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Ford closure is overdue and irrelevant to Australian manufacturing

The closure of Ford in Australia, announced today, is overdue and says little other than that a protected company lost touch with consumers. The eventual cessation of taxpayer bribes to Ford to maintain an uncompetitive production line is welcome news.

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The currency wars: how the mighty A$ is quietly shaping politics

The strong A$ is the elephant in the room of Australian politics, although Wayne Swan is now paying more attention to the productivity challenge posed by the currency wars. What can he really do about the gold-plated dollar?

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Mostly harmless industry policy fits Labor’s broader narrative

The government’s manufacturing policy is better than it might have been. Our man in Canberra reckons it reflects a coherent mix of economic policy and political strategy.

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Stop singing those blue-collar blues: manufacturing jobs rise

ABS data shows the dynamics of the Australian workforce are changing — good news at last for manufacturing, but bad news for public servants and construction workers.

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Parts maker Autodom collides into a multi-car pile-up

As car parts marker Autodom collapses, a report suggests car sales figures have been inflated. So why did we continue to pour massive subsidies into the auto industry?

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Ripples from the eurozone depression reaching Australia

Australia is seeing the first impacts of the extended European economic crisis, via Asian manufacturing.

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How we’ve forgotten the economic lessons of the 1990s

Demands for government intervention to protect manufacturing and to boost productivity share a common problem of laziness. Past economic lessons have been forgotten.

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‘Professional services’ joins big league of local employers

While mining continues to expand its workforce, professional services is now becoming a key employer in Australia.

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Whatever happened to the productivity crisis?

Yesterday’s national accounts significantly change our perspective on the “productivity crisis”.

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Getting the long-term retail story right

The real story of what is happening in retail is one of economic reform, but the media are determined to ignore it, write Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer.

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Gillard’s $215m ‘strategic
investment’

It’s not a hand out, Julia Gillard said today about her, well, handout — and those of the Baillieu and Weatherill governments — to US multinational General Motors to keep making cars here until 2022.

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Productivity is complicated — except when it comes to competition

The biggest single brake on Australian productivity is the mining industry, where productivity has declined by more than a quarter in the past two years, an analysis of ABS data reveals.

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Actually, manufacturing is employing more workers

Employment in manufacturing rose in the three months to February, the first rise since mid-2010. There hasn’t been as big a rise in manufacturing in trend terms since early 2008.

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Politicians and the awful reality of a strong dollar

For all her problems, Julia Gillard understands just how important the strong dollar will be not just for business but governments, write Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane.

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Essential: strong support for manufacturing assistance and pokies reform

There’s strong support for mandatory pre-commitment from voters, and they also back handouts for the car industry.

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Kohler: why unemployment is heading to 6%

There is an unfolding employment disaster going on in Australia, but compared with Greece and Spain, Portugal and Ireland, we’re doing just great.

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Strong dollar will wreak havoc on the out of touch in business

The continuing strong dollar will have implications for governments as well as the Australian economy. It’s time we faced up to it.

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Does automotive assistance work? We’ll know ‘in future years’

We could better debate manufacturing assistance if we knew what worked and what didn’t. But we can’t, not yet.

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GDP: accept it — the economy is booming

Today’s GDP numbers confirm that the AUstralian economy is in robust health. Without Europe, there’d have been no interest rate cuts, write Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane.

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Retail and building data stick to the two-speed trend

A slew of economic data confirms existing trends in the economy — and it’s not all bad outside the mining sector.

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Is the jobs forum a summit in search of a problem?

Employers and unions are unlikely to have much of a dialogue at the jobs forum in a few weeks.

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Essential: Rudd preferred as crisis leader; election now, say voters

Kevin Rudd’s the preferred choice of voters in the event there’s another financial crisis. But more voters want an election held now.

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Make or break: manufacturing should be weaned off the public teat

Huge industry subsidies by the taxpayer do little to preserve jobs or the industries themselves, writes Ian Hanke, of Agitate.com.au and the HR Nicholls Society.

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The major economic reforms no one voted for

The Australian economy is facing massive restructuring without our politicians lifting a finger, thanks to a manufacturing industry that’s in its longest period of decline since the 1990s recession.

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Our fiscal props: financial services and mining

Quick - what’s the biggest sector of the Australian economy? The answer reveals a lot about what’s happened since 2001, and what will happen in the next recession.

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