Manufacturing
Mark Twain had the bizarre pleasure of reading his own obituary. It would be a salutary experience.
The obit for Australian car manufacturing, however, has the aspect of a soap opera. It’s been running for years with the same grinding inevitability and fading stars.
Rumours that the death have of those one-time Strayan icons – Ford’s Falcon and Holden’s Commodore – have not in fact been exaggerated were confirmed today at the Detroit motor show. Once the champions in the two-horse race that was the local new car stakes, both nameplates will be sent to the knackery in 2016 (or at best be assigned to imported American models).
Continue reading "A race to the finish for Ford and Holden?" »
It’s 25 years since the manufacture of asbestos stopped in Australia but the shadow it has cast over the lives of thousands of families is as dark as ever.
The asbestos tragedy we have seen in Australia is repeating itself in countries like India and Laos, and this time we don’t have ignorance as an excuse to do nothing.
Those who watched “Devil’s Dust” on ABC last week will have been reminded of the toll asbestos has taken, and the story is not finished yet.
Continue reading "Time to shame nations which support the asbestos trade" »
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the moor says:
Isn’t a moral lawyer an oxymoron? Read more »
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mikey says:
Serf’s rights aren’t important to people of the ruling class Knermon. We are just commodities to be used up and spat out with as little inconvenience as possible. Read more »
There has been a lot of discussion about the coalition of women, African Americans and Latino voters that supported Obama, yet we seem to have missed what pushed the swing states over the line.
The key to understanding Obama’s victory is the not simply the auto-bailout, but his ability to convince people that American manufacturing is worth supporting because it is in the national interest. That it represents the future.
Take a look at his speeches. Or his adverts. Many of these were targeted at Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, used the real stories of manufacturing workers and the lessons of the bail out - contrasting them with the position of Romney who argued that the auto-industry should be left to go to the wall.
Continue reading "Grease the manufacturing sector, win an election" »
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PJ says:
** time for the Government what? Well the carbon tax put 15% straight onto our cost of goods before we’ve applied a mark up for profit. We have been ranked 50th in an assessment on productivity growth, according to a global survey that places the nation’s economic performance behind loads… Read more »
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tgs says:
Surpised that Paul Bastian didn’t delcare that he is the national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union in the interests of full dislcosure. Knowing that fact puts his simplistic and self-interested calls for returns to protectionism in context. Read more »
It’s not surprising that the latest Nielsen poll shows that the carbon tax remains deeply unpopular, despite the Gillard Government’s “cash for you” compensation.
Australians instinctively know that this tax, as well as being entirely futile, represents a major betrayal by the Government.
While the polls show that many feel rising costs are not the major problem with the carbon tax, many hidden costs are yet to be revealed.
Continue reading "Australians won’t warm to the carbon tax" »
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John says:
Sophie should stick to ripping off demented old men. Read more »
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John says:
Sophie should stick to ripping off demented old men. Read more »
There is a vast expanse of disused and dirty industrial land about 1km from where I grew up which served for years as a gigantic money pit for the Australian taxpayer.
The millions and millions of dollars poured into it ultimately failed to do anything to stem its demise.
Today, the abandoned Mitsubishi site stands as a monument to an industrial policy which tried to forestall the inevitable, creating false hope for workers whose jobs were marginal at best, and enlisting the taxpayers as a reliable cash-cow while failing to put any real pressure on the company chiefs to address the demand problems with the type of cars they were producing.
Continue reading "Taxpayers dig deep to create empty industrial estates" »
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Omar says:
if your good with a paint gun,,and good at body work you can do it your self,,but buying the right sadners ,and having the right equipment to work with it real important ,,if you don’t have this stuff,it will show up in your work,,you have to have the right tools… Read more »
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Dale says:
I beaten the game a long time ago on Xbox, seems that Xbox has a scpieal feature, when you have Xbox LIVE, you can download characters such as Rod Torque’ Redline, Victor Hugo, The Queen, Uncle Toplino, and more. (Also if you buy the Xbox game at Walmart, there is… Read more »
The announcement by Toyota of several hundred job losses this week is certainly alarming and it will have had and will continue to have ramifications for the broader industry.
But it will only mark the end of the industry if we as a society say we don’t want manufacturing and we are happy to simply be China’s quarry and maybe a second tier tourist destination.
In all the hyperbole and wild statements we hear about our mining industry, we rarely hear some of the uncomfortable truths. That it’s only 9 per cent of the economy, that it is the cause of the high Australian dollar which is putting pressure on our manufacturers and farmers, and that, at its best, it really only represents the highest aspirations of the average third world dictator.
Continue reading "A bloody good reason to subsidise car making" »
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Lurch says:
Maybe you are stephen, but let me tell you this. If talking shit could make money, you would be a millionaire! Read more »
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Andrew says:
Enlighten me BJ, exactly what areas of agriculture do they pay less then the minimum wage of $15/hr Read more »
The Australian economy is in danger of being torn apart by the resources boom.
The high prices being paid for our minerals, the unprecedented foreign investment to dig up those minerals and the rising value of the dollar are already reshaping our economy. This is only the beginning.
It will end, all booms do, but this one will take some time and it will bring great change.
Continue reading "The carbon tax won’t kill the economy, greedy miners will" »
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john says:
Somebody tell Greg Smith he didn’t run as the ALP candidate for New England Idiots abound and conservative fanboys are liars because that’s all they have. Read more »
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Labor is Toxic says:
You get what you vote for Joan. In saying this, the Labor Party is so hated in the Electorate of New England that they did not have a candidate in the electorate for the 2010 election. And who did Windsor give power to???? It would be so bad if they… Read more »
Jobs are being lost, buildings are closing; hundreds of people are moving overseas.
Australian manufacturing is facing a major slump, with thousands more jobs expected in light of the carbon tax policy - especially in places like the La Trobe Valley in Victoria.
According to recent research from the Australian Trade and Industry Alliance, less than nine per cent of the one million manufacturing workforce are employed by firms that will receive compensation for the carbon tax.
Continue reading "One green job created, 3.7 jobs destroyed elsewhere" »
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Ezrine says:
Congratulations on birth of your daughter. Maybe you shluod hold off on the carbon fiber baby buggy until she’s old enough to weigh the facts for herself people hold strong opinions on both sides of the issue. Maclaren already offers the Carbon Fiber & Leather Stroller (CF6506) in case… Read more »
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James says:
How about looking at off-shoring of jobs, lack of government regulation and rampant corruption in the finance “industry” for the real reason why unemployement in the US is so high. If green jobs are so bullshit why is Germany, with a large green bloc in government and strong green jobs… Read more »
“Dead, buried, cremated,” Tony Abbott decreed theatrically of WorkChoices amid a shaky start to his 2010 election campaign.
It turned out it was a mere hiccup compared to the spectacular Cabinet leaks on the Government side which scuttled Julia Gillard’s credibility. She has never really recovered.
But the mere fact that a resurgent IR debate scared him witless says much about the history of this issue and the scars the 2007 defeat left.
Continue reading "Abbott may need to revive dead, buried IR policy" »
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Virginia says:
This poll shows the Labor support at its leowst level since the last election and the P.M.‘s support at about the same level as Beasley before he was ousted.I can’t agree with John Anderson who thinks that Abbott is the only reason the ALP is still in the race. Abbott’s… Read more »
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Romerson says:
mumbles said:If Rudd wins with an increased mairojty (the most likely outcome) one overarching explanation will be that standard after any government’s re-election: that the opposition moved too far from the centre.Abbott should not have carried on so much about asylum seekers and the mining tax, they’ll say. More to… Read more »
By many counts, Australia’s economic position is to be envied by the world. Assuming the Gillard government can deliver on its promise, there will be a surplus for the 2012-13 budget. We are experiencing historically high terms of trade: importing on the cheap while exports sell high.
Unemployment is only a touch over 5%. Our dollar has overtaken the US Greenback. We have the second lowest public debt (proportional to our GDP) in the industrialised world. And If you’ve listened to Treasurer Wayne Swan open his mouth in the last 6 months, you’ll know that our economy’s “fundamentals are strong”.
It may surprise some therefore, that I would suggest that this is no time for complacency about our future. Indeed, our position is more precarious that one might initially think. For there’s another side to the Australian story: lopsided growth, struggling non-resource exporters, depleting natural resources, coming challenges of an ageing population and climate change, and a vulnerability to oscillating commodity prices. Considering these factors, it is best that the orthodox optimism surrounding our economic future be taken with a grain of salt.
Continue reading "Australia must have a sovereign wealth fund" »
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Joombi O'Flaherty says:
Or perhaps an opposition with the balls to block the increase in the debt ceiling, seeing as it’s against their platform Read more »
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Dicko says:
My bullshite meter just busted reading some of these comments. Of course we need a sovereign wealth fund other wise our descendants will be left with a great big empty hole in the ground, an empty bank account, and all of the good bits of the country owned by overseas… Read more »
Alongside coal, steelmaking has dominated the Illawarra economy for the better part of a century. The industrial landscape of Port Kembla continues to define the lives of the people that work and live in its shadow, the people that I represent in the federal electorate of Throsby.
When I left high school in the early eighties, the Steelers NRL team was still running around in the top flight (before merging with St George), and many of my mates took up apprenticeships with the company that sponsored the famous scarlet jersey, BHP Steel.
We were a steel city, a proud working-class town, just like our sister city of Newcastle. In many respects we still are. But just like Newcastle and in the other manufacturing regions around Australia at that time, the ground was already shifting under our feet.
Continue reading "Sacked steelworkers, we will not abandon you" »
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Karinaa says:
Hi Kyle, thanks for rdieang. I won’t speak for the environmental movement, but in my estimation they have been quite astute in the choice of target. Unfortunately, as you point out, if the goal was really to reduce carbon emissions then there are much better targets out there than the… Read more »
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acotrel says:
Aren’t BHP Billiton and Bluescope Steel effectively the same enitity? Perhaps if BHP had put something back into their Australian steel manufacturing to improve quality and efficiency, and thus competitiveness they’d have been in a better moral position to resist the Resources Rent Tax ? Have they left Australia workers… Read more »
It is not often that you wake up on a Saturday in Sydney and have a choice of rallies to attend – but this is exactly what happened last week.
In case you missed it, the two rallies were organised in support and opposition to the proposed “price on carbon” strategy put forward by the Federal Government.
Being excited by a bit of political expressionism in a city where Saturday morning priorities are usually shopping and cappuccinos, I decided to attend not just one but both.
Continue reading "To manufacture fortunes we need contentious ‘taxes’" »
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Cate P says:
People in long queues. “We’re moving forward, we’re moving forward”. Read more »
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eye4aneye says:
James I wish I could say your a tool - then at least you would have a use. Read more »
Put the shopping basket down and step AWAY from the dairy aisle. Admit it. You were about to buy the $1 milk weren’t you?
Why? Well, as the insidious Coles jingo bleats: “Because We All Buy Milk!” You were about to save a whole 75 cents a litre.
But you were also falling for one of the dirtiest tricks in supermarket history – a trick which is possibly threatening the viability of a major Australian industry.
It all started, ironically, on Australia Day, but let’s look at the aftermath.
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Rosana says:
It seems that if the SA Government had noticed the rleust of what had happened to Ireland after their plastic bag ban, they would have learned that all the plastic bag ban does is increase the sales of bin liners.Its seems illogical that the SA Government would choose to get… Read more »
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czcgprlxh says:
DlsLV9 xfrpeqilmqsv, sliolrvkkrvk, [link=http://tpfvrpdkjafx.com/]tpfvrpdkjafx[/link], http://qtdqqnbunzdj.com/ Read more »
You’ve got to wonder how genuine Union boss Paul Howes’ latest headline-grabbing attempt to put himself centre-stage really is.
He’s launched the “Don’t Dump on Australia” campaign, ostensibly on behalf of his union members, to encourage people to protest Australia’s ineffective anti-dumping laws.
Fair enough. But the question is – why doesn’t he just get on the phone to the woman he installed as PM? Why doesn’t he remind Julia that he knifed Kevin to get her there and, after all, this is the year “of decision and delivery”.
Continue reading "Howes will dump on anyone, except for Gillard" »
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jf says:
Neither Tony Abbott nor his party have been in Government for the last two terms. Read more »
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Christian Real says:
Julie Bishop, with her sometimes stone facial expression reminds me a little of Margaret Thatcher,the former English Prime Minister. Given the chance,the backing and support I think that Julie Bishop would adapt to the Leadership role of the Liberal Opposition Party very well indeed. Sophie Mirabella,you might even make a… Read more »
To some Australians the high dollar is cause for celebration.
A great way to pick up a bargain over the internet or a cheap holiday overseas. But for many, including 100 workers at Caterpillar in suburban Melbourne last week, it means watching your industry become less competitive and suddenly finding yourself out of a job.
The cause of the high dollar is Australia’s mining boom.
Continue reading "A high dollar carries an even higher price" »
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Ray says:
I’m sorry! Its just impossible to take anything that Dave Oliver says seriously. This is the union boss that openly had a voodoo doll of one of the female amwu organisers. This man has no idea how to treat his own workforce. His is a terrible union full of bullies… Read more »
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The Badger says:
Did all you Australian workers out there see what Steve thinks of your work ethic? “the Aussie workforce is more or less a bunch of bludgers” aussie worker, do you thing you are a bludger? Do you think you do a fair days work for a fair days pay? Read more »
Several years ago scientist David Suzuki observed that humans have an innate need to be connected with nature, even if it’s only a nearby park or a tree in the backyard.
Australians, who have always expressed nature as part of their national identity, are manifesting this observation more than ever before.
In a recent study looking at a range of social issues related to modern living a surprisingly high number of participants reported growing their own vegetables or herbs at home.
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Bob H says:
@Gordon (the Garden Gnome) - Your Garden has become a tool for media fashionistas, I bet your garden was previously an house extension fashion statement complete with scatter cushions. The recent craze for planting veggies and housing chickens(no snake problems then) is the latest in Gardening fashion trends to be… Read more »
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Sloth says:
Again, this is precisely the problem with non-lawyers attempting to tell people what the law is. Indeed, this is unsurprising; the vast majority of actual lawyers can’t get it right, what hope does the general population have? Nevertheless, the Food Act (WA) does contain a definition of sale. That definition… Read more »
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