The Keating cabinet contemplated a boost to the textile,clothing and footwear industries.Credit:Jessica Hromas
Many of the proposals – advanced by officials as much as by politicians – did not immediately go ahead
Ending the ban on new uranium mines,for example,adopted by the Labor Party in 1982,was among reforms offered as part of this"stocktake",but it took John Howard to do it.
By August,the cabinet was briefed on what specific privatisation projects were likely to gain the greatest financial benefit:Commonwealth Bank,Qantas,Federal Airports Corporation,Australian and Overseas Telecommunication Corporation,Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation and Australian Defence Industries.
The previous Hawke government had very much trashed what remained of Australia's textile,clothing and footwear industries on the altar of abolishing tariffs,but with unemployment climbing the Keating cabinet contemplated a"reverse ferret"by using the TCF sector to stimulate jobs in regional centres.