Stitched Up

Sometimes the safety nets we take for granted in Australia are not always common throughout the world.

Here is an example of the sudden impact of economic rationalism as the free trade agreement unravels Cambodia's clothes industry.

At first, officials were optimistic that the industry, which makes shirts, shoes and trousers for the likes of Adidas, Nike and Gap, could survive as a niche operator with a surprisingly good reputation for labour conditions and worker rights.
But already evidence is mounting, in the form of more and more factories closing, and more and more jobless women, ... that they were wrong.