Disadvantages
of Australian Manufacturing
It's being reported all too
often that manufacturing enterprises are closing their doors or
laying off workers, finding that they cannot survive in the
Australian market. In the past months, we've had the well-known
cases of Holden and Ford, and years earlier that of Mitsubishi, all
large and well known vehicle manufacturers.
This story is not new
however and isn't limited to the car industry. It's been commented
that this theme, and a subsequent reduction of jobs in manufacturing,
has been the case since the sixties1,
with the situation being serious for those who believe that Australia
is a place where things are made, rather than a place where things
are brought from the outside.
Many reasons are given for
this state of affairs, including the high value of the Australian
dollar, perceived high wages of Australian workers, the limited
market of Australia (what would we say about Malta's?) and the
distance of Australia as a source to its foreign markets.
Today I'd like to address
another aspect that seems to me to affect the potential of small
enterprises in reaching their clients, both in Australia and
overseas, and this is the cost of postage.
It's well known that today
clients tend to look for and purchase products and services over the
internet. In the case of products so purchased, this can be picked
up by the client by attending the shop or dispatched by post. This
is where I see Australian enterprises being disadvantaged.
A person in Australia can
purchase a small, cheap item from abroad (the Philippines, China,
Hong Kong etc.) which is delivered by post, and pays as little as a
dollar in all. As a comparison, for the same person to sent a
package from one address to another in the same suburb by Australia
Post, the postage costs at least $7.20, apart from the price of the
object. How is it possible that an Australian enterprise compete?
The retail sector is often
heard calling for the addition of GST (the equivalent of VAT in
Malta) on products from overseas which cost less than $1000 (the Low
Value Threshold - LVT), which today are exempted from this tax.
Naturally, the vision of this sector is a person purchasing from a
shop or from overseas using the internet. I think it would be more
useful for to look further afield, as purchases from shops made of
bricks and mortar are declining when compared to purchases over the
internet, not only when the virtual shop is overseas but also when it
is in Australia where GST is already applicable.
It should be noted that here
we're not even considering the object's price - that's another
subject in itself. However I have often observed that the basic
price difference between an object made in Australia and an
equivalent from overseas is much greater than 10%. So I would add,
what difference would a 10% increase to foreign sourced items make?
Coming back to the parcel
postage, in Australia the largest postal service is Australia Post,
which is a government-owned enterprise. Nevertheless this is a
commercial organisation, which pays dividend to the government. It
is not subsidised, though it has a monopoly on the delivery of
letters in the Australian territory, with the price for this service
regulated by the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission).
It's hard to understand how
is it possible that a foreign enterprise dispatching objects by post
from one country to another so cheaply compared to the price in
Australia. It's possible that parcel post there is subsidised there,
or that some enterprises sell items at a loss as part of their
strategy, as suggested by Australia Post2.
I think the former is more plausible.
I
can't understand how this issue is not being given its due importance
by the Australian government, especially given an environment where
the share of manufacturing in the economy is on the decline. The
lack of action in reducing this competitive disadvantage to
manufacturing enterprises here, is leading people here to purchase
from abroad, and impedes people abroad from purchasing from here.
Do
we believe in carrying out manufacturing in Australia, or don't we?
1http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/voice/where-to-now-for-australian-manufacturing-20140414-36ncz.html,
retrieved 27/8/2014
2http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/110847/sub120.pdf,
retrieved 27/8/2014
-------------------------------------------------
Żvantaġġi
tal-Manifattura fl-Awstralja
Saret aħbar li tistema' wisq ta' spiss
li intrapriżi tal-manifattura jagħlqu l-bibien tagħhom, jew
inaqqsu l-ħaddiema, minħabba li jsibu li ma jistgħux ikampaw
fis-suq Awstraljan. Fix-xhur li għaddew, kellna l-każijiet ċelebri
tal-Holden u l-Ford, u snin qabel tal-Mitsubishi, ditti kbar u
magħrufa tal-karozzi.
Din mhix storja ġdida madankollu, u
lanqas mhi limitata għall-industrija tal-karrozzi. Intqal li din
l-istorja, u t-tnaqqis sussegwenti ta' impjiegi mill-manifattura,
ilha sejra mis-sittinijiet1,
u s-sitwazzjoni hija serja għal min jemmen li l-Awstralja għandha
tkun post fejn jiġu magħmulin l-affarijiet, u mhux biss post minn
fejn jinxtraw minn barra.
Jingħataw ħafna raġunijiet għal dan
l-istat, inkluż li l-esportazzjoni tbati minħabba l-valur għoli
tad-dollaru Awstraljan, il-pagi meqjusin għoljin tal-ħaddiema
Awstraljani, is-suq meqjus żgħir tal-Awstralja (mela ta' Malta
x'inhu?) u d-distanza tal-Awstralja bħala sors mis-swieq barranin
tagħha.
Illum xtaqt nitkellem fuq aspett ieħor
li jidhirli li wkoll jaffettwa l-potenzjal ta' intrapriżi żgħar li
jilħqu l-klijenti tagħhom, kemm fl-Awstralja u kemm barra, u dan
huwa l-preżż tal-pustaġġ.
Huwa fatt magħruf li illum hemm
it-tendenza li l-klijenti jfittxu u jixtru prodotti u servizzi
bl-internet. Fil-każ ta' prodott mixtri b'dan il-mod, dan jew jiġi
miġbur mill-klijent meta jmur il-ħanut jew jiġi mpustat. U
hawnhekk nara li intrapriżi Awstraljani għandhom żvantaġġ.
Bniedem fl-Awstralja jista' jixtri
prodott żgħir u rħis minn barra (mill-Filippini, iċ-Ċina, Hong
Kong eċċ) u dan jiġi mpustat lilu, u jħallas biss dollaru wieħed
b'kollox. Biex wieħed iqabbel, biex wieħed jibgħat pakkett minn
indirizz għall-ieħor fl-istess subborg bl-Australia Post, irid
iħallas mill-inqas $7.20, apparti l-prezz tal-oġġett! Kif jista'
jkun li intrapriża Awstraljana tikkompeti?
Spiss nisimgħu l-għajta mis-settur
tal-imnut sabiex tiġi miżjuda l-GST
(ekwivalenti għall-VAT
ta' Malta), fuq prodotti minn barra li jiswew inqas minn $1000 (Low
Value Threshold - LVT), li
bħalissa huma eżenti minn din it-taxxa. Naturalment, il-viżjoni
ta' dan is-settur huwa li bniedem jew jixtri mill-ħanut, jew minn
barra bl-internet. Naħseb ikun aħjar jekk is-settur iħares iktar
'il bogħod, għax kif għedna t-tendenza hi li l-bejgħ minn ħwienet
tal-ġebel qed jonqos meta pparagunat ma' bejgħ mill-internet, mhux
biss meta l-ħanut virtwali jkun barra imma wkoll meta jkun
fl-Awstralja fejn diġa titħallas il-GST.
Aħna
hawnhekk m'aħniex nikkunsidraw il-prezz tal-oġġett - dak suġġett
ieħor. Biss spiss osservajt li d-differenza fil-prezz bażiku ta'
oġġetti bejn dawk barranin u dawk Awstraljani hija bil-wisq ikbar
minn 10%. Għalhekk, jiena nżid,
x'differenza se tagħmel 10% żieda fil-prezz fuq oġġetti minn
barra?
Niġu
lura għall-pustaġġ tal-pakketti, fl-Awstralja l-ikbar servizz
postali huwa l-Australia Post, li hija intrapriża tal-gvern.
Madankollu, din hija intrapriża kummerċjali, li l-gvern jieħu dħul
minnha. Mhijiex sussidjata, għalkemm għandha l-monopolju fuq
it-twassil tal-ittri fit-territorju Awstraljan, bil-prezz ta' dan
is-servizz irregolat mill-ACCC
(Australian Competition and Consumer Commission).
Huwa
diffiċli li wieħed jifhem kif huwa possibbli li intrapriżi
barranin huma kapaċi li jibgħatu oġġetta bil-posta minn pajjiż
għall-ieħor bi prezz daqshekk baxx meta mqabbel ma' dak Awstraljan.
Huwa possibbli li s-servizz tal-pakketti huwa ssussidjat mill-gvern,
jew li xi intrapriżi jbiegħu bit-telf bħala pjan strateġiku, kif
issuġġeriet l-Australia Post2.
Jien nara li tal-ewwel hija iktar plawsibbli.
Ma
nistax nifhem kif din il-kwestjoni ma tidhirx li qed tingħata
l-importanza li jixirqilha mill-gvern Awstraljan, speċjalment
f'ambjent fejn il-manifattura qegħda kulma tmur tnaqqas l-importanza
tagħha. In-nuqqas ta' azzjoni sabiex jitnaqqas dan l-iżvantaġġ
kompetittiv għall-intrapriżi tal-manifattura hawnhekk, qed iħajjar
lil nies minn hawn biex jixtru minn barra, u jkompli jnaffar
lill-barranin milli jixtru minn hawn.
Aħna
nemmnu fil-manifattura fl-Awstralja jew le?
1http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/voice/where-to-now-for-australian-manufacturing-20140414-36ncz.html,
retrieved 27/8/2014
2http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/110847/sub120.pdf,
retrieved 27/8/2014