Joe INDUSTRIAL Palmada PERSPECTIVES

SPEAKING A T SHELLHARBOUR, N.S.W., on May 5, the Federal Treasurer Mr. McMahon stated that Australia’s gross national product at constant prices had been rising by 5J per cent annually, 1 per cent higher than the growth rate of the ’fifties. “If the recent rate is m aintained,” he said, “our gross national product would treble in 20 years . . . Australia, if it m aintained its present immigration program would have a population around 20 million by 1980.” These are arresting figures even if not accepted at face value. Australia is a young country whose all round industrial development only really took place from the period of the second world war. It is a tremendously rich country with a potential of growth that exceeds the predictions of Mr. McMahon.