Bugger Holden - be sensible and invest in the food processing sector

The cost of shipping Australian-made cars overseas must be huge; add to that the high Australian dollar and high wage rates and you have a recipe for car manufacturers to pull out of Australia.

The car industry has had the government over a barrel for years - “Without government assistance we can’t afford to stay in Australia - we will be forced to move our manufacturing overseas and leave our workers, their families and all the downstream suppliers and their families bereft ...”

So successive Australian governments fork out more than $4.4 billion to Holden, Ford and Toyota over the past 12 years.

Now, you watch, with Holden announcing its pullout, Toyota and Ford will start agitating for more government support or they will be forced to follow Holden’s lead.

Really?

If the government is keen to support sustainable manufacturing and employment in Australia, it could consider investing some of its money in the food processing sector. Holden’s demise will cause job losses in Victoria and South Australia - two states which have strong agriculture and food industry bases. With some equipment and automation upgrades, these states could easily up their food manufacture. A bonus is the extra capacity from the agricultural sector could be used rather than ploughed back in.

The food industry is already the largest employer in rural Australia and on the whole it is relatively efficient (after all it has had to subsist without government assistance on the scale of the automotive industry).

So, how about we gear up the food processing industry? By value-adding to our agricultural produce we can maximise our profits, create employment and create a sustainable export market that will not need to rely on permanent government handouts. Let’s face it, shipping processed foods has got to be cheaper than shipping raw agricultural produce or finished cars.