Cars
God knows we need them. Imagine life without them, inconceivable! So the Kruddmaster’s foray into the heart of Aussie manufacturing should be seen as pragmatic politics, keeping Aussies at work making things we all need. Good one Kev!
Hang on a minute. Car sales are down, and those cars that people prefer are tiny little asia numbers that run on the sniff of an oily rag, or better still run on Electricity! Hmm. And what about our little carbon problem? And then there is the question of oil which is clearly running out…all of this suggests to anyone who might be able to add two and two and get four that maybe what people really need are alternatives to the petrol burning behemoths that are perhaps single handedly responsible for more environmental degradation than any other man made invention.
Question? Do anyone think that if we spent a couple of billion dollars we might come up with something that fits the bill? The Indians did but then they aren’t overly concerned with kissing the arse of GM and Ford. However given that the local car making industry was taken over by Detroit a few years back and continues to stifle any genuine competition aided and abetted by governments for decades, today’s little announcement should come as no surprise.
Rudd and Carr have failed Australia. They have wasted taxpayers money on propping up an industry which is likely to become irrelevant. Making stuff like cars is vaguely useful in a variety of ways but what is needed today is a vision for the future, not a gaze firmly fixed on the rear view mirror. Given the breadth of talent and ideas in this country, coupled with our resource base it IS a safe bet that for the money the government plans to put in the pockets of GM and Ford we could have a car that meets the needs of Australians, doesn’t cost the earth to run and is likely to be something others in the world might want to buy from us. The only problem is that such a car would truly be Australian owned and made. Oh and it mightn’t do too well at Bathurst either.