This paper analyses the seemingly inexorable decline of manufacturing in Australia. After explaining manufacturing’s malaise as a direct consequence of the nation’s globally open accumulation strategy, its attendant macroeconomic policy settings, the nation’s historical trajectory and the limitations of dispersed spatiality, we highlight the contradictory nature of trade versus industry policy settings and consider arguments for retaining manufacturing activity despite adverse competitive conditions. We argue that geographies of manufacturing must extend beyond the scale of firms and firm networks to incorporate more detailed considerations of national macro-economic and trade policies, financialisation and their interactions.