SMH: Future of Australian Manufacturing will be what we make it

Check out this piece that I wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald! (Click for original piece)

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The writing has been on the wall for some time for young people in Australia who want to manufacture cars.

"The automotive industry is dead in Australia. Go overseas if you want to get anywhere in this field, or try another sector," automotive veterans and mentors have told me in the past few years.

As a young mechanical engineer who is passionate about motor sport and the automotive industry, I always found this advice disheartening. Given recent events at Toyota, Holden and Ford in Australia, their words are prophetic.

Considering Ford Australia reports that the unit cost of production for Australian-made car models is four times that of Asia and double that of Europe, these closures were inevitable. The mass production system is not viable in today's economic climate and in the face of our competitors.

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The question now is not whether or not the government did the right thing by allowing Ford, Holden and Toyota to shut their factory doors and seal the fate of an industry; that point is now moot.

Putting aside ideology, the thinking must now shift towards what manufacturing jobs will look like in future; what frameworks and mechanisms are required to ensure job creation, and if we value manufacturing sufficiently to keep investing in a way that emphasises Australia's natural strengths.

Our primary industries are economic powerhouses that have served us well. Yes, they are strong and dependable but recent trends have shown they are not infallible.

As the resources industry moves from the labour-intensive construction phase to the production phase, which requires fewer employees, it may not be able to meet the demand for jobs, which will be exacerbated by job losses in automotive manufacturing.

Casting our eyes further down the road, as the population ages there will be fewer workers to support a rising number of retirees. The government's 2010 intergenerational report indicates that, by 2050, 23 per cent of the population will be 65 or older.

With an increasing number of older Australians depending on a shrinking population of working-age employees, it is important the economy is diversified to ensure it remains robust in the long term.

We need a clear vision for what the nation will look like in 10, 20 or 30 years time, and what industries we will rely on.

Rather than focusing on the short term, investment should be made in developing the skills, expertise and knowledge base of workers to ensure Australia can compete in global markets.

This includes investment by government, plus developing a culture of private investment and venture capitalism.

If we are to stimulate production of innovative, high-tech and niche products that are within our capacity to create, our appetite for risk and failure will have to be re-examined.

Australia has the potential to be a nation of manufacturing and engineering excellence.

From medical innovations such as the cervical cancer vaccine, to the research and development powerhouse that is the CSIRO, we excel in high-quality technology and manufacturing - but this growth and development does not happen on its own.

Expecting the automotive manufacturing industry to make a painless transition may be unrealistic but if we approach the situation as an opportunity to develop a narrative about what new jobs should look like, and begin to take concrete steps in that direction, the future looks more exciting and optimistic.

More investment in innovative research, more risk-taking, and a focus on high-quality niche products and services - these are the things that will allow us to build a future for the nation.

Read more some of the super interesting comments here.

What do you think?

SMH: Youth issues drowned amid sound bites

Just after the Australian election, my  first 'real-life' paper opinion piece appeared in the Sun-Herald paper, the Sunday edition of the Sydney Morning Herald. Icing on the cake? Malcolm Fraser himself retweeted it!

In case you missed it, check it out below...

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It has been a long five weeks. It would be fair to say it has been a long seven months; since the first election announcement on January 30, the political onslaught has been relentless.

The cycle of topical and divisive issues such as asylum seekers, the economy, the national broadband network and the paid parental leave scheme have dominated. Tiringly, these issues are only ever discussed in sound bites.

The debates made conspicuous by their absence however, were those about the policies that directly address issues of importance to young people and the longer-term future of our nation.

Climate change has been spoken about only in so far as to scrap the carbon tax. It would seem Maslow's hierarchy of needs is at work, with parties playing on voters' survival instinct rather than longer-term attitudes towards morality. In an environment where the fear of the "budget emergency" and the "rise in the cost of living" are touted as immediate crises, the apparent "ethical luxury" of a shift to sustainable development is no longer part of the debate.

The fear-mongering flies in the face of data from the National Electricity Market, which indicates a 7 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2011-12 to 2012-13. Naturally, the entire reduction cannot be attributed simply to the tax and it alone is not the whole answer. Nonetheless, the objective remains: to reduce our society's impact on the environment by whichever means are most effective.

Young people have been left behind at both ends of Maslow's hierarchy. Not only has the issue of climate change been removed from consideration, but the physiological and safety needs in employment and housing have been underplayed.

The unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 is 11.5 per cent, double the general number and up from 8.8 per cent in 2008. For those between 15 and 19, it is 27.3 per cent, up from 15.5 per cent in 2008. The Foundation for Young Australians' How Young People Are Faring 2012 report shows opportunities for them to take up full-time work have declined over the past 25 years.

Furthermore, the demographics of our workforce are changing. Job vacancies are low, with one in five unemployed for every vacancy in some states. Even for the 73.4 per cent of young people engaged in full-time education or training, their prospects once their training is over have been diminished.

The difficulties are further compounded for the vulnerable. Students from low socio-economic backgrounds (13.8 per cent) are twice as likely as their wealthier counterparts (5.2 per cent) to be out of employment, education or training. For indigenous youth and those with a disability, the rate is three times as high.

Housing is another sleeper issue largely ignored by public debate, with numbers showing a continuing decline in the value of loans taken out by first home buyers. Young people are also over-represented among the homeless.

The solutions provided by each side of the house are insufficient. The structures within the labour force, entry to employment and the effectiveness of traditional pathways need to be reassessed. To do that, however, these issues need to be on the table.

Perhaps the voting power of young people is not enough to set the agenda yet, but climate change during the 2010 election implied the opposite. The short-sightedness of our leading parties, however, means the burgeoning issues of our time are left aside for emotive discussions that play on voters' fears.

We can only hope that now that the decision has been settled, we will see some long-term visionary thinking. Optimistic perhaps, but isn't that the blessing of youth.

Read the original on the Sydney Morning Herald Website here. 

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So what do you think? What issues are now missing from the agenda?