Disadvantages of Australian Manufacturing - Żvantaġġi tal-Manifattura fl-Awstralja

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

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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