Tyranny of Distance Does in Australia

Australia is severely disadvantaged in the global economy because of it's geographic location a new study has reaffirmed.

"Geoffrey Blainey's 'tyranny of distance' is alive and well, despite developments in modern transport and communications," he said.

Mr Byers says the report highlights Australia's difficulties in plugging into the global economy.

"If we look, for example, at a measure of trade intensity - which is international trade as a percentage of overall national economic activity - Australia ranks about 20th out of 22 nations," he said.

A number of papers in the Competing from Australia report suggest Australia's links to the global economy are weak, and distance is among the hurdles that will remain difficult to overcome.

Well hello. Have you ever made the trip to London or Los Angeles. It is a long way. Lucky Australia has nice scenery and some grains, grog, rocks and liquids and some animals with value to the rest of the world. The human capital seems to export itself, often never to return.