To Armchair Critic

The less funding to the UN and it's agencies the better. They are only getting worse and need to be replaced instead of fed more money.

what is anyone's view on manufacturing given china increasingly dominates that sector.

should the west, and Australia, do much more to revive manufacturing?

Hi Chris Lewis,
Regards Aussie manufacturing, if Australians won't go for lower wages then the ONLY WAY to make our nation more competitive is to lower transport and energy costs.

If they can address this problem the money might be well spent.
If they cant, then any money thrown at this sector is almost like throwing good money after bad, because we just can't compete.

The Chinese will take all the chips on the table anyway, their in a more dominant position.
They can buy struggling Aussie businesses at a discount and then just send a few containers over and make it profitable, where the Aussie struggled to make ends meet.

if Australians won't go for lower wages then the ONLY WAY to make our nation more competitive is to lower transport and energy costs.
Armchair Critic,
Leave the wages where they are, just bring down the salaries wasted on Bureaucracy because that's what makes our exports so undesirable ! Price & quality must be on a level that offers an importer of Australian exports the choice of buying here or elsewhere.
Same goes for penalty rates.
Taxpayer funded salaries have become the straw that breaks the Camel's back !
Superannuation for wage earners must never replace the old age Pension unless of course it is Govt guaranteed but something tells me that'll never happen. Pension is much more sustainable as the shareholders don't play & take risks with that money !

i think in this era of robotics, no reason why australia cannot manufacture more.

again china is leading way, but advantage is greater for western countries because wages are higher

China with a population of 1.5 billion, and its strange mix of Communism/Capitalism/Totalitarianism, one thing that is undeniable is the fact China is an economic miracle when compared to similar countries. Incomes for the majority of low paid workers is now around $12,000US p.a with unemployment in China at low levels, historically high at around 6% at present. Compare that to India with a population of 1.3 billion and its form of a Liberal Democracy, India has an average income for low paid workers of $150US p.a and unemployment rate of 8% pre coronavirus.

Nothing excuses human rights violations, and they are well documented in both China and India. Nothing excuses a belligerent attitude towards neighbours, both are guilty of that. So many similarity, but with different political systems giving markedly different outcomes.