Insight: Apr 24

Next week on Insight host Jenny Brockie looks at the state of manufacturing as thousands are being laid off.

Australian manufacturing is in trouble. Profits are down and jobs are going.

The industry employs around one million Australians – five times more than mining. But it’s haemorrhaged 86,000 jobs in the last 10 years and more workers are being laid off each month.

Manufacturing is the only industry that has declined in ‘Gross Value Added’ to the Australian economy over the last 25 years. To give it a boost, the government is handing out subsidies at public expense – such as the $275m recently given to Holden. Some claim it’s necessary to keep jobs onshore, but others say these rescue packages just prop up inefficient industries.

Meanwhile, other struggling businesses get no government assistance at all.

On Insight, manufacturing workers front up to managers and economists to debate whether the industry is worth supporting, whether government subsidies are good policy, and what the future might hold.

Guests include:

Richard Phillips started as a shopfloor apprentice at Holden 25 years ago and is now Executive Director of Manufacturing at Holden. The manufacturing plant recently received $275 million in a government assistance package. Richard believes the funding is vital to keeping manufacturing talent and skills in Australia.

Graham Spurling says giving subsidies to the car industry is like giving life support to a patient that will die anyway. The former Managing Director and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Australia believes subsidies encourage inefficiencies and prevent innovation. He thinks it won’t be long before all car manufacturing leaves Australia. Graham is now Chairman of resources company Phoenix Copper.

Fadi Hassan has just been made redundant by Toyota Australia after 16 years with the company. He says he’s frustrated that the government picks and chooses which companies it bails out. He’s worried he won’t get another job in manufacturing.

Karen Marsh predicts that within two or three years we’ll all have 3D printers in our homes allowing us to “print” household items like mugs and toothbrushes with the press of a button. Karen works for the Australian Network for Art and Technology, and has been investigating the potential of 3D printers which she says could revolutionise the manufacturing industry.

Harri White is a single mother of seven children and was recently told she’d be laid off from Cussons after six years working for the detergent and soap company. She thinks Australia’s manufacturing industry could be over. Harri is grappling with the challenge of trying to move into another industry without any experience.

Roy Green thinks the government should subsidise manufacturing companies but only if those subsidies help them innovate and become more competitive. Roy is a part of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s manufacturing taskforce.

Andy Stoeckel is against government assistance for manufacturing, saying the industry shouldn’t be given special treatment. He believes it would be better for everyone if manufacturers were allowed to stand or fall on their own. Andy is the founding chairman of the Centre for International Economics and has conducted research for the World Bank and the OECD.

Quan Chuc’s family has been in manufacturing since they arrived from Vietnam in 1975. His mother worked in a prawn factory, his dad on a mower production line and several of his 12 siblings are in the industry. Quan spent years working in a factory making water valves before becoming an NUW representative for Golden Circle in Brisbane. He’s worried that if manufacturing jobs go, many workers won’t be able to reskill or find other work.

Tuesday at 8.30pm on SBS ONE.