The Unions have destroyed The Australian car Industry!, page-6

Keeping a car industry is a strategic need as it provides a reservoir of industrial capability in times of emergency

There use to be a concept called "Industrial Mobilisation" in times of war and the car industry was once seen as critical

All that thinking now seems to have been erased and we wont have any capability

Short term thinking, that we can dismiss all those car plants , component manufacturers and somehow when we need them, quickly get them to be in manufacturing again. The skill base will be gone. Plenty of thinkers but not enough Doers.

The cost of all those workers going on the dole for years would also surely be greater than the subsidies required to keep the Ford, Holdens manufacturing.

Labour costs and union disruption have been an issue but government strategic neglect in leaving us without a core manufacturing industry is the biggest sin.