In 1973 the Commonwealth Government undertook a programme that was designed to shake up inefficient manufacturing processes that were taking place throughout Australia. The then Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam did two things that would do more than make Australia's factories more efficient and accountable - they'd end up shutting them down, never to reopen.

The first thing the Commonwealth did was sign a UN treaty that decreed that Australia would send much of its manufacturing requirements to the third world, all in the name of putting poor countries on an equal footing and let them compete in secondary industries. The second thing was a reduction in import tariffs by a huge 25% with further rolling cutbacks on tariffs to take place over the next twenty years.

Moving forward to the present day, Australia's import tariff sits at 5% except for a few countries we have free trade agreements with where the tariff is 0%. Either way, Australia is pretty much limited to sending raw materials to the third world, who then converts those materials into the manufactured goods we buy off the shelf.

The last major secondary industries Australia still operates is food processing and car making. All other manufacturing involves niche commercial sector industries such as making buses, trains, warships and industrial electronics (all items that are complex but too small in number to fully import) - clearly what many including myself to be an unacceptable outcome started by the political party that is supposed to be protecting workers and promoting a policy of full employment.

Most of us here have lived during this time and have watched as thousands of factories have closed effectively putting millions of Australians on the dole queue for at least a small amount of time whilst enhancing the job and career opportunities for people we have never met and really do not owe anything to.

My grandmother worked at the huge Cyclops factory in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt at one time or another. Cyclops made bikes and prams. On nearby Parramatta Road the factories that I remember running from Church Street, Parramatta through to Railway Square were Goodyear Tyres, Thorn EMI where HMV radios and televisions were made, Arnotts Biscuits, Bonds where all manner of clothing was made, the mighty AWA Radio-Electric Works (a joint that definitely needs no introduction), the Peak Freens biscuit factory, Tooheys brewery, a glass factory near Camperdown (I do not remember the brand) and the Kent Brewery.

This is just what I can visualise as I write. I know there were dozens more manufacturing facilities along this stretch of road alone and thousands more throughout Sydney including the BHP wire mill near Abbotsford and nearby Lysaght which made corrugated iron and Colourbond products, the nearby Nestles factory, the Tulloch rolling stock factory, Philips, CSR and Union Carbide at Rhodes and the massive Clyde Industrial Area near Silverwater.

Last Friday the blessed heartbeat of Australia's psyche was ripped apart with the announcement that General Motors would close down the two last factories of Australia's local carmaker, Holden, by the end of 2016. In a clear case of Nero fiddling whilst Rome burns, the Commonwealth Government, General Motors and the union movement have sat on their hands and allowed a true Australian icon to melt away like ice cream at the beach.

Unless the situation that brought GM to its recent decision changes (probably unlikely), from 2017 we will be driving Chinese front-wheel-drive crap if we want a car with a lion on the bonnet. The single thing that kept cars like the Commodore (known in the US and the Middle East as the Chevrolet SS) above the water line was the fact that it was a large car on a rear-wheel-drive platform. Front-wheel-drive competitors like the Mitsubishi Magna died years ago because the car's form factor did not suit customers who wanted to tow caravans and heavy trailers whilst being wide enough to seat five people in serious comfort.

The bottom line out of this move by GM is that Toyota will not waste much time in declaring its hand in response. Being the last brand to make a decision, Toyota will look at the hopeless plight of companies that have supplied parts to Holden, Ford, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan over the years and come to the conclusion that they don't make enough cars here for these parts makers to survive and will thus also close its last factory in 2016.

Ironically, just five short years ago Holden was GM's only profitable division and was exporting tens of thousands of cars to the US and Middle East and for the last twenty years, almost every mid-sized car made by Vauxhall and Opel were fitted with a four-cylinder engine made at Holden's Engine Company at Fisherman's Bend in Melbourne. It is amazing how the tide turns with slothful laziness and a foregoing of the 'can do' attitude that pretty much built this country.

We've gone from the 1800s where we asked ourselves, "What do we need?", and then said to ourselves, "Let's build it, regardless of the cost or the opinions of the doomsayers!", to a period in time where we say, "Can someone somewhere else build this for us because we don't have the courage to do it ourselves?"

The latter situation will not make Australia a better place, regardless of what Fairfax columnists seem to believe. The former situation is what saw huge infrastructure like the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the associated underground rail tunnel network constructed during the years of the most intense economic depression ever seen. Even projects like the Overland Telegraph and the water pipeline to Kalgoorlie in WA could not have been built without the intestinal fortitude shown by those involved at the time.

My message to the board of GM is this: Get some guts! Put down your smoked salmon sandwiches and cheap cigars, get off your arses and run your companies properly or sell them off to people who can and will.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I remember those factories mentioned and as well worked during the 70's and 80's at various radio/electronics manufacturers now gone forever.

Weston Electronics, Hawker Siddley whom owned Ferris Radios, even remember a capacitor manufacturer in that area I think.

Plessey Communications.....all gone.

Recently in the Bathurst area it has been announced Simplot (a food cannery) will be making major cutbacks, EDI manufacturing a railway locomotive repair facility closing for good.

At Orange the Electrolux factory closing for good.

These are only a few I know of, have heard of other places cutting back or closing.

Honestly do not know what the current workers or in the future prospective young entrants to the workforce are going to do.

Not a squeak out of any of the political parties.

2014 is going to be a bleak year for many there will be more closures as well.

It's a shame if you weren't there, but would like to work for one of those companies

I'm not bluffing, if we can turn back the clock, all my computer stuff can go in the bin,
and I'll just go into business earthing people's houses
decades ahead of time.

I will call my business Zero Potential. Don't steal it, it's mine.

Brad - almost all the companies you mention were foreign-owned from the beginning, or became foreign-owned before they closed down. You can't stop foreign capital looking for the cheapest labour it can find, once transport is cheap enough to make and sell in a global market.

For the last century and especially this generation, Australians have preferred to spend their money on cheap imports, foreign holidays, and dead-waste McMansions rather than investing in our own economy, and now even education and research are despised investments here while our competitors make them top priority.

We get the politicians we deserve. The current lot, on both sides, reflect the common Australian view that we are entitled to live in luxury by selling out and letting harder-working foreigners dig up resources that we never made in the first place, but that happen to be on territory we control.

Yes, there have always been Australians who are hard working and under rewarded. But generally speaking, we are a bunch of spoilt brats by comparison with the rest of the world.

Maven

It doesn't please me to see manufacturers quitting Oz, but it pleases me less to see successive governments bailing them out every few years.

Although it's been on a long slide downwards, I think the writing was on the wall for Holden Ltd when its parent hit the skids.

I agree with that. A company succeeds or fails,
and putting money into a failing company is useless
unless it actually addresses the reason why it fails.

I would prefer that money to more directly benefit the
employees who are destined to lose their jobs,
rather than any particular company that is going to fail anyway.

Many of the companies that are no longer functioning did so because foreign governments financed their own manufacturing sector.

The Japanese were past masters at this and had tariff barriers preventing foreign car makers selling their cars in Japan.

I remember many years ago reading that Aust car makers could not sell their cars in Japan because of the tariffs.

As for the Chinese, it is common knowledge the Chinese govt owns and runs much of manufacturing sector.

Remember the furore when a Aust agricultural fertiliser supplier bought Chinese made fertiliser only to find when the bags of "fertiliser" were opened here they were full of common dirt.

The Chinese supplier was a state govt owned and operated enterprise.

The dirt had to be treated in an incinerator at great expense and if my memory is correct (happy to be corrected) the Aust company went broke as a result.

Whilst I agree rampart unionism in the 70's played its part there is no such thing as a "level playing field".

Politicians in this country have sold us out down the line.

Many of the companies that are no longer functioning did so because foreign governments financed their own manufacturing sector.

Here lies the big problem. Australia has become the first country to fall down a hole whilst the governments of every other carmaking nation remains committed to subsidising their industries.

As a quick example, Australians pay only $19.00 per annum for the privilege of a car manufacturing sector. Germans pay something like $54.00 and Americans pay just over $200.00, not including their unique bankruptcy protection measures.

The Premier of South Australia also mentioned in an open letter that for every dollar given as a subsidy at present we are seeing six dollars returned in taxation. That alone makes the subsidies necessary and worthwhile.

I, like many, would like to see a situation where all industries survive without support but in the real world and up against subsidised industries in other countries and the lower cost of labour in many of them, it is an unrealistic position to expect it.

One other thing - if we stop subsidising the car industry it would only be fair to see other industries stop receiving similar benefits. All primary industries and the performing arts sector also receive massive subsidisation by way of cash injections, tax rebates or both.

So, should Australia stop this aggressive policy of self-harm or do we continue to just sit and sulk about what we once had? Why are many people content to support the industries of other nations and not those of their own, seemingly believing that Australia being the only country that subsidises industry.

Refusing to provide assistance to industry whilst being prepared to cough up the same money or more in dole payments also seems counter-productive. Industry assistance not only keeps people off the dole but there are flow on benefits with exports and a lowering of our equally cancerous trade deficit through the exports that both Holden and Toyota have been involved with.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

What makes me squirm is not the loss of an Australian icon or
any emotional reason that I don't think should enter into it,
but, for one isolated example:

Holden and any other automotive industry will have in their employ,
a number of apprentice Auto electricians, spray painters,
mechanics and the like, because qualifying these apprentices
on-site is not only beneficial to the company, but the training
has also been Government subsidised.
If or when those apprentices lose their jobs,
and run into trouble finding automotive work, or choose another career,
we already have some money wasted,
and the emotional attachment I have relates to those individuals
much further than the Holden company.

I think money could better be spent further subsidising a new
employer who will complete their training and qualify them.


Volvo/Mack have some trick that I never fully worked out,
and if it were not for that trick, there may not be an Australian operation.
Management refer to the entire Australian operation as a tax write off for Sweeden.
One thing I do know is we obviously source what material is available locally,
and are also sent material from overseas to manufacture the vehicle in Australia.

A Mack bulldog for example is a cost of about $12 for the
company until the very point that it is sold as part of a truck,
and then it is taxed, and the same Mack bulldog is now worth some $150.
If the part is damaged or rejected, the lower cost is written off,
but I still don't quite understand how the entire operation is described
as beneficial as being a tax write off.

QUOTE: Holden was GM's only profitable division and was exporting tens of thousands of cars to the US

We in the USA didn't see anything with the Holden name, but maybe those cars were badged with American names

Pontiac G8 and Chevrolet SS are both Holden Commodores. A version of the Holden Caprice is also exported as a specialist police vehicle. Holden's greatest asset in the US market is their expertise in powerful large rear wheel drive cars, a dying breed in the US. In fact, apart from Germany, Australia is one of the few countries that can still design and build a rear wheel drive vehicle from the ground up for mass production.

The Holden Statesman/Caprice is being sold to US police forces as chase vehicles, replacing the Ford Crown Victoria which was previously a popular choice. There's a few videos on Youtube of American coppers trialling the Caprice and enjoying doing a bit of circlework in them. It's fun to watch though I would imagine that the crims don't appreciate the car all that much though it'd be a more comfy ride to gaol than a paddy wagon which is used to drag most Australian crims off the streets. Saudi Arabia use the Caprice as their standard police car too.

Search "Chevrolet Caprice" on Youtube for some good footage.

The Holden Monaro was sold in the US with a localised grille as the Pontiac GTO. The grille and bonnet on the GTO had a more aggressive look than the Monaro.

The Holden Commodore is currently being sent to the US as the Chevrolet SS and also forms the basis for the Chevrolet SS Nascar racing car.

Most V8-powered Holdens have an Australian body, American engine and German transmission.

Despite the high cost of petrol in Australia, around 25% of the Commodore range is sold with a 6 litre V8 engine fitted and most highway patrol chase cars in Australia are still V8s.

My last car was a Commodore wagon, set up the old way with column shift auto and the handbrake down the right side of the seat - seating six people. They don't make that variation at the moment but my next car will also be a Commodore wagon because I need the massive amount of room they have in the passenger area.

Today it has been revealed that the tales of Holden's factory closure spread by News and Fairfax are furphies and this doesn't surprise me in the slightest though government calls for Holden to come to a decision make sense. Let's hope it is the right one. I hope they stay and I hope Toyota also stay.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I should have also pointed out that the Chevrolet Corvette is built on the Commodore's floorpan, although US-made, which dramatically reduced the development costs for the Corvette.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

When I was with AWA-Bris in same year, 1973, they were firing on all cylinders: 2-way radios, a new solid state mobile SSB that was world class, a line of Hi Fi components including the AM-3 wideband tuner and MSP division (Manufacturers Special Products) that made loudspeakers etc.

Unfortunately that same year Gough Whitlam was on the ascendancy. A tech up from AWA-Sydney called him "Cough Drop" as he was teaching me the rhyming-slang which was strangely regional to Sydney?!

So anyway, the great AWA would find itself on the ropes just a few short years after Cough Drop's "reforms"!

I agree with most of the sentiments expressed above .... but with regard to GMH .... they must take a chunk of blame as they (and Detroit) have completely mis-judged the Australian and probably, the world wide market.

In the late 1970's and early 1980's GMH were reviewing the life expectancy of the 6 cylinder engine in favour of smaller more compact cars with 4 cylinder engines. As Brad stated earlier, they were exporting 4 cylinder engines out of the Family II plant at Fishermens Bend .... and exporting other vehicles and expertise. Somewhere, they lost their way ...

GMH (or Ford) do not have a decent large 4WD, nor soft roader AWD .... both of which have eaten into the traditional 6 cylinder market.

Cheers,
Ian

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Cheers, Ian