Hey Bazz,
Ok I've considered your question and here's my answer:

No.
We cannot get our manufacturing back.
The reason why we cannot get our manufacturing back is this:

Democracy.
I blame democracy.

The nature of democracy is that we have two idiot main parties that never get along and never agree.

'Too many cooks spoil the broth'

In order to save manufacturing we'd need a dictator to make hard decisions and invest in nuclear to reduce the cost of energy, and even then we still have expensive and inefficient freight.

(The only other way to attract manufacturing business is to lower wage costs.)

That's not going to happen while democracy ensures that that one side opposes nuclear and will stymie any way forward.

Secondly the government treats 'energy' as a commodity it can profit from.

This is idiot logic and itself prevents businesses viability andSo no, unless we have a dictator that will make hard decisions to move us forward as opposed to constant squabbling and achieving nothing, then no, not going to happen.

Were on a one way debt train to destruction and rule by bankers, by design.

Hasbeen & AC,

Yes, democracy gets in the way of compulsory, low-wage labour. Lower wages would mean cheaper labour costs and thereby the retention of manufacturing in Australia. If only, you suggest, we had means to force wages down and impose compulsory labour.

As I understand you, "if only we had a dictator who had powers to compel people to work wherever he liked on low wages, with severe penalties, including capital punishment, for refusal to obey an order, then businesses would find it profitable to keep manufacturing here in Australia. "

Have I got it right now ? Was the 'capital punishment' a bit too far ?

Joe

Hey Loudmouth,
No, you misunderstood me.
What I'm saying is that there's 3 ways to increase the potential for manufacturing to return.
That would be:
Lower cost of wages
Lower energy costs
Lower transportation costs.

Lowering the cost of wages does not seem to be a good option.
So by default I have to lower energy and transport costs instead.

The reason I said we need a dictator is because I think democracy has its flaws, and that it would be better if someone just said 'we're spending 10Billion on Alan B's thorium over 4yrs and we will halve the cost on energy for both business and citizens.

But they won't do that.
They'd rather have rubbish policies like profiting from energy that makes businesses less profitable and viable.

From my point of view, it's not even a case of poor planning and incompetence by our leaders.

It's just as much a deliberate sellout of western sovereign nations by their leaders to globalism, New Word Order and One World government.

Honestly I'd rather be ruled by an Aussie dictator that had our best interests at heart rather than idiots who do nothing but ingratiate themselves and sell us out anyway.

If my past comments on democracy were not enough:
"If they make the rules for us we should make the rules for them;
without a real balance of power, real democracy is an illusion'

Then perhaps you should just read the news better.
Well actually this is the news they're not telling us-
What I actually want confirmed is whether or not Five-Eyes were complicit in helping the Russian Collusion delusion narrative in relation to Operation Crossfire Hurricane as well as helping (or attempting to help) one particular candidate namely Hillary Clinton become elected President of the US.

Are our intelligence agencies working together to help elect the leaders in our countries that they want?

That's the big question I have about our democracy.

All I'm saying is that democracy is flawed and they spend more time arguing over stupid things than they do working together for all our benefit.

AC,

Hmmmmm .... but where can we find a dictator who has our best interests at heart ? Are there many of them around ? Dictators usually seem to have other interests at heart, mainly their own.

Democracy will always be imperfect, and will always be a work-in-progress, that's its strength. It means that we all have to keep working at it.

Joe

What "markets" are we pricing ourselves out of with our minimum wage.
Our local economy perhaps?

How will lowering the spending power of the population increase the profits of any sector of the economy?

Underemployment is already bad enough with the taxpayer having to top up wage-poor workers just to help them survive. Cutting our basic wage by 80% won't suddenly make us more competitive with Japan.

This is just the typical simplistic cost-cutting mantra that employers spew forth every chance they get, comparing basic wages internationally but ignoring comparative costs of living and other local factors. These are the people who deliberately sent our manufacturing off-shore despite effectively falling wages.

I suppose our local poverty levels aren't growing fast enough for some - and it's a statistical fact they do grow considerably under conservative governments.

The most productive boom time in our economy was during the post WW2 era where people were well and fairly paid and invested their wages into infrastructure and housing.

Armchair,
>What I'm saying is that there's 3 ways to increase the potential for manufacturing to return.
>That would be:
>Lower cost of wages
>Lower energy costs
>Lower transportation costs.

Those are three ways, but they're not the only three (and the third one might actually favour imports).
Others include:
Make more valuable products
More production per worker (probably requiring increased mechanisation)
Lower Australian dollar (which unlike lower wages, doesn't make it harder for workers to pay of their debts)

But before going any further, it's important to keep in mind that fabrication is only a small part of the manufacturing process. Remember Apple profits far more from iPhone sales than Foxconn does!