Bluescope's announcement that it would close its steel making industry with the loss of about 1500 jobs is rightly seen as a crisis. Although the closing was a disaster that entailed massive harm to Australia, it was a crisis in the sense that it invited serious judgment of Australia's directions.
Most comment has been on the economic implications. These are fairly simple. Any Australian plant that makes steel faces higher costs than many of its competitors. These costs are magnified by the high exchange rate of the Australian dollar that makes imports cheaper. The high exchange rate in turn reflects the risk of inflation associated with the mining boom. Under these conditions Bluescope made losses that could not reasonably be sustained.
The economic crisis therefore is posed as the need to restructure the Australian economy so that it supports profitable industries. The options offered are to protect Australian businesses or to increase productivity by lowering costs, usually those associated with employment.
But this crisis cannot be seen simply in terms of economic abstractions. It has to do centrally with human beings. The loss of jobs immediately affects the employees. The ways in which Australia shapes its economy also creates a society in which human beings may flourish or be diminished. Bluescope and similar events invite reflections on the ways we can shape a humane society.
We should think first about the workers and their families. But the closures affect neighbourhoods and cities, too, because the workers' ill fortune will be visited on local shops and businesses and be felt in community organisations. It will be translated into depression whose results will be seen in families and schools. Bluescope and government have a responsibility to mitigate these ills.
The closure also raises larger questions about how the economic arrangements of society support human development and humane relationships. Economic efficiency is not the sole or decisive value. Particularly in times of economic restructuring it is essential to ensure that those who are unemployed receive a living wage that is adequate to support families.
The structuring of a humane society also involves encouraging people to connect with one another in local communities. This can conflict with maximum economic efficiency. The transformation of Australian rural life has led to more economically efficient production. But it has also hollowed out rural communities and the resources available to them.
It is not self-evident that the quality of Australian society has been better served