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Oil refineries. We used to have 10 of them at one point. 3 in Victoria, 3 in NSW, 2 in Qld, 1 in SA and 1 in WA.

Thus far all refining capacity in SA has been closed, and only 1 refinery is still operating in NSW but that is to be closed in 2014. There are 2 refineries still operating in Vic, but one of them has been downsized and the other is for either sale or closure by its' owner. So in the not too distant future it seems that we'll have 4 operating refineries at most and the rest of our liquid fuel will be imported.

Steel. There used to be 3 major steel works in Australia. 2 in NSW and 1 in SA. One of the plants in NSW has been flattened some years ago and the other now only still operates 1 furnace. So the only one that could be considered "fully operational" is in SA - but it would be a brave person who bet on the long term future of that. BHP itself got out of the steel business years ago - they saw it coming.

Aluminium - A smelter in NSW closed recently and Rio Tinto is getting out of the industry. It's no secret that Bell Bay Aluminium (Tas) is struggling financially and is basically being run into the ground - it's just not worthwhile investing anything so they're just running until it literally falls apart and then it's over. It's much the same with the other Australian smelters too.

Ferro Alloys - There's only one producer in Australia, that being the Tasmanian Electro-Metallurgical Company (TEMCO). The plant shut down for 3 months a year or so ago, and was only restarted on the basis that the Hydro is supplying them with off-peak electricity to run it (whereas previously it was a 24/7/365 operation).

And on I could go. Manufacturing is pretty much stuffed in Australia these days. Practically every factory that was around in the past is either gone already or seriously struggling these days.

Talk to any of them and it's the same story:

1. Australian wages are too high.

2. The AUD is too high.

3. Electricity has become too expensive in recent times.

4. Gas is becoming expensive.

5. Transport costs are too high and services aren't up to scratch.

6. Modernisation or expansion (to gain economies of scale) faces too much red and green tape.

7. Overseas competitors have advantages in terms of lower rates of taxation and/or indirect government assistance and guaranteed home markets.

That list covers the majority of the problems to my understanding. Unless it falls far lower than anyone is expecting, literally to somewhere around 25 US cents, simply reducing the value of the AUD will not in itself fix the problems.

Australia is no longer competitive at manufacturing of practically anything. The trouble is, we're rapidly going the same way with administration and services as the white collar workers in the cities will soon find out.

Can anyone name a single industry other than iron ore where Australia is truly competitive? We're being priced out of gas and a lot of the smaller mines are struggling so even mining isn't as strong as many think once you take a few big pits in WA out of the picture.