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AUSTRALIA - economic overview
Lecture 6
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AUSTRALIAeconomic overview
1. Economic trends &patterns
2. Principal factors of change - POSITION
3. Economic cycles
4. Internal & external influences
5. International positioning
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1. Economic trends & patterns
• AUSTRALIA : a prosperous nation– GDP– Natural resources– Imports and exports– protectionism– International dependence– Adapting to globalisation
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2. AUSTRALIA’s position
– Source : Le dessous des cartes
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Prosperous but fragile• AGRCULTURAL ISSUES
– Wheat & cereals– wool– wine
• MINING– gold– Bauxite (aluminium)– uranium– Natural gas & oil
• THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR– Steel works & shipping– Car industry– Textile industry
• THE TERTIARY SECTOR– Transports & tourism
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Natural resources
Source : Le dessous des cartes
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3. Economic cycles
• POST WW2 : THE BOOM PERIOD– Boosting primary and secondary industries: => reconstruction
& a new consumer society
• 1970s– The beginning of economic decline linked to a world recession
• 1980s– The emergence of the impacts of globalisation
• 1990s– repositioning AUSTRALIA in Asia
• 21st CENTURY– Ambitioning as a regional world player– Unaffected by 2008 GFC (global financial crisis)
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3. now
• From the tyranny of distance to the advantage of adjacency– New markets (China, Japan, India & D. Korea)– Plenty of resources => minerals boom– Gas => Gorgon project in Western Australia – Iron ore => steel to build Asian cities and infrastructures– => prosperity– BUT– Also pushing up the value of the Australian dollar– Therefore making it expensive for:– foreign tourists– Foreign students– Wine industry
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4. Internal & 5. external influences
• POST WW2 : the MENZIES era (1939-41, 1949-66)– Protectionism, loyalty to GB, anti-communism
• The return of the ALP (Australian Labor Party)• Important politicians
– Gough WHITLAM (1972-75)– Bob HAWKE (1983-1996)– FRASER (1975-1983)– KEATING (1983-1996)– John HOWARD (1996-2007)– Kevin RUDD (2007-2010)– Julia Gillard (24/6/10-
• The issues– Fighting the cultural cringe in the 1970s –
(1973 Patrick White, Nobel prize for literature – The tree of Man)Schindler’s list by Thomas Kenally // Bee Gees, INXS, AC/DC
– implementing the FAIR GO (justice, workers’ heaven)– Adapting to a global world – Re-thinking Asia
• Customers – friends– Imports / exports
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5. International positioning
AUSTRALIAN lessons (to be taught / learnt):
• POLITICAL: – Close to or far from (Asia or USA)
• ECONOMIC:– Mining for big customers (China)– Asian partners
• ENVIRONMENTAL – to think green or to be green?– Coal for power?– Water for agriculture (like California?)– Uranium sold to whom?– Green tourism
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AUSTRALIA’s interests
– Source : Le dessous des cartes
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