There are some moments sitting in the Federal Parliament that I will never forget. Listening to Martin Ferguson announce his retirement this week was one of those special times. He managed to be the son of a Deputy Premier and yet every inch the gritty working-class man throughout his long career in public service. His father was the sounding board and confidant of Neville Wran, and Martin has been a lynchpin of this government, constantly reminding all of the need to keep promoting economic growth at the forefront of Labor’s agenda. He is a strong-willed man. There is one particular legend that his mates regularly ask him to confirm or deny. When he lived next door to his parents, before he moved to Melbourne, it is alleged that he decided to mow his back lawn one afternoon. Nothing wrong with that, although some would raise their eyebrows when they learned there was a family wedding going on in the backyard next door of which he didn’t approve. When asked, Martin gives a wry smile and say he recalls mowing the lawn but thinks it was slightly before the nuptials began. It’s always good to have Martin Ferguson on your side. He’ll be missed.

Like I am sure many Spectator Australia readers, I have the occasional (OK, make that frequent) grumble about the ABC. I was singularly unsurprised by the recent survey of ABC staff which showed that if there were an ABC polling booth, the Greens would win it. This preference shows up both in the choices that are made about which stories to report and how they are reported. Now don’t get me wrong; there are of course first-class, straight-down-the-line journalists like Sales, Uhlmann, Simkin and Curtis who report in the finest traditions of Aunty. But they swim against the tide in an institutional embrace of Australia’s most left-wing parliamentary party.

But every so often something comes along to restore your faith in our national broadcaster. Whitlam: The Power and Passion is beautifully done. It is sympathetic but not uncritical and includes interviews with the likes of John Howard and Ian Sinclair. It captures the ‘certain grandeur’ which Whitlam had and nurtured. It faithfully recounts his years living in Cabramatta and the impact that had on his policy program. And it reminds us well of his tireless efforts to modernise a moribund party and prepare for it government, which was no sure thing despite the Liberals’ 23 years in office. It faithfully recounts Whitlam’s extraordinary act of political courage in resigning his leadership of the party and demanding a mandate for reform from the Caucus (which he narrowly received). The acting which is interspersed with real footage is classily and faithfully done. The first episode takes us to the beginning of the Whitlam government. Of course the next episode will need to give fair attention to the mistakes of the Whitlam era as well as its achievements, but if the first episode is anything to go by, this is a very useful addition to the many thousands of words that have been written and spoken about the Whitlam government over the past 40 years.

So Ford Australia has announced that it is to go the way of Nissan and Mitsubishi, and will be no more by 2016. Eighty years of Australian manufacturing (which actually started with the re-assembling of Canadian-built T-models in Geelong) is coming to an end. The fact that Australia has created more than 900,000 jobs since 2007 will be of some, but little, comfort to the 1,200 people who will be looking for work between now and 2016. After experiencing a cumulative loss of $600 million over the past five years, the announcement is not a big surprise. Some have said ‘good riddance’, but even those of us who believe in free markets have good cause to think that manufacturing is important in Australia. Manufacturing is only eight per cent of the Australian economy but provides 29 per cent of our exports and 25 per cent of our research and development effort. We need a viable manufacturing sector to encourage young people to study in fields like industrial engineering, which are vital to ongoing innovation. A strong manufacturing sector is also an important support for a strong services sector. Professional services like lawyers, architects, accountants, industrial designers, engineers and management consultants all heavily interact with manufacturing firms. The high level of protection and support for car manufacturing around the world does mean that there is a case for a sectoral approach from government. This does not mean and should not mean tariff increases. I can understand why some people, concerned about the impact on their communities, would call for a temporary increase in tariffs while the Australian dollar is so high. But the arguments against a temporary tariff are the same as those against permanent tariffs: they encourage uncompetitiveness and ask consumers to pay more than they need to. Of course, a temporary tariff would not be temporary. When the temporary tariff was due to be removed, the car industry would, as sure as night follows day, argue that it is not the right time for it to be removed. Improving productivity, innovation and competitiveness are the ways to ensure a future for manufacturing. Car manufacturing has been under strain in Australia for many years. Blaming the introduction of the carbon price last year for this long-term challenge is disingenuous. Increasing the company tax rate for large companies to pay for parental leave certainly won’t help either.

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