On my drive home from work the other day I caught the start of Paul Barclay’s Australia Talks program on Radio National. The focus of discussion was on Australia’s car industry, with topics canvassed including:
- Ford’s decision to cut 350 jobs and the broader impact that will have on local employment
- The planned cut in tariffs from 10% down to 5%
- How effective are the Holden and Toyota export programs?
- Should the Australian car manufacturing industry be protected, and why has it been protected in the past?
The panel for the program included Philip King (Motoring Editor, the Australian newspaper), Andrew McKellar (Chief executive, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries), Dave Oliver (National secretary Australian Manufacturing Workers Union) and John Buchanan (Director, Workplace Research Centre, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Sydney).A few talkback calls were also taken with some further questions put to the panel.
The program is available for download, although at a lengthy 50 minutes it may be one for those interested in serious analysis only.
So, what do you think, what does the future hold for our industry? Do the FG Falcon’s poor initial sales signal doom and gloom for Ford in Australia? Are Holden’s export programs sustainable? Should there be tariffs protecting the local industry at all? I’d love to hear what you think…