In Orange in the Central West
Of New South Wales today
In Orange in the Central West
Workers got redundancy pay
They rolled out the last fridge today
The final order was filled
They rolled out the last fridge today
The assembly line is still

So many workers were laid off
What now can they do?
So many workers were laid off
Their families retrenched too
Australia no longer makes
White goods of its own
Australia no longer makes
Anything much of note

Perhaps we can’t compete
With labour overseas
Perhaps we can’t compete
When all around is greed
Owners of shares won’t settle
For a measly five per cent
Owners of shares won’t settle
Till jobs offshore are sent

Your fridge might now be made
By children or by slaves
Your fridge might now be made
In factories unsafe
Value adding is a myth
In this ugly quarry of ours
Value adding is a myth
To beat the workers down

No more can we brag about
The things that we make
No more can we brag about
Our independent state
The future looks grim unless
We choose to take a stand
The future looks grim unless
Tightly together we band

Do not blame the workers
For they did their best
Do not blame the workers
It’s not they   who failed the test
If we want to produce
And not just consume
If we want to produce
Co-operatives must bloom

A former academic, Tony Smith has written extensively on a wide range of subjects as diverse as folk music and foreign policy issues in the Australian Review of Public Affairs, the Journal of Australian Studies Review of Books, Overland, the Australian Quarterly, Eureka Street, Online Opinion and Unleashed.