Thought I'd start a new topic or at least shed light on a perpetual topic, that is the bullshit, lies, deceit or whatever else you want to call it peddled by governments as they work against us.
35+ years ago, we were working on a large factory construction. The owners were "Jennings Germans". At that time Port Kembla was producing the type of steel they required to construct their factory & they wanted to buy Australian steel from 200 kms away from it's place of manufacture. I suppose they were counting on the savings of very short transport of a local product. Unfortunately the Aussie steel from Port Kembla was double the price of steel from Germany, including freight. So they used German steel.
I remember at that time & ever since, governments telling us that a weak dollar is good because it makes us competitive or "X" is good for the country because it makes us competitive. Continuously since, we have lost our manufacturing & refining capabilities, all the while being fed some bullshit about resilience & strength in competition in the global market.
I was reminded of this, this afternoon while looking to replace windows at home.
The lady told me that the Australian product is undeniably better but it's twice the price of the imported product.
So after close to four decades of improving our competition, there has been no improvement & the country is all the worse for it.
**The factory was built in Canberra.
35+ years ago, we were working on a large factory construction. The owners were "Jennings Germans". At that time Port Kembla was producing the type of steel they required to construct their factory & they wanted to buy Australian steel from 200 kms away from it's place of manufacture. I suppose they were counting on the savings of very short transport of a local product. Unfortunately the Aussie steel from Port Kembla was double the price of steel from Germany, including freight. So they used German steel.
I remember at that time & ever since, governments telling us that a weak dollar is good because it makes us competitive or "X" is good for the country because it makes us competitive. Continuously since, we have lost our manufacturing & refining capabilities, all the while being fed some bullshit about resilience & strength in competition in the global market.
I was reminded of this, this afternoon while looking to replace windows at home.
The lady told me that the Australian product is undeniably better but it's twice the price of the imported product.
So after close to four decades of improving our competition, there has been no improvement & the country is all the worse for it.
**The factory was built in Canberra.