”

Continue reading "To be fair we need to stop people dumping on Australia" »

A big stink over loo paper not only threatens to flush thousands of Aussie jobs down the can, but leave Kevin Rudd holding a steaming pile of, well, you get the picture.

In a precedent-setting decision that’s as “silly as a bum full of smarties”, to steal a line from Kenny, the government has allowed 20,000 tonnes of Chinese and Indonesian dunny paper to be dumped on the Australian market at prices up to 45 per cent cheaper than in their home countries; much of it under the Woolworths Select label.

But before you shout “you bloody bewdy” and pop out to Woolies for some bargain bog rolls, pause for a minute and contemplate just why any company would sell a mountain of goods at a loss.

Continue reading "The great stink over cut-price toilet paper" »

In identifying the most revolutionary discovery or invention in human history we are confronted with a bewildering choice: from fire and the wheel, through to electricity, nuclear fission and the silicon chip. But one stands out. Simple in conception and design, but revolutionary in its impact – the printing press.

The Gutenberg bible, the first book printed with moveable type only 570 years ago, opened up the written word to all of humanity. It forced open the closed books of religion; it empowered discovery and research.

Just imagine a world without books and literacy. We would have no internet. Our knowledge would be limited to that which had been passed on by friends or acquaintances, or by those in power – be they religious or secular. For this was the world before the printing press.

Continue reading "More expensive books are a tragedy for us all" »

Australia’s creative industry has again shown its canny ability to frame a debate.

The recent dispute over lifting restrictions on parallel book importation has been cast as a classic good versus evil battle. On the one side, we apparently have the noble educated patriots, boldly standing on the last line of defence for Australian culture, and on the other we have a mounting tide of sub-standard (foreign made) literature and a cabal of neo-liberal charlatans hell-bent on unleashing it on the young impressionable minds of Australian readers.

Author Tim Winton says the Productivity Commission is “hostile to Australian rights.” Louise Adler, CEO of Melbourne University Press, launched a shrill attack on the Productivity Commission as “neo-liberals and economic fundamentalists.” 

Continue reading "Spare me the artists’ pain, change book import laws" »

The Productivity Commission’s recommendation for the removal of parallel importation restrictions on books is a cause for celebration for book lovers in Australia.

By that I mean the millions of Australian consumers who will benefit from the removal of these outdated protectionist measures.

The books debate this time round (there have been five earlier reports to Government - all but one recommended the full removal of protection, while the fifth recommended partial removal) has predictably been dominated by hysterical doomsday claims from authors and publishers.

Continue reading "Freeing up the books market is great news for readers" »