A message from Jens Goennemann

Often, I hear that Australia does not make anything anymore.

I heard this misnomer again recently when I did something I have wanted to do for a long time: to traverse our old, long, and quite tough track, the Canning Stock Route.

First opened in 1910, the 1,850-kilometre Western Australian overland trail stretches along 51 wells, from the goldfields south of Wiluna to Halls Creek in the remote Kimberley region. It is an infamous car and equipment killer and about as far from civilisation as you can get.  

My preparation for the drive focussed on finding the best Australian equipment and enhancements for my vehicle which led me to a raft of exceptional domestic manufacturers, whose products added substantial capability and durability to my LandCruiser. In fact, the only issues I encountered were a loose bonnet latch easily fixed with a spanner and a cracked windscreen thanks to a road train on my way home.

The 13,000km journey provided plenty of opportunities to contemplate some of the questions in my life, and that includes our manufacturing industry.

The vastness of this amazing continent bought into focus again that we have just about everything we need at our fingertips for manufacturing success. We only need to pull the right levers in an integrated approach to unlock our latent potential, rather than tinkering around the edges in an eclectic fashion.

Around the campfire with my fellow Canning alumni, I found myself debunking the myth that ‘Australia does not make anything anymore’ simply by pointing to my car. It is easy to understand why some of my fellow travellers arrived at this opinion, particularly when you view manufacturing through the narrow lens of finished goods. Doing so, means to underestimate Australia’s manufacturing potential.

Let’s use the sub-elements of the “finished good” of my vehicle, as an example for local manufacturing capability. Take South Australian manufacturer, REDARC’s globally successful products such as battery management system, inverter, and lithium battery pack which powered various items for my arduous journey including a fridge, freezer, water pump, oven, Starlink – and my beloved coffee machine. However, REDARC also serves the defence, space, mining, and other industries with its highly developed electronics manufacturing capability.  

Of the 10 vehicles that commenced the journey, only two made it through without major faults: my Toyota, enhanced by Australian-made suspension and drivetrain upgrades from JMACX, and a Nissan Patrol, which benefitted from enhancements similar to that of Australian vehicle remanufacturer Premcar, which also serves the aerospace, industrial, defence, and transport industry by leveraging its engineering prowess.

These domestic manufacturers are not alone in leveraging their industrial talent for adjacent industries such as defence. Yet, when it comes to our broader manufacturing industry, we seem to fall short of reaching our full potential. This is not due to a lack of outstanding manufacturers, highly skilled people, or the capability to make things; it is because we have our priorities and support systems backward.

We need to overcome commodity-fuelled complacency, understand what manufacturing capability does for a country, have a willingness to invest into such capability together with well thought out policies applied over time and at scale, eventually leading to impact.

Australia is at a crossroad, and we have not taken the right turn, yet.