Australian manufacturing’s bleak prospects have been blamed on the Abbott government and its controversial budget.
During a forum at La Trobe University last week, University of Melbourne researcher Ross Garnaut, University of Technology Sydney’s dean of business school Roy Green and Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Dave Oliver discussed whether manufacturing has a future in Australia.
All three speakers agreed it did but felt government support was lacking.
“I’m a strong believer that Australian manufacturing has a strong future as long as we have the right settings in place and that includes strong support from government,” Mr Oliver said.
“But since the Abbott government’s election a year ago, there has been the exact opposite.”
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s contentious 457 visa arrangements, which enable employers to hire foreign workers on salaries up to 10 per cent below standard rates, were criticised in light of the domestic unemployment “crisis”.
Professor Green said 100,000 jobs had disappeared in 18 months. “If that’s not a crisis, I don’t know what would be,” he said.
The northern suburbs were once Victoria’s manufacturing hub, but they have been receiving severe blows. But according to Mr Garnaut, that decline wasn’t exclusive to manufacturing.
“Manufacturing in Australia is in a dreadful position – the same dreadful position as the rest of the Australian economy,” Mr Garnaut said.
