The Australian government is moving urgently to address a crisis in manufacturing. While mining is booming it seems the majority of products and services for the boom are being sourced from overseas. Often Australian businesses don’t even get a chance to tender. Foreign tenderers are said to be getting the tenders without meeting Australian standards and employment requirements.
The government is moving to bring in new rules to ensure that Australian manufacturers get the chance to tender. and a naming and shaming process for companies that aren’t choosing Australian.
What we are seeing here at a national level is the importance of keeping our jobs within the country and getting the profits coming home.
At a much smaller scale this is what Transition The Grove wants to see happening in the upper Kedron Brook valley. We want local businesses to get the work locals to be employed in local businesses profits to be kept within this community to create more jobs and business locally.
It is why we also think a local currency would be a valuable local asset. Local currency can only be spent locally. It keeps trading cycling within the community.