One way to ensure our overseas customers want to continue to Buy Australian is to support our thriving Research and Development (R&D) sector.
In our last e-newsletter, we discussed the “unique-ness” of Australia’s exports being one of the strongest attributes of Australian products in the eyes of the consumer (Source: Australian Made) and the R&D sector is a major source of “unique-ness”, as it turns new ideas into new products and services.
The strong links between Australian R&D institutions and our manufacturing sector are helping to commercialise ideas and ensure innovation translates into marketable products and services worldwide.
For example, co-operative research centres help to commercialise technologies in specialist fields such as advanced composite structures, automotive technologies, cast metals manufacturing, railway engineering and polymers.
As a result, manufacturing currently attracts more than $3.9 billion annually in R&D, or 39 per cent of all business expenditure on R&D (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Cat. No. 8140.0, Business Expenditure of R&D, 2005–2006). Approximately $10 billion is invested annually in new plant and equipment.
Given that advanced manufacturing already accounts for around half of Australia’s $104 billion annual manufacturing output and is one of the fastest growing export sectors, this level of expenditure bodes well for the future. To be continued.
In the decade to 2008–09, Australia’s total industry exports (current prices) increased 150% to $285.5 billion. (Source: Austrade). The main recipients of Australian exports are Japan, which is Australia's largest export market, followed by China, the Republic of Korea, India and the United States of America.
Free Trade
To remain prosperous and increase our national wealth, Australia needs to ensure other countries want to “Buy Australian” and that we have access to these markets. According to Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, the way to encourage growth in Australian exports is to ensure the continuation of an open trade policy.
"We need to avoid any form of protectionist measure, which invites retaliatory protectionist measures from economies around the world, and that's what would happen," Mr Rudd said.
Our natural resources, quality agricultural products and manufactured goods and services must be competitive with those offered elsewhere.
But how can we ensure our overseas customers want to continue to Buy Australian? To be continued.
