It was only because the advice of market economists were ignored by ignorant politicians like herself, along with rent-extracting businessmen, that these malinvestments were made. So it is they who should be held to account for the transitional costs, not those who want to eliminate tariffs. Retaining these misallocated resources in their present positions in an attempt to avoid transition costs will only succeed in imposing and compounding greater long term costs on the community. The real magnitude of theses costs, of forgone opportunities, of sacrificed alternatives in the form of lower priced goods, new investments and innovations will never be known because Gallus tariff policy, acting as an economic contraceptive, so to speak, made sure they were never fertilised. Gallus worries that removing tariffs will increase our foreign debt and aggravate the balance of payments.
International trade occurs through differences in prices.
The effect of this will be to increase the demand for our exports which in turn increases the demand for imports. Never forget, exports are the price of imports. If foreigners accumulate Australian dollars by exporting to us, then eventually those dollars must return in the form of demand for our exports. What Gallus does not understand is that cutting imports would not cut debt. People who want to borrow will never be deterred by tariffs.