Yesterday I compared the US and Australian trend costs of production, particularly energy and labour. It is reported today that one of the best examples of Australian venture backed technical innovation may move its manufacturing offshore.
Why?: because of Federal Government policy. And it has nothing to do with the exchange rate. It has everything to do with the anti-entrepreneurial culture pursued by the present Australian government and its mendicant status to the trade union movement.
Resmed is one of the few examples of successful venture backed technical innovation in Australia: alongside Cochlear and CSL.
It takes a generation and many hundreds of millions of dollars to found and build these international corporations. It also provides opportunities to build a viable venture capital industry in this country.
Present Federal Policy is putting all of this at risk: TODAY. Australian employees will suffer most - shareholders won't - and many will become Australia's best export: talented entrepreneurs, scientists, and engineers. The US and Singapore beckon.
This is far cry from the entrepreneur friendly policies of previous labour governments: to wit the Smart State of Peter Beattie and the Clever Country of Barry Jones, Paul Keating, and John Button.
What we are witnessing in Australia is old school socialism imported from the valleys of South Wales which is incrementally destroying the primary generators of employment in this country. Forget the notional unemployment figures. That is why the UK lost a generation of highly talented people educated at the taxpayers' expense to the US and the Commonwealth, including here. It devastated the ability of the UK to regenerate its manufacturing. It led to the Winter of Discontent.
Make no mistake, this can happen here if commodity prices slump. The rest of the economy is not going to take up the slack in the short run. It will take another generation and REAL LEADERSHIP.
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