Once again, Labor seems genuinely baffled that there aren’t more votes in propping up dying industries. The (non-existent) canneries and production lines of the future would be well-served by a Bill Shorten government, it seems, to the detriment of the budget, the taxpayer and progress. Of course, while in opposition Shorten waxes lyrical about cars and tinned fruit being core competencies without which we would not know what it means to be Australian, it’s just as possible that once in government he would oversee a much drier, boffin-led economic regime.