{"id":160355,"date":"2016-10-10T19:01:15","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T09:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=160355"},"modified":"2020-06-29T20:31:03","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T10:31:03","slug":"buy-australian-yes-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/10\/10\/buy-australian-yes-please\/","title":{"rendered":"Buy Australian? Yes, Please!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>October 10, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Dafyd Martindale<\/strong><\/p>\n

A recent call by the ACTU for the Federal Government introduce a “Buy Australian” Act which would require all major government projects and services to use locally manufactured goods has a lot of merit, we think.<\/p>\n

The ACTU argue the USA introduced a similar “Buy American” bill at the height of the GFC when that country’s unemployment rate was 9.7 per cent.<\/p>\n

US unemployment has now fallen below Australian levels.<\/p>\n

The ACTU believe a bill forcing the United States government to reinvest in their own nation has a lot to do with that.<\/p>\n

As things currently stand, a lot of Australian government money goes to foreign companies to purchase goods that are manufactured overseas.<\/p>\n

The loss of contracts to supply these goods domestically has led to factory closures and job lay-offs. <\/p>\n

So any cost-savings the government might have made by buying at a cheaper price from foreigners has been offset by the costs of supporting Australian manufacturing workers who no longer have jobs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even worse, some of these foreign produced goods have subsequently proven to be inadequate and a handful – such as asbestos-laden building materials – downright dangerous.<\/p>\n

The ACTU argue that it would be a much more productive use of Government money to support Australian manufacturing businesses, even if the end products cost more than foreign equivalents.<\/p>\n

We can only agree.<\/p>\n

It is, after all, the money of ordinary Australians that our governments are spending. <\/p>\n

And we think it is unlikely any fair-minded Australian would object to the government not getting the best global deal if it helped keep their neighbour in a job.<\/p>\n