Rubbish Belly, it does not matter a hoot what any politician says or
does, the whole system is going to be reconstructed anyway, the only
argument is do we take preemptive action or do we have it forced upon
us by circumstances that we do not control.

It may well be that Cocola Amatil, 24% owned CoCola Company, will decide to unload the SPC plant.
There then would be a case for the government to buy the SPC plant
and give those shares to the local council, or a co-op setup to own
and run the plant.
It would be an early example of localisation, which is the way of the future.
Then the government could institute food tariffs to protect our food sources.
If the WTO doesn't like it tell them that the world is changing and they are about to become redundant.
When it comes to survival then it is number one first !

No we can't. There are far easier ways to make money for less effort. Hence no one with any brains will invest in manufacturing in Australia.

I wonder how many of the arm chair warriors here have actually tried to get a manufacturing business up and running in Australia?

The costs are through the roof. There are so many hurdles. Unless you've actually tried and done it, you'd have no idea. It's an exercise in futility and most, nine out of ten fail.

Generally speaking, employees are like tenants: the owner must accept all risks, responsibility and accountability, and he should be grateful if any care is taken in return of his expensive investment.

Jobs, like shelter, are always the responsibility of 'someone else' and 'government'.

"Hey, got to take an early mark boss, its Poet's Day and we've having a monster p*ss-up at the renter. Visitors allowed to park on the landscaping. Move the wood fired spit with pig into the living room if it rains."

RawMustard,
Agree.
Been there with small businesses. Successful but always sold, no guessing why.

....Generally speaking, employees are like tenants: the owner must accept all risks, responsibility and accountability, and he should be grateful if any care is taken in return of his expensive investment.

Well said OTB. By the way, that's exactly why Holden are leaving. Their workers conditions are the envy if the world, only one small problem, they have no jobs!

You see the unions in all their wisdom forgot one minor detail when stamping their feet for the deal of a life time, Holden!

....Been there with small businesses. Successful but always sold, no guessing why.

Here here! Although I still run a small business on my days off, it's just that I have No Staff, No Landlord (apart from my own super fund) and no headaches.

Should have done it years ago because the better you do in this country, the more the tall poppies want to shoot you down.

Dear rehctub,

You keep trotting out the same old line and it is bollocks. German workers are paid twice their US counterparts and considerably more than our auto workers. Add to that conditions like 8 weeks annual leave compared to our 4 weeks and 2 in the US.

Yet they manage to produce twice as many cars as the US.

Redux, re BMW etc, yes but I cannot afford to buy their cars.
I used to buy Volvos but they are now out of my reach, I now have a
Carolla.
It would be interesting to know just how they do it.
Perhaps more importantly, how Renault and Citroen do it.
I notice GM is now out of Europe.