Australian Made
vs
Foreign Made

Now keep in mind that this is just my own personal opinion BUT… What A Croc!!
Australian manufacturing has ALWAYS been of exceptional quality. Our manufacturing quality was that good we were exporting huge amounts of products all over the world. The great Holden Monaro was manufactured here and sent to America!
The way I see it, our government is solely to blame for the downturn in Australian manufacturing. Trade agreements with other countries that were/are so tragically imbalanced that we had no chance of competing.

Many people also believe that Australian made products are too expensive. I would have to disagree with this also. For the most part, we Australians have a pretty good quality of life. We get paid well, we buy what we want and we don’t usually go without. Of course, there are exceptions to this. We have many unemployed and many that live below the poverty line. Life is not always great. I’ve endured a number of years unemployed so I know how hard it gets. But the fact is that those of us that are employed, expect to be paid well for our services. It doesn’t matter if the company is Australian or foreign, they still need to cover our wages in the price of those products. It’s quite simple yet many can’t see this logic.

Now compare that to a similar product made overseas. Manufactured with staff that are employed for 1 tenth (or less) of the wages we demand. They work for low incomes because, in comparison to us, they need very little to maintain their quality of life. They work for low incomes because they live in countries with populations many times greater than our own and if they don’t work, someone else will.

Imported goods are always going to be cheaper simply because workers in those countries earn very little. But they also need very little to sustain their existence. They don’t demand as much out of life as we do. Against those odds, Australian manufacturing has no hope.

The solution (in my eyes) is quite simple.
Create better trade agreements. Fair trade agreements ( NOT FREE TRADE) that don’t favour the foreign countries over our own. They need to be created fair for all.
Restrict goods that can be imported. If it’s a product that is already made or grown in Australia then we should not be importing the same product unless Australian stocks run low.
Place higher taxes on imported goods. Sorry, but the average Australian is a tight arse and will predominantly buy the cheaper imported goods over local products.

I’m sure there are many more ideas that could be implemented to help correct this mess, but these 3 would be a fantastic start.

I applaud other groups/businesses that are also promoting Australian Owned. I also applaud the efforts to keep profits in Australia. This is, of course, a huge part of the changes that need to be made. BUT, I 100% believe that at this point in time, a foreign company that manufactures in Australia is creating more employment and therefore putting more back into our economy vs an Australian Owned company that manufactures overseas or imports their products. This Australian company may be keeping profits in Australia, but it certainly is not helping at all with employment opportunities for our fellow Aussies.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you agree with my solutions? Post in the comments below and let us know if you have other ideas that would help get Australia back on track?

By Supporting Australian Companies You Are Supporting
The Australian Economy, Australian Employment, and Our Future.