Manufacturing

Abstract

In this chapter, we track and critically evaluate, the decline of Australian manufacturing. We look to explanations rooted in the idea of a ‘resources curse’, and, more recently, the far from benign implications of global financialisation. We then examine the implications for Australian manufacturing of the supposed Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The positive implications are being reinforced, it is suggested, by the ramifications of deglobalisation in general and Covid-19 in particular. The last major section of the chapter considers the way that apprenticeships, training in particular, and the training sector, in general have echoed the decline in the manufacturing industry. We conclude by questioning how realistic the anticipated outcomes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are for the Australian manufacturing industry.