Yet he claims that these policies make it profitable for them to invest here. It is the role of government to pursue policies that promote the welfare of the citizenry, not multinationals. Australians are not here to subsidise the likes of Ford or Toyota. If our tax policies deter investment, then we should change them. But under no circumstances should we employ tariffs.
Tariff created investments' are really malinvestments that damage the economy.
There is nothing automatic about economic processes. The word automatic is a useful, though misleading to the ignorant, metaphor nothing else. What economics states is that labour markets will clear so long as there are no institutional barriers like above-market union wage rates. This is a fact that Colebatch is quick to sneer at in his columns but lacks the courage to debate. It should also be pointed out that Hong Kong is a free-trade economy whose economic performance makes us look sick.