Louie the fly

PAWAN LUTHRA

As Louie the fly now is officially going to be attacked by a bug-killing non-Australian manufactured spray, it represents but one of the many businesses finding Australia non-compatible to their business manufacturing plans.

Australia with its low population base and draconian labour laws seems to be in a nowin position, especially as the after-effects of the global financial crisis forces businesses to restructure themselves.

It was just not the Mortein factory relocating to Asia. The Australian car industry also recently announced mass scale retrenchments. With the soaring Australian dollar and an inflexible work relation labour policy, the challenge of manufacturing economically viable cars was too much for iconic brands like Holden and Ford. In spite of the over $500 million government handout, they have decided to streamline their workforce.

Even the finance sector is not immune. Headlines of jobs being outsourced to India are common. Practically all the banks have been strategic in their thinking. Citing the problems of tight monetary markets, Westpac management has done the numbers and realized that a credit officer in Asia costs $6,000 per annum while in Australia, the cost amounts to ten times that, at $60,000. Blind Freddy (especially the capitalist one) can tell you which way their management will jump on this issue. Westpac’s recent decision to send over 160 jobs to India should not surprise anyone. Other banks will follow suit if they have to remain competitive and satisfy their shareholders.

While there is a strong moral argument about the social responsibilities of management, it is uncertain how much big businesses have to do to satisfy these ideals.

Australia needs to rethink and create a strategy to work and plan these issues, which will change the face of the workforce in years to come. While we enjoy the benefits of the mining boom, there has to be a strategic process to position our workforce. Recently, bogged down by local politics, the government has been impotent on the issues of job creation.

While the Gillard government was upbeat in its jobs assessment in June last year, the employment market has stalled, creating only 13,000 new positions nationally since the beginning of the financial year and leaving the government well short on its promise to create 300,000 jobs over the next two years. Since the start of this calendar year, this situation only seems to have got worse. It will have to be a brave person who will take any bets that the target of 300,000 new jobs can be created within the next eighteen months. For a Labor government that is in power with support from the unions, any move to rationalize workers’ privileges will not be tolerated. Employers, already grappling with the drip feed of negative news from the global financial crisis and the ongoing doubts of the world economy, are looking at ways to save costs and run sustainable businesses. Work will flow where there is cheap labour, especially as the skill levels of this labour force increases to match Australian standards.

What is needed is a brave vision. In a global competitive environment, one needs to play to one’s strengths. Among other options will be to further enhance and promote Australia as a tourist destination, especially to countries in our region whose populations long for blue skies and clean air. Australia has excellent scientists; CSIRO is a wonderful institution where clever ideas can be developed and marketed. Australian universities and colleges provide excellent learning programmes which Asian masses need. Australian companies can provide resources for Asia as the world looks to set up regional base in this part of the globe. Australian enterprise is well respected, build upon it. Address the issues of labour cost and employment benefits seriously.

In the meanwhile, address the issue of the future Australian population. The Labor party wanted a Big Australia in its early years, but when they got shouted down, they changed the mantra to ‘sustainable’ Australia. We are a big country, we can take in more people from wherever they come. A larger population will only allow more production and consumption internally rather than be dependent on world factors. This can help sustain good long-term employment numbers as our self-reliance will be an important factor. We just need to have the political guts to take long-term decisions.

Otherwise like Louie the fly, we will suffer a lot from international interference in our own growth and development.