Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-pdxrj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-07T04:53:59.215Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Australian Trade Liberalisation Policy: The Industries Assistance Commission and the Productivity Commission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Evan Jones
Evan Jones*
Affiliation:
The University of Sydney, Australia
*
Evan Jones, Department of Political Economy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Productivity Commission is Australia’s foremost policy advisory body. Its original incarnation as the Industries Assistance Commission derives from the 1960s push to dismantle the protective tariff regime that underpinned the Australian manufacturing sector. With success in tariff reductions and complementary reductions in rural sector assistance, the Commission’s investigatory role was gradually expanded to cover the entire gamut of government policy. The Commission’s history has generally been treated favourably. This article places the history of the original Industries Assistance Commission in context and takes a critical stance on its and the Productivity Commission’s vision and achievements.

Keywords

N67O25Competition policyeffective rate of protectionIndustries Assistance Commissionindustry policyProductivity Commissiontariff protectiontrade liberalisationtrade policy
Type
Symposium Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 27 , Issue 2: Symposium: Permanent Productivity Crisis - the Productivity Commission’s role in economic and social policy in Australia , June 2016 , pp. 181 - 198
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, K, Garnaut, R (1987) Australian Protectionism: Extent, Causes and Effects. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015) Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia. Cat No. 5302.0. Available at: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/mf/5302.0/ (accessed 1 April 2016).Google Scholar
Banks, G (2014) Challenges of structural reform: reflections on Australia’s experience. The 8th Sir John Crawford Lecture, New Delhi, India, 10 March. The Australia and New Zealand School of Government. Available at: https://www.anzsog.edu.au/media/upload/publication/133_Crawford-Lecture-Challenges-of-Structural-Reform-Reflections-on-Australias-Experience-10-March-2014_V2.pdf (accessed 1 April 2016).Google Scholar
Bell, S (1993) Australian Manufacturing and the State. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bernasek, M (1960) Dr. Corden’s uniform tariff proposal a comment. Economic Record 36(74): 250–257.Google Scholar
Birrell, B (2001) Federation: The Secret Story. Potts Point, NSW, Australia: Duffy & Snellgrove.Google Scholar
Brain, P (1977) The institute multi-purpose model: an outline. Australian Economic Review 10(3): 47–64.Google Scholar
Bulbeck, C (1983) State and capital in tariff policy. In: Head, B (ed.) State and Economy in Australia. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Oxford University Press, pp. 219–237.Google Scholar
Cameron, B (1961) The uniform tariff proposal. Economic Record 37(78): 224–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Committee to Advise on Policies for Manufacturing Industry (1975) Policies for Development of Manufacturing Industry (Jackson Report). Canberra, ACT, Australia: AGPS.Google Scholar
Conlon, RM (1994) An overview of protection of Australian manufacturing: past, present and future. Economics and Labour Relations Review 5(1): 137–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corden, M (1958) Import restrictions and tariffs: a new look at Australian policy. Economic Record 34(69): 334–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corden, M (2005) Effective protection and I. History of Economics Review 42: 1–11.Google Scholar
Crawford Sir, J (1973) A Commission to Advise on Assistance to Industries. Canberra, ACT, Australia: AGPS.Google Scholar
Firth, GG, Hagger, AJ (1959) The Australian economy, February, 1959. Economic Record 35(70): 1–20.Google Scholar
Glezer, L (1982) Tariff Politics: Australian Policy-Making 1960–1980. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Harris, P (2015) Opening Statement by the Productivity Commission Chairman. Joint Select Committee on Trade and Investment Growth—Inquiry into Business Experience in Utilising Australia’s Free Trade Agreements, Hearing of 21 July 2015. Available at: http://www.pc.gov.au/news-media/speeches/free-trade-agreements/20150721-jsc-trade-investment-growth.pdf (accessed 1 April 2015).Google Scholar
Industries Assistance Commission (IAC) (1974) Annual Report 1973–74. Canberra, ACT, Australia: AGPS.Google Scholar
Industries Assistance Commission (IAC) (1982) Certain Budgetary Assistance to Industry. Canberra, ACT, Australia: AGPS.Google Scholar
Industries Assistance Commission (IAC) (1984) Computer Hardware and Software; Typewriters…. Report No. 338. Canberra, ACT, Australia: AGPS.Google Scholar
Industries Assistance Commission (IAC) (1985) The Heavy Engineering Industry. Report No. 375. Canberra, ACT, Australia: AGPS.Google Scholar
Industries Assistance Commission (IAC) (1989) Government (Non-Tax) Charges, Summary and Findings. Report No. 422, September. Canberra, ACT, Australia: AGPS.Google Scholar
Industry Commission (IC) (1991) Availability of Capital. Canberra, ACT, Australia: AGPS.Google Scholar
Irwin, DA (1996) Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, E (1993) The Heavy Engineering Adjustment and Development Program: origins, processes and outcomes. Australian Journal of Public Administration 52(1): 40–52.Google Scholar
Jones, E (2000) In defence of ‘Black Jack’ McEwen. Australian Financial Review, 7 March, p. 21. AN Document AFNR000020111227dw37015hi (accessed 1 April).Google Scholar
Jones, E (2001) The purse strings and the policy process: bureaucratic shaping of industry policy capacity after 1945. Australian Journal of Public Administration 60(1): 21–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, E (2002) Post-world war two industry policy: opportunities and constraints. Australian Economic History Review 42(3): 312–333.Google Scholar
Lloyd, PJ (1978) Protection Policy in Surveys of Australian Economics (ed Gruen, FH). Sydney, NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin, pp. 241–296.Google Scholar
McCarthy, N (2000) If Rattigan and the journalists: advocacy journalism and agenda setting in the Australian tariff debate, 1963–71. Australian Journalism Review 22(2): 88–102.Google Scholar
Melville, L (1967) Tariff policy. Economic Record 43(2): 193–208.Google Scholar
Norman, NR (1975) The Effective Rate of Protection: An Exposure. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Australian Industries Development Association; Available at: Mitchell Library T0244057.Google Scholar
Productivity Commission (PC) (1999) Impact of Competition Policy Reforms on Rural and Regional Australia. Inquiry Report No. 8, 8 September. Available at: http://ncp.ncc.gov.au/docs/PC%20inquiry%20report%20-%20Impact%20of%20Competition%20Policy%20Reforms%20on%20Rural%20and%20Regional%20Australia,%20September%201999.pdf (accessed 1 April 2016).Google Scholar
Productivity Commission (PC) (2003) From Industry Assistance to Productivity: 30 years of ‘the Commission’. Canberra, ACT, Australia: PC. Available at: http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/195561/thirtyyearhistory.pdf (accessed 1 April 2016).Google Scholar
Productivity Commission (PC) (2014) Australia’s Automotive Manufacturing Industry. Productivity Commission Inquiry Report No. 70, 31 March. Available at: http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/automotive/report/automotive.pdf (accessed 1 April 2016).Google Scholar
Rattigan, A (1986) Industry Assistance: The Inside Story. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Reitsma, AJ (1960) Trade Protection in Australia. St. Lucia, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, P (2000) For Rattigan it was tariffs without tears. Australian Financial Review, 6 March, p. 19. AN Document AFNR000020111227dw36015kb (accessed 1 April 2016).Google Scholar
Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration (1976) Coombs Report. Canberra, ACT, Australia: AGPS.Google Scholar
Tsokhas, K (1984) A Class Apart? Businessmen and Australian Politics 1960–1980. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Uhrig, J (1983) Review of the Industries Assistance Commission. Report, 16 December. Canberra, ACT, Australia: AGPS.Google Scholar
Warhurst, J (1982) Jobs or Dogma? The Industries Assistance Commission and Australian Politics. St. Lucia, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland Press.Google Scholar