South Australian manufacturing: The election swing toward protectionism won't help

There is a clear message in this election in the swing toward fringe parties as represented by Pauline Hanson and Bob Katter. And a clear message to Malcolm Turnbull from the hard right of his party. Voters have swung away from Turnbull’s vision of a post-mining, innovation-led economy toward politicians who they perceive as more likely to protect their jobs against offshore call-centres and globalisation. A fresh example: yesterday, Turnbull met with Nick Xenophon to find a way to get Arrium out of financial difficulty, with a $50m package now on the table. The problem with bailouts is that they provide a sugar hit without fixing the problem. And markets don’t accept them, which means they remain un-financial. Example A: In the US, three attorneys-general (Massachusetts, California and New York Attorney) are trawling through internal documents and public filings of oil major Exxon looking at whether the company has knowingly misled the public and shareholders on issues of climate science. Read more at (VIEW LINK)