Economics has been dubbed the dismal science. The appellation is a strange one, for many of its practitioners are doctrine-driven enthusiasts who are intent on telling us what we must do to be saved. Far from being dismal, they exude the blithe — and blind — faith of religious revivalists. They cling steadfastly to their doctrine, for they believe that only it can sufficiently explain the human world. Any suggestion that this world might not unfold as the doctrine prescribes is to be abjured as the work of the devil.
The revivalists were out in force on the ABC's Q&A this week, in response to the news that Toyota will cease to build cars in Australia in 2017. Following in the wake of decisions to quit the industry by Holden and Ford, Toyota's announcement means the end of car making in this country.
The industry, including the component makers, employs nearly 60,000 directly and 250,000 indirectly. It is the mainstay of Australian manufacturing and its disappearance will devastate the economies of Victoria and South Australia, with flow-on effects in other states. But apparently we shouldn't worry, because something will come along to fill the gap. The revivalists are sure of it.
This confident prediction was made several times by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, to sustained applause from Q&A's studio audience. Turnbull is not an economist. But as a member of Cabinet he vigorously defended the Abbott Government's decision not to extend public subsidy of the car industry, and its more recent one to decline Coca-Cola Amatil's request for $25 million to help retool its SPC Ardmona subsidiary in Shepparton. That refusal is expected to hasten the end of another branch of Australian manufacturing, for SPC Ardmona operates Australia's last fruit and vegetable cannery.
Turnbull could not explain why another multinational company, Cadbury, will receive $16 million in public funds for its chocolate factory in Hobart. The Government has previously argued that Cadbury is a special case because making confectionery attracts tourists. But it is not clear why luring tourists to Hobart is more important than providing jobs in the Goulburn valley, where the unemployment rate (8.6 per cent) is even higher than it is in Tasmania (7.9 per cent). Suggestions that the indulgence shown to Cadbury might have had something to do with the fact that its factory is in a marginal seat were dismissed. The doctrine of the pure does not acknowledge the