Time to bring back local manufacturing, cut red tape, and seriously think about where Australia is heading

It’s the end of 2022 and time to take stock of where we are now. Something has gone badly wrong. With almost every imaginable resource and a well-educated workforce our Federal Government is racing towards $1 trillion in debt with budgets in deficit for the foreseeable future. A once-vibrant manufacturing sector is now almost non-existent. According to the Australian Council of Trade Unions, we are now a “service economy with the focus on caring”. This foolish statement portents a very bleak future. Five States have elected socialist governments and we now have a socialist government in Canberra. A lot of people watch with dismay as the scourge of socialism is pushed by left-wing educators from primary school right through to university. The centre of politics has been pushed dramatically to the left and anyone espousing the values of the right is increasingly tagged by the phrase “radical”. The recent debate over proposed tax cuts in 2024 exposes the left at its worst. As questioned by Thomas Sowell — “what is your fair share of what someone else has worked for?” There is a dangerous smugness in the way that we see ourselves and that has lulled us into an unrealistic view of our place in this ever changing and dangerous world. The so-called jobs crisis has been caused by the splurging of hundreds of billions of dollars of borrowed money at both State and Federal levels by previous government on projects that could have waited. This has given us a false sense of prosperity and wellbeing and has not enhanced our capacity to produce anything in any way. These government-initiated infrastructure projects have created such a demand for labour and resources that the private sector struggle to compete. The competition in the marketplace is driving up prices and this is feeding inflation. There are a few here that may recall the 1980s burst of inflation (though apparently none in our current government). I was there and watched the stupidity of Labor, led by Bob Hawke, compensating workers with unaffordable wage rises in an attempt to insulate the population from the aforesaid inflation. Cost of production went through the roof, with interest rates for many at more than 20 per cent. Many businesses ceased to be competitive and the seeds for the destruction of our manufacturing base were sown. Eventually, under Paul Keating, we had “the recession we had to have”. Recessions are the hangover that comes at the end of gutless populist government policy. At least Keating understood that. We are now entering a similar period. It seems our Federal Treasurer does understand. Will he have the strength to do what must be done to contain inflation? Or will he succumb and allow all those clamouring for government to borrow even more to pay for the unaffordable. Ronald Reagan famously said: “Inflation is the price we pay for those government benefits everyone thought were free.” Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe, after saying in March that there would be no interest rate rises until 2024, has now initiated seven rate increases and has indicated there will be more to come to control inflation. He should be held accountable for the statements he has made and the advice he has. In the private sector, he would have been called upon to resign. Many people took on debt on the information he provided, and this debt is now becoming unaffordable. On radio and television there is a never-ending parade of people espousing the virtue of their cause and why the government should borrow to support this. When was the last time anyone of the above stood up and said “Stop! We cannot afford this”?. We must get serious industry working again — boring things like petroleum refining, tyre manufacturing, the production of fertilisers and agricultural chemicals. Not coffee shops and recreational facilities. Local sport is a fabulous thing, it enhances and supports community, provides health and fitness, reduces depression and loneliness, and reflects great values of participation and teamwork. However, it is a national obsession. The sport industry is non-productive expensive entertainment that ties up a staggering amount of resources that could be much better utilised. It is a powerful lobby group not necessarily working for Australia or Australians. Imagine if a large number of the people involved were used to fill the massive employment shortfalls that exist across Australia in a multitude of productive areas. The money spent on stadiums could be used for hospitals or maybe even defence infrastructure. Also, the endless pandering to left-wing and minority pressure groups demanding grants and compensation for everything is no longer affordable. The Government’s weak response to these city-based pressure groups with regard to the banning of live export of sheep now and undoubtedly cattle in the future is reprehensible. Let’s get the constraints that inhibit industry out of the way so that profits can be made and taxes paid. Two absolute standouts in the world demonstrating what good and focused governments can achieve are Norway and Singapore. Norway, with a GDP one quarter the size of ours, has used its resources to create a high-tech industry and a sovereign fund using its natural assets. This fund of $1.19 trillion owns 1.4 per cent of all the World’s listed companies and is worth $250,000 for every Norwegian citizen. Singapore, with not a single natural resource, is a very wealthy and clever country. To put this into context, last year we exported $64 billion worth of agricultural products and $351b worth of iron ore, coal, alumina and copper. We should be the wealthiest, most powerful nation in our region with a health system the envy of the world. Why are we underachieving? We have a GDP of about 1.74 trillion — similar in size to Russia of 1.78 trillion. Now you have got to hate those Russians, but their economy is not much bigger than ours and they have built their own world-class navy, air force and army to a standard able to threaten the world and are now about to initiate a stand-alone space program. Russia is even smart enough to have nuclear power generation, in spite of their oil and gas reserves. Comparatively, we have a clear shortage of useable energy — prompting huge increases in the cost of electricity. There is both public and as a result, political opposition to developing new gas resources and yet we are one of the most energy rich nations in the world. Do we not recognise that the cost of electricity is rising fast enough to do our nation huge economic harm? France, China, Russia and Japan have in total, I understand, 180 nuclear power plants and they are building more — none here. China, India, USA and EU are operating more than 1500 coal-fired power plants and there are many more in the world. We propose shutting ours prematurely in the mistaken belief that this will save the reef and protect our island neighbours from rising sea levels. To hell with the economic harm. So how do we stack up when compared with the USA? Both economies are energy and resource rich democracies with a well-educated and skilled workforce, both produce a massive surplus of food, however, this is where the similarities end. The USA produces, or is capable of producing, everything it needs. It is well able to not only defend itself but also most of the free world. We have totally lost the ability to be self-reliant in any way. I have watched in dismay as our capacity to manufacture has been destroyed by a succession of governments who have seemed oblivious to the disastrous outcomes of their policies. It continues to this very day. It is all very well to say that we must manufacture again, first we must work out how and why we lost this capability in initially. To go from four motor car designers and manufacturers to zero in 20 years tells a significant story. We must recognise that the destruction of manufacturing is still continuing and the policy settings causing this pose a grave risk to agriculture and all industry exposed to overseas competition. My first request to government is to remove the obstacles — unnecessary red and green tape. Any new business or project is confronted by a wall of regulation. The bureaucracies that hide behind this wall seem to adopt the attitude that the reason they exist is to make it difficult. How can it require eight different permits to establish a centre pivot on a pastoral lease? The IPA have stated that the green tape industry is growing by 1000 people per year — an Australia-wide number a staggering 34,600 — while our entire Australian army numbers less than 30,000. Each year, 15 Sydney harbours worth of water is lost into the Indian Ocean from the Fitzroy Basin. This water has enormous potential to provide motivation, employment and purpose to a largely indigenous community but I believe the State Government is determined to stop this development. My second request of Government would be to abolish stamp duty and payroll tax — this would seriously make a difference. These are regressive taxes that add to our cost of production. You can tax a profit, but do not add to cost of production. My third would be for that same Government — both State and Federal — engage with us in agriculture and manufacturing to bring about meaningful change. Change that would recognise the incredible contribution the agriculture industry makes — not just to our nation but everyone that lives here. There is nowhere near enough focus on the desperate need for skilled labour — both seasonal and permanent — in regional areas. Unlike the resources industry we produce the food you eat, and we are renewable. We have a single survivor from this period of stupidity and neglect — agriculture. The sector is a bit battered and bruised, but still there — feeding nearly 25 million Australians with the finest food in the world and exporting enough of the same to feed another 50 million people. Our supporting industries long gone, country towns a shadow of what they were, while health, education and telecommunications are way below anything that our city cousins would tolerate. Through ingenuity, perseverance, and a stubborn will to succeed, we have survived. The value of our exports is absolutely crucial to the prosperity of our nation. There will always be droughts, floods and fires and it is unreasonable to think that will change. What must be at the centre of all government thinking is the necessity to be world competitive. Do not allow these costs, bureaucracy, red tape and lack of meaningful discussion to undermine and threaten the greatest and most resilient manufacturing system remaining in Australia today. Tony Seabrook is the president of the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA and a farmer at York