The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Does Australia have a plan B? > Comments

Does Australia have a plan B? : Comments

By Chris Lewis, published 25/10/2010

High levels of household debt in a world of competitive currency devaluations means the future isn't assured for Australia

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. Page 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. All
*Without coal exports the country would be bankrupt*

Vanna, you seemingly have no idea as to what is happening in WA.
200 billion $ worth of mining developments going on right now.
1 million tonnes or so of iron ore a DAY. The gorgon gas project
alone, is costing 45 billion$ to build. Then we have the woodside
projects and all the rest. Gold, uranium, copper, aluminium,
salt, you name it, we mine it.

Yes, coal is a large export. If we did not have it, we would have
a lower Australian $, more unemployed, so there would be a reason
to develop other industries and workers might be keen. That is not
the case right now.

*I don't think they would ever be released from jail, but in Australia is is common practice to use taxpayer funding to import.*

Well luckily we don't live in China then. In fact they are now copying
our market economy model, for they were starving beforehand.

The role of taxpayers money is not to prop up backward or ailing
industries, that money should be spent wisely. Otherwise all it
does, is drag efficient exporters down, with higher costs and
shoddy goods.

There are plenty of examples of the stockmarket providing mega
millions of $ for developing Australian technology, in things like
biotechnology. Most of the time they land up as dusters.

Ambri, Metabolic, Intellect. Just three of a host of companies
that had huge amounts of investment capital thrown at them to
develop Australian technology. Investors lost their shirts.

Now you want taxpayers to lose their shirts too.
Posted by Yabby, Sunday, 31 October 2010 4:50:48 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Yabby,
If you read my first post you will see that Australia could easily become bankrupt if coal prices decline, and if coal declines, iron ore follows.

The goal should be to reduce tariff protection, AND stimulate innovation and manufacturing in Australia at the same time.

Consecutive governments have failed to do this, they just took away tariff protection.

And now, there are numerous people in government departments and education systems who will not even look at anything made in Australia, because they think it would be inferior.

However, they like to get as much from the taxpayer as possible, because the taxpayer's dollar is still good (for a while).

After 200 years, we are now almost totally dependant on coal, and we now have a mediocre education system, a parasitic public service, very little science base, and a belief that anything made in the country is inferior.

Not a good mix.
Posted by vanna, Sunday, 31 October 2010 11:21:09 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Not this one, vanna.

>>In terms of software, Microsoft started in a gargage with two people<<

Google started in a garage. Hewlett Packard started in a garage.

Bill Gates started his business life much as he has conducted it ever since.

While at Lakeside Prep School, he and Paul Allen found a way to steal computer time from Computer Center Corporation, in order to practice their programming skills.

Far from "starting in a garage", the first Microsoft project was conducted while they both were employed by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems.

And Yabby, you are absolutely right.

>>...anyone in Australia who thinks they have the talent, can
develop software and market it globally<<

But only in theory.

While there are some exceptions - by the way I'd suggest Atlassian as an example, rather than MYOB - the hurdles facing the translation of software development onto the world stage are astronomic.

For a start, there is very, very little preventing a US company from stealing your idea (assuming it is any good) and exploiting it without you, given the nature and extent of patent protection in this country.

Even if you clear this hurdle, you will find the barriers to entry into overseas markets to be substantial.

To be successful in this environment, the software would need to be highly specialized in a high-value niche market. Which would be enough to make a successful company, but not enough on which to base a local industry.

And vanna again...

>>After 40 years of teaching computing, they then import all their computer software and hardware from another country<<

We tried making hardware here. We simply didn't have the economies of scale necessary to drive down the unit cost. We still don't.

And good luck in finding a software company locally who would have enough spare cash to invest in building educational software, bringing it to market, and foot-slogging their way around the campuses of Australia to sell it to budget-conscious buyers.

Telling them "you're supporting Australian industry" simply won't cut it, unless your product is a) superior in every way and b) cheaper.
Posted by Pericles, Monday, 1 November 2010 7:58:31 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Pericles,
Microsoft may be an example of innovation.

Certain individuals (not mentioning any names) got hold of a basic piece of code that had been put together to test a new chip.

They then transformed this code into something called DOS, which later became Windows and so on.

Very little starts from nothing, and innovation usually involves building on what is currently available.

Unfortunately, Australia is fast losing its ability to develop anything from anything else.

Our governments can’t do much about the private sector, but they can certainly do something about their government departments and education systems that mindlessly and automatically import nearly everything they use, with no thought to developing something inside this country.

We are fast becoming a country of consumers (and consumers only).
Posted by vanna, Monday, 1 November 2010 9:20:56 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Pericles, I was thinking of something like Sausage software.

The way I remember it, these young kids developed a web authoring
tool, flogged copies of it on the internet and did very well.

So its possible, even from Australia.

Vanna, sounds like you have some personal gripe with educational
institutions, so its hard for any one else to comment.

I am sure that if a local product were equal, local institutions would
use it
Posted by Yabby, Monday, 1 November 2010 10:02:45 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Vanna, I’ve mentioned this before but!

In the early 80s I was hired to establish local production for a firm who were importing high quality water saving equipment, from the USA, & Europe. This was quite successful, & they prospered.

In the late 90s I was contracted by the same firm to try to save the company which was rapidly failing.

I found that other companies were now importing competitive products from Asia. Products of good quality, fully finished, in individual packaging, printed to the importers design, for less than the Australian cost of the brass to make the products.

Why brass, made from our zinc & copper, should be cheaper in Asia than Australia escapes me. However while this is the case for very many materials, manufacturing in Oz, except for very small quantities, will not happen.

That company now survives, but as an importer, back where it started from
Posted by Hasbeen, Monday, 1 November 2010 10:29:27 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. Page 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy