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Story: Manufacturing – an overview

Closer economic relations

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Closer economic relations

Cartoonist Malcolm Walker expressed the fears of many New Zealand manufacturers about closer economic relations (CER) with Australia. With four times as many factories as New Zealand and six times the population, many New Zealand manufacturers expected Australia to trounce them. The Manufacturers’ Federation rejected free trade and demanded continuing protection. But when introduced in 1983 CER was not the disaster many had feared.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: H-348-030

by Malcolm Walker

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Ian Hunter, Manufacturing – an overview – Manufacturing in the 1970s and 1980s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/25144/closer-economic-relations (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ian Hunter, published 14 April 2010.