Globalization Impact on the Australian Economy

It has been an important question for a long time about the critical issues which a modern state should put into consideration to adapt to globalization. The mostly outlined areas include; restructuring and reorganizing public sectors, recomposing the nation through managerial skills and organization. All these were initiated by international agencies, private consultancies and the government and were initiated worldwide. Commercialization and marketization are also among the major issues to be considered.

The word policy generally means setting up some goals and objectives to be achieved within a given duration of time and putting in the needed efforts to achieve those goals. There must be some implementers of the set goals who will decide the right way to be followed towards the achievement. Policies are always intended to make life better than before to some set group of individuals. The policy is made up by several components which include: the set goals and objectives to be achieved, plans which are guided by the implementers for achieving the goals, programs that are established ways of achieving the goals, choices taken to set the objectives, developing the strategies and implementing the program and finally, measuring the impacts of the whole process and deciding whether its worthy (Dalton, Weeks and Wiseman, 1996).

Globalization can be defined as a bridge that tries to join the rich and the poor, as it puts together the worldwide economy and promotes international trade making each country benefit from the other through what it produces hence promoting integration, but on the other hand, it has got its shortcomings. Most countries used to take globalization as an outdated process from colonialism but it later turned to be of much concern to many as a result of its outstanding aims which include making it possible for different countries to benefit from what other countries are producing, promoting the interests of some western countries and the United States, making the large global organizations care over the responsibilities of independent governments and finally, bridging the gap between the rich and the poor ( Dalton et al, 1996).

The process of globalization is determined by several factors such as political issues, cultural practices, force groups and media as well as global factors, for instance, the Australian human rights policies have to match with the international conformity on the way to deal with human rights, and adhere to their cultural practices and respect for their religious way of life. In most cases, a country like Australia may not be a member of the signed treaty but due to moral pressure, it is forced to adhere to the rules. When such a challenge is discovered in Australia, social workers rely on the national and religious policies to face the challenge so as not to lose the available opportunity (Williams, 1989).

Another factor that is a major challenge to globalization is the issue of security where one country may take over and gain access to another country’s essential resources like food and water through the treaties, and some of its income earning resources like mining or major agricultural products. The issue of invasion is also alarming whereby a foreign country may impose some threats to other people by trying to invade a country and its people. Internationally, globalization is much affected by environmental issues like harmful chemicals, biodiversity and contaminated air but the social workers from the adversely affected communities have developed several ways on how to deal with the problem, whereby the national government is made to undertake the activity and as well provide support to help even the private sectors to develop policies as well (Keeling, 1972). In Australia for example, the national government has a great concern of conservation for species, living resources and controlling pollution of air and the soil. Most of these policies have been developed on basis of some risks, for example, the risk which is about to attack the two sides of the borders, the risk which could affect the adjacent communities, the risk which would cut along the borders and the risk that affect other or all communities.

There are both private and public risks, for the latter, which is also called involuntary risk it is hard to protect the individuals from its effects but for privacy risks, it is avoidable. For the effective control of risks to be achieved, three main aspects have been raised which are; holding only one worldwide meeting, coming up with environmental organizations internationally and creating environmental law and policies internationally (Mendes, 2003). On the other hand, globalization and managerialism have contributed much in the economic development of Australia in various ways; the textile industry was assisted to recover from recession through free movements of goods and services, improved communication which enabled to reach a great number of people and enhanced standardization, creation of worldwide customers due to one worldwide logo and advertising firm.

Managerialism created an opportunity through putting emphasis on improving the business by educating as well as training the local people to realize their abilities and contribute to the developments set by the government. Secondly, managerialism has put extra effort into the development of environmental policies as a way of government response to matters that affect the environment. Through the World Trade Organization, globalization has benefited Australia in various ways such as increased income whereby, the standards of living of individuals are improved and the people who are below the poverty line decreased in percentage. Customers of both goods and services experience improved consumption as there are several choices of goods provided meeting all their tastes and preferences (Mendes, 2003). Goods of high and different qualities are supplied putting the public in a position to buy high-quality goods at affordable prices.

Through World Trade Organization, the people of Australia are able to enjoy good governance as there are set rules and regulations which should be adhered to by all state members. Another opportunity experienced is a highly stimulated economic growth which is leading to the creation of jobs for many people hence reducing idleness that brings about evils in society. All the above has led to a reduced cost of living for many people.

Managerialism helped in enhancing that the public has enjoyed the goods and services borne through international trade and providing the most effective ways of keeping safe the finances of the public (Ife, 1997). Both internal and external securities fall in the hands of the management team to ensure a safe nation and the environment. Environmentally, the management has tried to minimize wastes and pollution, use non-renewable resources and protection of biodiversity hence creating an opportunity for the public to work in a good surrounding and controlling airborne diseases which are likely to be spread through the pollution of the environment. Countries that have been involved fully in the global market like Australia enjoy easier access to resources and technology than the closed market countries.

Since the formation of the world trade association, many countries have expanded exports by a greater percentage, for instance, Australia increased by 50% which created about 260,000 new job opportunities mostly in export processing zones. An increment of about 11% in export performance in Australia leads to the provision of about 75000 new job opportunities according to the foreign affairs and trade department. Employees in exporting industries enjoy increased wages per annum unlike those working in non-traded sectors (Keeling, 1972). Through exports of goods and services, all the families have enjoyed decreased taxes as well. Through globalization, there is the transfer of technology from one country to the other, and the domestic industries are able to innovate so as to become more competitive in the market.

Globalization is faced by several challenges which include political instability in many countries, which sometimes leads to collapsing of the major industries that are owned by the private sectors or by the government and various changes in the management. It is also faced with criticisms that it takes workers where labor is cheap leaving the developed countries with job insecurity and few workers to work for their industries. Globalization is to blame as the major cause of job losses because it makes it easier for companies to take their operations where business is the best. Through globalization, jobs are lost and other new are created so it is also a challenge to the government to ensure that it provides a certain level of education that will make the public relevant to the newly created jobs (Williams, 1989). As other countries continue to open their economies, Australia will continue to have an expanded business and better-paying jobs for its people.

The domestic efficiency and economic growth of Australia have expanded as a result of globalization. It has made more foreigners be open and connected to Australian markets making different economic systems of different nations to be similar, hence making other countries rely on Australia to offer goods and services to be traded in other nations. Australia has played a great role in enhancing the revolution of globalization which ended up creating some positive impacts such as the expansion of economic growth, international union, improved standard of living, well-cared environment, equal distribution of income, international business cycle among others.

Australia has been active in business, money and technology transfer, relocation of labor and in investment since its duration of colonialism. Globalization just came to change the magnitude, the way and the power of these transfers. This revolution has been made possible by new advanced technology such as online communications, electronic money transfers, and improved communication networks. Further, mobile phones have also greatly contributed to globalization. They have sped up the spread of information internationally and making it easier for business people to buy and sell their products from their respective countries. Technology has also made the advertisement of goods and services wide and easier to reach as many people as possible hence promoting the trade because there is only one advertising agency for one product worldwide. Once advertisements are posted through the internet, it is capable of serving many nations.

The advancement of the transport system is another way in which globalization was made easier. A producer from Australia will experience no barriers to transport his product to any nation where the market is the best (Ife, 1997). There are different ways of transport that a trader may decide to use depending on the type of product he is trading with. For instance, for perishable products, there are ways to transport to avoid spoilage of goods as quickly as possible, for the bulky goods, railway transport is available. Through globalization, any country can receive the goods they desire at the right time. Secondly, major business players like World Trade Organization and International Monetary Funds have made things work out in the process of globalization as they have rules and regulations they impose on the nations which need their assistance. These institutions control unusual financial and exchange rate manipulations by multinational corporations. Thirdly, newly implemented rules and regulations concerning the agreement on trade, services and rights of property owners have also made globalization move a great deal. Finally, the money market, foreign trade and the newly found markets are all linked worldwide wide which has made the Australian dollar float.

Globalization imposed a negative impact by making the producer’s trade in an unregulated marketplace, leaving the Australian agriculture farmers unprotected in the world market due to the removal of the tariffs. On the other hand, globalization made the Australian universities more popular internationally making the number of students rise up, and faculty exchange much more important issue creating more rooms for foreign students to join the universities hence increasing income for the institutions (Dalton et al, 1996).

Reference

Dalton, T.D. Weeks, M.W. & Wiseman, J. (1996). Making Social Policy in Australia: an introduction. Allen & Unwin.

Keeling, D. (1972). Administration, Management and Diplomatic Systems, management in Government. Allen & Unwin.

Ife, J. (1997). Managerialism in Rethinking Social Work. Longman.

Ife, J. (1997). Modernism and Postmodernism, and Feminism. Longman.

Mendes, P. (2003). Driving the Backlash? The Impact of Welfare States, in Australia’s Welfare Wars: The Players, the Politics and the Ideologies. UNSW Press.

Williams, F. (1989). Feminist Critiques of Welfare in Social Policy: A critical introduction, Policy. Cambridge.