Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/12543
Title: A Country that Makes Things?
Contributor(s): Gibson, Chris (author); Carr, Chantel (author); Warren, Andrew  (author)
Publication Date: 2012
DOI: 10.1080/00049182.2012.682298
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/12543
Abstract: The announcement in August 2011 that BlueScope Steel was about to close one of its Port Kembla blast furnaces and cease steel exports quickly spurred public debate, not just about steel but about the very future of manufacturing in Australia. With an elevated Australian dollar, job losses have followed in garment-making, car manufacturing and aluminium smelting. Even the iconic Australian fly-spray Mortein is now heading for offshore production. Australian Workers' Union National Secretary Paul Howes thus suggested: 'The question the Australian community needs to ask itself - is do we want to be a country that still makes things? Do we want to value-add to our natural resources, or do we want to become just one big sandpit for China and a tourism resort for North Asia?' (quoted on ABC Radio 22 August 2011, 8:10 a.m.). In this commentary we want to argue that geographers have an important potential role in this debate, providing contrasting opinion to market economists who have thus far dominated the discussion. Economists of free-market persuasion have been quick to suggest that the decline of manufacturing is inevitable, part of a broader, permanent shift away from material production to the 'knowledge' economy and dependence on lucrative minerals exports.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Australian Geographer, 43(2), p. 109-113
Publisher: Routledge
Place of Publication: Australia
ISSN: 1465-3311
0004-9182
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 160401 Economic Geography
160403 Social and Cultural Geography
160404 Urban and Regional Studies (excl Planning)
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 440602 Development geography
440404 Political economy and social change
440406 Rural community development
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 960302 Climate Change Mitigation Strategies
869999 Manufacturing not elsewhere classified
959999 Cultural Understanding not elsewhere classified
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 190301 Climate change mitigation strategies
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

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