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Viewing cable 08MELBOURNE123, Melbourne Businesses See Tough Times Ahead

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08MELBOURNE123 2008-10-24 06:15 2011-08-30 01:44 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Melbourne
VZCZCXRO3017
RR RUEHCHI RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHPB
DE RUEHBN #0123/01 2980615
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240615Z OCT 08
FM AMCONSUL MELBOURNE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4791
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHZU/APEC COLLECTIVE
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 3483
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0099
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 2021
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 1469
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MELBOURNE 000123 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN ECON CH AS
SUBJECT: Melbourne Businesses See Tough Times Ahead 
 
REF: Canberra 1036 
 
MELBOURNE 00000123  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) Melbourne business leaders predict that Australian GDP 
growth will slow to approximately two percent in the coming three 
quarters.  While most are not using the word recession, there is an 
expectation that jobs will be lost, commodity prices will fall and 
belts will have to be tightened.  The jury is still out on how 
effective PM Rudd's recent financial rescue plan will be (reftel), 
and analysts are similarly divided on how hard a landing commodities 
will have.  With Australians concerned about slowing global growth, 
the slowing domestic economy, the plummeting value of their 
retirement funds and the possibility of protectionist policies 
springing up in the United States the global financial crisis 
certainly appears to have hit home in Melbourne.  End Summary. 
 
The "R" Word 
------------ 
 
2. (SBU) During a series of meetings with Melbourne business leaders 
and analysts on October 22, most contacts told visiting Econcouns 
that they expect Australian GDP growth to slow to approximately two 
percent in late 2008 and early 2009 but do not anticipate a 
recession.  Only Goldman Sachs/JB Were Chief Economist Tim Toohey 
stated that his firm expects a recession in Australia.  Toohey 
attributed this to "dramatic wealth destruction, debilitating 
tightness in money markets, rapidly slowing credit growth, sharp 
falls in commodity prices and the increasing probability that 
Australian house prices are now in decline." 
 
3. (SBU) National Australia Bank's (NAB) Head of International 
Economics, Tom Taylor forecast a "grim" outlook for early 2009 due 
to a loss of confidence in global financial markets.  In addition to 
supply problems with obtaining credit, Taylor noted that "deposits 
are pouring in," indicating that NAB customers are taking a more 
defensive stance and are becoming more adverse to seeking credit. 
Victoria's Secretary of the Treasury, Grant Hehir indicated that he 
expected Victoria's jobless rates to increase to five percent. 
According to Hehir, there has been an "enormous drop off" in tax 
revenue particularly in conveyances and housing.  During the Asian 
Financial Crisis, Australia was able to export to the United States 
and in the aftermath of the dot com bubble, Australia looked to 
Asia; now "there is nowhere to go." 
 
4. (SBU) Tony Pensabene of the Australian Industry Group (AIG) 
described a general slowing of the economy except in the commodities 
and infrastructure sectors.  Most of AIG's members, Pensabene said, 
say that things are getting "tough."  While some members complain of 
year-on-year losses of up to 16 percent, AIG believes that the 
Australian economy will continue to grow, albeit at a reduced clip. 
Analysts at AIG, NAB and Goldman Sachs/JB Were agreed, however, that 
trouble in the global financial sector has begun to spill over into 
the "real" Australian economy. 
 
Reaction to Rudd's "Rescue Plan" 
-------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) Both Toohey and Taylor stated that Prime Minister Rudd's 
financial "rescue" package would likely be too little, too late. 
According to Toohey, "the lags between policy implementation and the 
impact upon the real economy will likely be too late to avoid a 
shallow recession and draw an end to Australia's record 17 year 
economic expansion."  Expressing a similar sentiment, Tom Taylor 
said that Rudd's package would not be enough to avert a turbulent 
first quarter in 2009 and said that quick spending on infrastructure 
would not be sufficient to reverse impending job losses.  Taylor 
believes that the benefits of the plan will be exhausted by 
Christmas. 
 
Boom, Bust? 
----------- 
 
6. (SBU) Melbourne observers maintain different expectations about 
the future of Australia's commodities sector.  NAB Economist Tom 
Taylor believes that Australia's economy is historically driven by 
strong foreign investment as well as a robust export market.  Citing 
a series of similar downturns in the late 19th and early 20th 
centuries, Taylor believes that there is no "soft landing" in store 
for Australia's commodities market.  Goldman Sachs/JB Were 
economists take a different stance and believe that rates of growth 
in China will be "modestly" slower in 2008/2009, but that China will 
continue to drive rising global raw materials demand.  Goldman 
analysts say that the slowdown in Chinese construction will be "very 
 
MELBOURNE 00000123  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
localized and will predominantly affect Shanghai and a few other 
East Coast cities."  Victoria's Secretary of the Treasury said that 
commodity prices have fallen in Australia, but the impact on 
Victoria will be less pronounced than in the resource rich states of 
South and West Australia. 
 
Fear of U.S. Protectionism 
-------------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) Australians from all quarters are expressing fear of 
increased U.S. trade barriers.  Many believe that in addition to 
heightened regulatory pressure on financial institutions, Americans 
will retreat to a more protectionist trade stance.  Victorians are 
concerned that a strong protectionist stance by the United States 
will encourage similar closed doors among other global economies. 
Econcouns emphasized that revived trade barriers are not part of the 
U.S. response to the global financial crisis. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
8. (SBU) While there is no consensus on where the Australian economy 
is heading, most expect a period of slower growth.  This slowdown, 
arguably unlike previous ones, has had a significant psychological 
impact on many Australians due to mandatory superannuation 
(retirement fund) contributions and the perception that "vast" 
amounts of wealth have disappeared.  Although it may still be too 
soon to tell exactly how the global financial crisis will affect 
Australia, very few believe that they will remain immune from the 
international economic malaise.  Most contacts still believe that 
Australia will fare better than other Western economies, but are 
wondering to what extent the crisis will impact their lives. 
 
THURSTON