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Tag: Phillip Toner

  • An Industrial Strategy for Domestic Manufacturing of Onshore and Offshore Wind Energy Towers and Equipment

    Renewable Energy, Industry & Sector Policies

    An Industrial Strategy for Domestic Manufacturing of Onshore and Offshore Wind Energy Towers and Equipment

    by Phillip Toner

    Author

    Phillip Toner

    Australia could create more than 4300 quality direct jobs by making its own wind towers instead of importing them, according to new research by the Centre for Future Work. At present, all wind towers installed in Australia are imported from overseas with most coming from China.

    The report, by Professor Phil Toner (Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney) found a domestic wind energy sector would generate:

    ●      4,350 ongoing jobs in wind tower manufacturing, and thousands more in input industries, especially steel

    ●      Output of over 800 towers per year, with cumulative value of up to $15 billion over the next 17 years

    ●      Incremental demand for up to 700,000 tonnes of Australian-made steel per year, creating a foundation for the recapitalization of Australian steel plants with carbon-free technologies

    ●      Avoiding 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions thanks to reduced sea shipping of imported wind towers

    Wind energy manufacturing represents a prime opportunity to apply the new policy tools of the federal government’s Future Made in Australia manufacturing strategy.

    The report makes several recommendations, including:

    • The federal government in co-operation with state governments and industry should commission an engineering and financial study into the optimal location, plant size, plant playout, advanced production equipment and minimum scale of output required to establish competitive tower manufacturing on the east coast of Australia (where onshore and offshore wind farm activity will be intense for decades).
    • State and federal government local content plans for renewable energy generation should prescribe specific proportions of domestic content in private and public procurement of wind energy equipment – harmonised across states to improve efficiency in domestic wind tower manufacturing.
    • A public-private planning authority should be established to strengthen linkages between investments in renewable energy supply and parallel investments in green steel production, using steady demand for wind tower manufacturing (and resulting supply of non-carbon electricity) to validate investments in decarbonised steel production.
    • The Scope 3 emissions embodied in imported towers (both in offshore manufacturing and then shipping of those towers to Australia) should be fully reflected in decisions regarding sourcing.



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  • Lost at Sea

    Industry & Sector Policies, Unions & Collective Bargaining

    Lost at Sea

    An Assessment of the Productivity Commission’s Report on Container Port Productivity
    by Phillip Toner

    Author

    Phillip Toner

    New research from the Centre for Future Work challenges the methodology and conclusions of a recent Productivity Commission study of productivity in Australia’s container port system.

    The report, by economist Dr Phil Toner, suggests that the Commission’s exercise was ideologically motivated, and failed to properly interpret its own data.

    By several indicators, Australian container ports have demonstrated superior and globally competitive productivity performance, including:

    • 7.8% annual compound growth in number of containers handled.
    • 3.6% annual compound growth in containers handled per hour of work (more than twice average productivity growth in the broader economy).
    • 5.9% annual compound growth in equivalent container units handled per crane.

    The Productivity Commission’s claims that Australian ports are not ‘technically efficient’ rests on a faulty methodology which assumes that ports should minimise use of productive inputs (including land, capital, and labour) to meet any given volume of traffic. But in the real maritime logistics industry, other criteria – including ship turnaround time, and ability to respond to fluctuations in demand – are more essential for shippers.

    “Even the Commission’s own abstract modeling confirms that Australian ports can be as efficient, or more efficient, than global benchmarks,” said Dr Toner. “By more practical measures such as turnaround time, flexibility to accept fluctuations in volume, and safety, Australian ports are both efficient and productive.”

    The report was especially critical of the Productivity Commission’s blanket assertion that unspecified industrial relations practices in Australian ports are the source of purported ‘technical inefficiency.’’

    “The Productivity Commission report provides no hard evidence that workplace practices are reducing productivity in our ports,” Dr Toner added. “Its assertions are unbalanced, and reflect an ideological predisposition to blame unions rather than being based on careful empirical analysis.”

    Dr Toner’s 50-page report highlights numerous methodological problems and inconsistencies in the Productivity Commission’s analysis of port productivity. It concludes by urging the current Commonwealth government to reject the Commission’s draft recommendation to revise the Fair Work Act in order to restrict collective bargaining and industrial activity in ports and related activities.

    The Commission’s inquiry into port productivity was commissioned before the 2022 federal election by the former Coalition federal government. Its draft report was released in September.



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