SPC Ardmona it is in the spotlight right now.
Hockey and Abbott put it there.
For out this country,s history government of both colors have supported farming industry's, and rightly so.
Just think of all those growers and workers indeed the whole community fate if it follows Holden.
Australia is open for business, hollow words indeed .
And consider this with zero room for doubt Murdock and his apprentice Tony Abbott would be screaming about carbon tax and Labors dirty hands if he had lost the election.
A hollow man hollow words and extremely unlikely to not be replaced in his first term.
Looking forwards to the results of Murdock press scandal,his sins run much deeper than the ABC he has tasked the lad with destroying.

hose in the federal ministry, are clueless when it comes to an Industry Policy.
Foyle,
You mean the previous not the current. If you do mean the current then you're the one thayt's clueless.

It's not so much a "realising a need" thing, Foyle, more of a straightforward evolution.

>>The USA has started to realise that they need to bring manufacturing back to their homeland<<

When there was a trend towards offshoring, it was to take advantage of the lower unit cost of labour available in other countries. This was able to offset the increased costs within the value chain, such as shipment, scheduling, manufacturing flexibility etc. as well as the substantial management overheads it created.

Over time, the disparity in costs has slowly evaporated, as the target country's workers become more highly paid. The other costs remained fairly static, so the equation became increasingly less attractive. This has led to a steady flow of "re-shoring" actions, particularly in the US.

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/comments/onshoring-is-china-losing-its-competitiveness-as-a-low-cost-location-for-ma

It's a case of "what comes around, goes around". Personally, I'll be far happier (as a consumer) when the economics of the call centre industry hit the same tipping point.

Dear rehctub,

This process is called 're-shoring' and leaders like Britian's David Cameron are pushing hard to make it happen in their countries.

These are some quotes from his speech in Davos;

He pointed to an emerging trend – re-shoring – where some jobs that were once offshored are coming back, from East to West. “It’s time to bring the benefits of globalization home to ensure the benefits are felt by hard-working people in terms of security, stability and peace of mind,”

“There is a chance for Britain to become the re-shore nation. Europe needs to act now to seize the opportunities of re-shoring.”

Unfortunately for us we have a government who is intent on doing the exact opposite, seemingly determined to off-shore Australian jobs and let base market forces rule. Ideology gone mad.

Perhaps the better question is not can, but why would we want to save manufacturing in Australia.

Manufacturing, & construction are the home of the least educated, least competent, & most unionised of the Australian workforce.

They are the most left wing & militant of the Oz unions, & offer nothing but trouble & expense to the average citizen.

They are often paid twice the award rate of pay, which is about four times what they are worth.

Looked at objectively, by any standard, it is more problem than it is worth, & the subsidies from the long suffering taxpayer are just not worth supporting.

Let it die. It won't cost much more to keep the auto bludgers on the dole, than at GM or Ford, & who knows, some might even develop a work ethic, after a while with little money. Yes, I know, but one can hope.

Rehctub,
Some industries started moving back to the US when bunker fuel started
to get more expensive.
Bulky goods found that the cost of moving containers across the
Pacific got too expensive and the furniture and bar and sheet steel
went back to to the US. One of the reasons that bunker fuel got so dear
was because of all the diesel cars being sold which meant that the
refineries had to be reconfigured to produce more diesel.
The result was ships had to buy a mix of diesel and bunker fuel.

Wheels within wheels so to speak.

Is Mise,
Well you are right of course when looked at in our current situation.
However, as fuel gets dearer people will use trains and buses for longer trips.
This will all be part of the new energy regime.

Frankly, I do not see a solution to our manufacturing problem.
It is interesting how the German auto industry manages it but then
most of their market is just down the autobahn.

Tariffs are the only way I can see it going and anyway globalisation
is on its last legs.

Don't wait for politicians, they are simply not living in our world
and don't know, or don't want to know, what is going on.