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PUBLISHER’S LETTER
Australia’s economy is
far healthier than most
people think
www.siliconchip.com.au
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD
Production Manager
Greg Swain, B.Sc.(Hons.)
Technical Staff
John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.)
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Ross Tester
Rick Walters
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2 Silicon Chip
Are you sick of hearing all the doom and gloom
about Australia’s economy and the parlous state
of the dollar? I certainly am, particularly since
most of what is portrayed in the media just isn’t
true. I am also sick of hearing that electronics
manufacturing in this country is dead and buried.
That just isn’t the case at all.
It is true that the manufacture of consumer
electronics equipment in this country is long since
gone but that is true of virtually every Western country in the world. As far
as most people are concerned, and this applies to the media as well, electronics manufacturing in this country must be absent because it is invisible.
But electronics manufacturing is thriving in this country even though most
of it is done by privately-owned companies, not the large publicly-listed
corporations. And some large concerns are doing well too. For example,
Bosch, Siemens, Alcatel and others still make vast quantities of equipment
and a good deal of it goes for export.
For our part, one of the frustrations is that we know some of the smaller
companies and what they do but most of it is confidential and certainly not
in the public domain. However, if you want to look for it, there is plenty of
evidence of thriving electronics manufacturing. First, you have the booming
electronics parts suppliers such as Dick Smith Electronics, Jaycar Electronics,
Altronics, Farnell Electronics, RadioSpares and so on.
And virtually every semiconductor and passive component manufacturer
and test equipment maker in the world has either a direct presence or is
represented in Australia. Together, all these companies are responsible for
vast quantities of electronic components and electronic equipment being
imported into this country. Why? For local manufacture. After all, you don’t
imagine that it is all being purchased by electronics hobbyists to put together
SILICON CHIP projects, do you?
And apart from SILICON CHIP, there are three electronics trade magazines
and a number of associated titles also servicing the industry. Not bad, for an
industry which is supposedly defunct. And where do all these manufactured
electronics products go? Quite a surprising quantity are exported.
Only recently, one of the most prominent financial commentators, Robert
Gottliebsen, writing in “The Australian” wrote about the recent change in
our terms of trade and the increase in exports. The export category which
has had the biggest turnaround is “elaborately transformed manufactures”.
This is something that many bureaucrats and financial commentators thought
would never happen. And guess what makes up a significant part of that
“elaborately transformed stuff”? Yep, electronic equipment made in good
old Australia.
So next time some talking head on TV is declaiming about the Australian
economy and the supposed reasons for the dollar’s decline, remember that he
(or she) probably hasn’t a clue about what is really going on. In the overall
scheme of things, Australia is doing pretty well. We could be doing better
but then again, it could be a whole lot worse.
Electrical legislation
And by the way, in an area where we could be doing better, reform of
Electrical Legislation, please get those Letters of Will into us (see pages 9495). With your help, the regulations will be changed.
Leo Simpson
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