Handouts to the automotive sector hurt Australia and, if not abolished, should at least opened up to the rest of the manufacturing sector.
READ MORE19 Results
PROTECTIONISM
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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Customs plan dumps us back in the 1960s
A move by Customs to impose anti-dumping duties is a return to the bad old days of Australian protectionism. It’s inflationary and will distort policymaking.
READ MOREEssential: we’re mad for manufacturing protectionism
There’s surprising unanimity among voters about the need for government support for manufacturing, polling from Essential Report shows.
READ MOREHow 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.
READ MOREAlbanese’s shipping tax fiddle a taxpayer rort
Government’s growing enthusiasm for handouts is on display, with Anthony Albanese releasing draft legislation to give the Australian shipping industry $62 million in annual tax benefits and concessions. Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane report.
READ MOREWhy state governments need to get out of industry policy
Much damage can be done in the name of industry assistance by state governments.
READ MOREThe real price of television protectionism
Commercial television broadcasters receive hundreds of millions of dollars of benefits from government each year, and no one’s debating why.
READ MORECall the undertaker: economic reform is dead
Serious economic reform has not merely lost momentum in Australia, it’s dead. It’s time to look back on 30 years of reform — and work out what killed it.
READ MOREIs 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.
READ MOREProtectionism’s bad, but what’s the alternative?
Crikey readers have their say.
READ MOREThe return of protectionism: the gang’s all here
Protectionism is alive and well and has strong allies in the public policy arena.
READ MORESteel industry nabs $60,000 of taxpayer money per job
Under the cover of the carbon pricing scheme, Labor has reverted to old-fashioned protectionism with massive handouts to the steel industry.
READ MOREGarnaut’s ‘in for a penny, in for a quid’ approach to reform
Ross Garnaut figures if you’re undertaking a major reform you may as well do as much as possible.
READ MOREThere’ll never be a better time for a carbon price
Saying you support a carbon price but not if it costs any jobs is nonsensical. The point of a carbon price is change.
READ MORECount Carl Gustav Wachmeister wants to cut your lunch
Australia faces a growing “food security” problem, we’re told by politicians and industry. Except, we’re not - it’s just old-fashioned protectionism on the march.
READ MOREHow Paul Krugman will bring down the US economy
Economist Paul Krugman reckons the US should impose a 25% surcharge on Chinese goods until the country caves in and floats its currency. It’s a dangerous proposition, warns Jeremy Warner: it would simply ruin both economies.
READ MOREWinners and losers in the great game of industry assistance
Australia stopped reducing its industry assistance in the 1990s and has been increasing it for years — mainly to big multinationals in small industries with strong unions. And other sectors are paying the price.
READ MOREThe utopian borderless free world is fiction
Globalisation has created international economic dependency that erodes state power, writes Guy Rundle.
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