"We failed to build up our workforce through proper funding for education and training. We failed to invest in infrastructure and build our capacity in other areas. We woefully failed to invest in R&D. We are dangerously close to becoming a country that doesn’t make stuff”

This seems like an understatement.

It reminds me of a discussion I had with a science teacher. We went through what the science teacher used to teach science. The textbooks they used to teach science, the computers they used to teach science and the laboratory equipment they used to teach science were all imported.

The problems is Australians would rather buy cheap imports then support local business. The cost of living in Australian would have to comedown a get deal for us to be able to compete. Look at Bonds why are they moving their production offshore, costs and what is the cost that is forcing it?

It seems slightly weird to export Australian west coast iron ore and east coast coking coal to several countries to be turned into steel. The labour cost advantage can't be that great. However if Australia has a ETS albeit weak while India and China do not then I think we are guilty of high emissions by proxy. The converse case is that it might be better from a global perspective if Australia's coal fired aluminium industry relocated to Iceland, Quebec and DR Congo where they have cheap hydro.

Another anomaly is that all our yellowcake is turned into enriched uranium overseas, including one plant in the US that uses an Australian patented laser process. Now China is on a local buying spree and will probably get some trophy mines. One day when all our imported plasma TVs have been thrown on the tip and we have exhausted our rich deposits we will wonder what happened.

The problem with booms in Australia is that they are always at the expense of education and the flow on effect to research and innovation.

Why would a young person leaving school give a toss about a university education when truckloads of money were available for, well, just driving a truck?

A quick look at the boys’ toys in the Mackay airport car park in 2008 would convince anyone it was time to head west to the mines.

Now we have the situation where those who took the tougher road and still have a (albeit much lower paid) job are coming under attack for having that job.

Strange country, sometimes, this one of ours.

*The dirty little secret was hidden from view by the booming commodity price fig leaf. *

No dirty little secret at all, but common knowledge to those who
matter.

Doing things in Australia needs a comparative advantage, to make
it worth doing, otherwise, why bother?

You are of course free to take your hard earned savings and risk them
all on processing locally. You will be hit with payroll tax,
tax on insurance, overtime, long service leave, holiday pay,
retrenchment payout, sick leave, workers comp and a host of other
fees and charges. You will also have a workforce, some who are
convinced that you are there to rip them off and owe them a living.

If after all these things, you can still process locally and
make money, then go right ahead my friend.

Value add, in Oz, you've got to be kidding. Apart from the true facts given by Yabby, we then have the greens,

Any time anyone wants to indulge in any form of processing, you get a rabble of greens who are against. As their preference vote is so valuable to labor, the manufacturer will be tied up for very expensive years, & spend millions. Have a look at the Tas pulp mill. It's just not worth it.

Then we have material costs. I ran a company producing water saving equiptment, long before it became fashionable.

A lot of our stuff was machined from solid brass, & mostly chrome plated, for appearance. Our brass got dearer by the month.

So we stopped doing our own machining, & contracted it out to much larger people, who had better machines, & bought their brass cheeper. The prices doubled annually.

Finally we had to go to Taiwan. They supplied our stuff, finished, chrome plated, & assembled, for less than 1/3Rd of the price our local supplier told us was the price of his brass. It was less than half the price we had paid for brass, 8 years earlier.

WE still exported a couple of things we held patents for, but when those expire the company will become just another importer/wholesaler.

May god help our kids.