It all sounds too hard and too expensive. It would be much easier to move offshore and take advantage of cheap labour where these educational and technologic costs can be avoided.

Besides, the more companies that move offshore, the less the demand for Australian employees will be in the future.

Dear Narcissist, yes.. but we would be faced with a very serious problem. The unemployed unskilled people in Australia.
Manufacturing accounts for a fairly sizable chunk of our economy and employment. If we had 100,000 people out of work, who were in a very BAD mood at the prospects for the future, and who decided to ORGANIZE themselves, and take action....well it could be very ugly mate.

SLAVERY and our COMPLICITY. We have to recognize that 50c an hour for Chinese workers is basically slavery in all but name. The standard/cost of living in the areas where the Factories exist may be lower than ours, but this is when you eat at the absolute bottom rung of the food chain.

I suggest that rather than emphasize 'PROTECTING' Australian workers, we alter the attack to LIBERATING CHINESE SLAVES, by punishing Chinese manufactured goods until wages and conditions improve for chinese workers.
By continuing to purchase goods made under these conditions, it is the same as purchasing Rubber at a time when it was procured from plantations which used slaves, and the same would apply to Cotton at a particular point in time.

It might be argued that our standard of living will be reduced if we have to pay more for chinese goods. Sure, to a point. But the other side of that coin is this. What impact will there be on our society when many thousands of unemployed people face a hopeless future and cannot afford even the basics of life now?

Is it not preferable for all of us to face higher cost of some goods, and all of us have jobs ?

It's a little simplistic to say its all about low wages, this is not true for a lot of manufacturing.

Shipbuilding for instance, wages in Korea are higher than Australia but they can buy our iron ore and coal, make their own steel and build a better, cheaper oil tanker in half the time, hence we don't build oil tankers.

Apple computers made in Singapore, by robots. Not touched by human hands.

Mitsubishi Air Conditioners made in Thailand, again not touched by human hands.

High Tech manufacturing plants, subsidised by Govt. Its called Industry Policy, we used to have one thats why, for now, we still make cars.

Unfortunately we need an educated, skilled workforce something that has neen ignored for too long.

Networking in our modern society is the No1 tool to manufacturing success.
The Chinese have a great networking system that is able to exploit situations that we Australians must envy.
The ability to open a chinese resturant in a country town then employ only Chinese,is what networking is all about.
The Norwegians have networked to go from poor fisherfolk to owners of some of the largest ships in the world.
Australia's fixation on employing overseas people and money highlight what is wrong with Australian business.
We should have the largest fishing fleet in the world except our government has decided to allow other nations to fish our grounds and force Australian fishermen only very limited access to our grounds.
On top of this the Taxation Dept has creamed off any profit that a successful operator make.
Australia could be a greater country if it started looking at it's own self interest,and stop getting more and more people to take the jobs that locals can do.

Boaz, continuing to repeat the same deluded story will never, ever make it accurate.

>>I suggest that rather than emphasize 'PROTECTING' Australian workers, we alter the attack to LIBERATING CHINESE SLAVES, by punishing Chinese manufactured goods until wages and conditions improve for chinese workers. By continuing to purchase goods made under these conditions, it is the same as purchasing Rubber at a time when it was procured from plantations which used slaves, and the same would apply to Cotton at a particular point in time.<<

How, in the name of everything mathematical and logical, can you possibly imagine in your wildest dreams and most far-fetched fantasy that refusing to buy Chinese manufactured goods, or making it more difficult/expensive for Australians to buy Chinese goods, will in any way, shape or form improve the conditions of Chinese workers?

Only by continuing to support the free trade of their products will you give them a chance to improve their lot in life. An act which, incidentally, has the additionally beneficial effect of keeping our own cost-of-living low.

It is win-win, Boaz. And absolutely nothing to man the barricades about.

A decade or so ago I worked in a factory in the pulp and paper industry in Melbourne, it is still in existence. The bulk of the machinery in the conversion section was second hand when first installed 35 years ago, I understand that this is still the case. Looking at the photos of the recently deceased Ajax plant, the same Dickensian feel is there. Maybe Australian Management should take a good hard look at itself. A late friend in the shipping industry in Melbourne told me that the saddest part of his then job was to quote for shipping entire factory units to China. We all know where the jobs went. Thank you little Johnny Howard and crew.

Richard42