[jpatokal]

Australia is a stupidly uncompetitive place to manufacture anything. A friend of mine is managing a (rare!) factory expansion in Sydney right now, and costs of all inputs (rent, labor, etc) are 3-8x what the company is paying in Malaysia.

[tibbydudeza]

We in South Africa have the same issue due our location and the dependence on the export of natural resources.

Our third biggest export is motor vehicles and parts mainly from VW/BMW/Mercedes Benz/Toyota but we dodged the Holden/Ford bullet by making cars that could be sold locally and worldwide.