(a) Because hi tech is transportable overseas like one of our very successful hi-tech companies (Packer major shareholder) in the Internet of Things once productive moved HQ to Silicon Valley from Sydney having collected a lazy $7 million of taxpayer's funds in R&D to accommodate the move. This is great employees 7 a handful of Aussie investors but shit for Australia as a country (b) Unlike hi tech which is globally portable and where we do not have a competitive edge, the downstrean processing/manufacture of our minerals, met coals & gas has a distinct competitive advantage because at present we can supply the cheapest/best quality raw materials locally as evidenced by our exports and the capital intensive infrastructure cant be shifted overseas with the click of a mouse. (c) to overcome our weaknesses in high input labour costs & excessive red tape, we can set up these industries in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) where the objective is to add Aussie value to our exports ,diversify trade away from China and be econonically independant while adding to Aussie wealth in improved balance of trade and GDP to be shared with all Aussies. (at present only a few benefit from mining) This can be achieved by an Aussie ownership cavaeat on SEZs. SEZs should be allowed to employ overseas guest labour, have tax free concessions and friendly Government regulations to minimise red tape & exclude outside encumbrances such as trade unionism etc. In other words they would be like a SEZ located overseas except that the economic benefits would be Australian to be shared with all Aussies.
Saudi Arabia does that with its retro-chemical industries and we have no qualms of sourcing most of our diesel there. In fact the Aussie Diesel Pricing Benchmark is set in Saudi Arabia as is our Petrol Pricing benchmark set in Singapore; another country that has implemented SEZs/guest workers with great success.
I know that there is a legion of "Cant Bat/Cant Bowl " supporters out there who harp away about: -we cant compete because trade unions have made Aussie wages globally uncompetitive ( The Right Wing -SEZs are shite because they rort our hard won labour standards and dont provise Aussie Jobs (The Left Wing
My proposal is pragmatic and non-political; just plain economic sense!
