These are industries that Singapore and Taiwan have abandoned because economic growth made these labour intensive industries uneconomic. This is because capital accumulation eventually directs labour intensive tradable goods industries to capital poor countries. Yet these are the same industries that Crean tried direct resources to. The so-called sunrise industries that Crean and his ilk want us to emulate were entrepreneurial creations, not the products of government planning or sedentary bureacrats. Entrepreneurs look to what can be.
Planners look to what is.
Hayek aptly called the belief in state planning the fatal conceit . The emphasis should be on fatal. In fairness to Crean and Beazley, there are those in the Liberal Party who share their economic views. As von Mises caustically pointed out, would-be economic planners are always arguing over whose plan is best.