Banjo, the very nature of ever more complex manufacture means the
days of making eveything are long gone.

I would be amazed if the military does not have warehouses where
they carry significant spares for their equipment. If they don't
well that is all that is required. The rest of plan b is provided
by the global market itself. Toyota is long past being just
made in Japan, the same with Dunlop. They source parts from around
the globe, assemble around the globe, including in the US.

Today most 4wds are not even made in Japan, but in Thailand, or
now Brazil. So it would be very few parts or machines that cannot
be sourced from somewhere.

Countries are also more dependant on each other. If Japan decided
to switch off our Toyota parts, we could switch off their coal,
iron ore and gas. The lights would soon start going out in some
Japanese cities.

Belly:>> This is called world trade,tell me, do, are we to reintroduce tariffs to protect us from cheap imports but hope our exports are not subject to the same blind stupidity<<

Belly the free market ethos of stripping away protectionism to promote competition and deliver cheap goods is a crock for Australia. We have traditionally exported what we can grow or dig up, manufactured products have never been a major export component, we produced for the internal economy, and we were self sufficient. Now we are not and have 30% youth unemployment.

We were not under any threat of losing the grow and dig export component, not because we are the only game in town but primarily because doing ongoing business in the first world is a load more secure than dealing with our main competition in the third world where you can lose your investment with a change of government.

If we forget about labour intensive industries such as the garment industry most brand name manufactured goods come from modern manufacturing plants in second and third world nations, hardly sweat shops but very fixed cost effective. They have enough profit to ship it around the world and still make great margins. It is not true that we cannot compete in modern manufacturing given that labor costs are year by year a decreasing portion of the fixed costs of that business, a fraction when amortized over the volume technology now spits out.

We have been conned about not being able to compete, and the dumbing down of our kids will mean we are doomed to serfdom.

* we produced for the internal economy, and we were self sufficient. Now we are not and have 30% youth unemployment.*

We were never self sufficient Sonofgloin and we never can be,
especially with increased manufacturing specialisation. There
are jobs for all of our youth, if they bother to train for the
skills required. The very reason we keep bringing in trained
migrants, is that our own lack training and education.

But you can't force kids to learn and gain skills, if they have
it so good, that they think they don't need to be trained.
Note who is training all those engineers etc. Its the Chinese,
Japanese, Koreans, Indians.

Note countries like Germany, Switzerland etc. Still large exporters
with large manufactuing facilities. Why are they doing so much better
then Greece, Spain, Portugal etc? They focus on training their
youth, if not to university, in one trade or another. Virtually
nobody just leaves school, planning to flip burgers for a living.

For instance, walk into any major hotel around the world, the
managers are commonly Swiss. Why? In Lausanne they have one of
the top hotel management training schools in the world. Nestle,
Roche, Schindler, and a host of other today global companies, who
grew because of the quality of their employees. Its the same with
German companies.

Introduce tariffs and all you are doing is dropping the standard of
living of all consumers who pay more, plus increasing costs of
efficient exporters, to make them less competitive globally. So
you've really just shot yourself in the foot, then wonder why it
hurts.

Banjo about plan B, we don't have a plan A. Plan A is in place and running but our government has nothing to do with it, we are a leaf in the stream, and the money in league with the UN control the water flow.

My uncle was a career soldier and in the years before they retired him he was in charge of visiting private manufacturing companies inspecting the machinery and its capability to be put towards war production should it become necessary (a job he also did for a while in the 60's), he retired in 1980 and said we have no way of producing anything of substance to save ourselves, we were more independent twenty years prior.

Neither party has a long term strategy or vision, they live for today and that is a concern. Do they know something we do not, do they govern for today because they know we do not control our nations destiny, sure looks like it.

Banjo regarding your question on could this current lot implement a plan B if they had one, you have got to be joking, this lot are uni educated Fabian lawyers well out of their depth, bereft of reality and coated in ideology.

*he retired in 1980 and said we have no way of producing anything of substance to save ourselves *

Sonofgloin, you continue to live in dreamland. The world has
changed, deal with it.

Australia is a huge country, it would be extremely difficult for
any invader. The heat and flies in the desert would defeat nearly
all of them. A war in Australia would not be about a few tanks
on the ground. Look at modern warfare in Iraq or Afghanistan,
they were all about air power and technology. They are also about
the local population.

America bombed the hell out of both places, but could do little good
in either place, until they had the population onside. Even in
Afghanistan, they are realising that unless they have the local
population onside, America cannot win.

America is doing the most good, with a few remote controlled
drones, technology that never even existed some years ago.

So your notion that we need to be able to manufacture tanks
and similar, to win a war in Australia, is a flawed one and
one that would be doomed to failure, despite the massive expense.

to manufacture tanks
and similar, to win a war in Australia, is a flawed one...
Yabby,
yes tanks etc are just about past their use by date. If we were to need tanks in Australia then it would be too late anyway to oppose any invader. I was thinking of daily supply of goods & back-up if any such crisis should manifest itself. The trick is to avoid invasion in the first place. How ? Put up hurdles to stem the invasion of stupidity via pop/fashion culture & drugs & gradually, sense would be restored
So-called no-need-for-you-to-know diplomatic activities by incompetent career bureaucrats are probably even more of a threat to Australia remaining a great place to live.