It is a matter of extreme concern that the Commonwealth Government and its appointed representatives appear to be living in a fantasyland where the local manufacturing industry is not being driven into oblivion.

The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, has recently been attempting to justify his refusal to acknowledge reality by a strange combination of fact and fiction relating to a political agenda. It would be quite truthful to acknowledge that the political party responsible for the demise of Australian manufacturing and all its related jobs would never survive another democratic election.

Manufacturing industry has been expanding at the rate of 1.5 per cent a year, while the economy at large has been growing at 5 per cent. A few years ago manufacturing contributed more than 15 per cent of GDP, but now claims only about 10 per cent contribution.

In the days when the late Senator John Button introduced his industry policy designed to make Australian manufacturing more competitive in the international marketplace, we still had a ''Big Australian'' manufacturer in BHP; we still had a Minister for Manufacturing, we still had Australian companies that produced Arnott's biscuits, Vegemite and Victa lawnmowers. We had industry bodies representing the interests of their Australian membership. They were not dominated by the interests of importers, academics, foreign-owned commodities and the parasitical financiers and retailers, as they are today.

Government refuses to listen to the diminishing number of Australian manufacturers remaining, and supports the best interests of foreign internationals, while its productivity commission provides the theoretical ammunition to decimate the locals.

In today's Australia, the employment figures frequently quoted as evidence of positive influences in the sector include anybody who is paid for two or more hours work a fortnight. This implies that a teenager being paid for collecting trolleys at the supermarket on Saturday mornings, or babysitting for a couple of hours every other weekend, is officially classified as employed. All resultant statistics are in constant need of informed interpretation.

It is quite remarkable that Carr and his cohorts appear to be obsessed with the concept of an entirely dollar-based economy.

Australia is allegedly experiencing a commodities boom. The reality is that 95 per cent of so-called commodities companies in Australia are foreign-owned and managed, including BHP-Billiton. These companies have abandoned any pretext of value-adding to commodities and minerals in Australia. Their sole interest is to ship more and bigger shipments out of the country as fast as they can, to make bigger profits, for them to distribute outside Australia.

Furthermore, the Australian Government is spending more and more taxpayer money in order to facilitate the increased turnaround capacity of the foreign-owned shipping companies who dominate Australian ports.

Basically, we Australians have abandoned our rights to our own minerals and ores and are bending over backwards to help foreigners take them away.

A national comparison with the destiny of Nauru is not inappropriate. Only the Nauruan Government profited from the export of its rock phosphate, and no Nauruan inhabitant benefited from its national assets. It is interesting to note that China has recently imposed a 100 per cent export duty on phosphoric acid and phosphates, to increase the price in Australia by 135 per cent.

It would be appropriate to acknowledge that Australia's exponentially increasing deficit in the international balance of payments, has been permanently consigned into a continual state of political darkness. Imports cost more than our exports earn, and the income base of the consumers who demand and buy more imports, is permanently threatened by the continuing demise of those who would export or sell Australian made and owned products.

Local consumers have been consistently seduced by the availability of foreign-owned credit facilities. These are used to pay for the imports or properties that the borrower's income base cannot support, and will ultimately be reclaimed or repossessed by the credit providers.

The political and economic decision to differentiate between the problems associated with inflation as opposed to balance of trade is totally counterproductive. The Reserve Bank of Australia's charter to address inflation by increasing interest rates is simply increasing the value of the Australian dollar without addressing the root causes of increased fuel or food prices.

Australian manufacturers and exporters simply cannot survive in the resulting economy, and the effects this will have on the balance of trade will be disastrous. The jobs and income they generate for working Australians will disappear or be exported. The resultant chaos will probably be expressed as a continuing state of depression, by the same economists and financiers who created the responsible conditions, allegedly in the name of free-trade or global economy.

The demise of Australian-owned manufacturing industry has been exacerbated by the globalisation culture encouraged by Govern-ment.

Locals must compete directly in the international market to remain suppliers to the foreign-owned internationals (GMH,Toyota, BHP-Billiton etc) whose mandatory demands for summary price reductions on supplied componentry has progressively resulted in the enforced migration of sales, jobs and income overseas.

The loud noises generated by the latest spin on automotive manufacturing in Australia fairly accurately follows standard political practice.

The Government gives direct assistance to a foreign car manufacturer to generate 200 jobs in Victoria to replace the 500 losses recently announced.

The Japanese will enjoy their windfall of $35 million to help them assemble imported Japanese components into an Australian car one which is only partially green and massively expensive to maintain its electrical storage capacity.

Australia not only loses 500 GMH engine jobs, but also the myriad local suppliers who have been supplying componentry, employment and incomes for many Australians who will no longer be able to afford their interest or credit repayments.

It is interesting that Carr began his portfolio tenure by cancelling all research and development grants to Australian industry under the well-established commercial ready program.

This generated so-called savings of $600 million decimated local and current research and development activity within struggling Australian manufacturers.

Ron Grey is managing director of GBC Scientific Equipment, a wholly Australian-owned analytical instrument manufacturer.