From BS, Julia Gillard joins the cavalcade of officials seeking to boost the Australian dollar:
“We can still be a country that manufactures things. But we’re going to have to do it differently…The dollar is likely to stay high for some period of time.”
…”The competitive disadvantage of the high Aussie dollar is obvious but we can still manufacture things, provided we’re at the forefront of innovation and quality,” Ms Gillard said.
Sorry, our manufacturing can’t compete with this dollar. That’s why we’re seeing this:
That’s a nearly three year ceaseless recession in the manufacturing PMI which pretty much coincides with the dollar rising above 90 cents:
Of course, some of the manufacturing weakness will be because of the softness in housing and related sectors. But let’s not kid ourselves, we’re not going to restore manufacturing capacity without a lower currency.
The Gillard jobs package is laughable in the face of this challenge.