The closure of Pacific Brands' Unanderra and Bellambi factories, with the loss of 281 jobs, could be seen as just another consequence of the economic conditions.

Certainly the global downturn has done the conglomerate no favours with it posting a $150 million loss for the first half of this financial year.

At a deeper level, though, the closure of plants in NSW, Victoria and Queensland and the shedding of 1850 jobs signifies that the textile, clothing and footwear industry in this country is all but dead.

Over time, Australians have seen manufacturer after manufacturer in this sector shut up shop, with it impossible for locally based plants to compete against the cheap labour of overseas, particularly in China.

Pacific Brands, backed by private equity investors, gobbled up scores and scores of Australian brands. The truth be known, if it had not done so some of these small companies would have fallen by the wayside anyway as tariffs decreased.

Pacific Brands was brutally honest yesterday to declare it could not viably manufacture in this country.

As we depict on our front page today, that is a crying shame, particularly for those iconic brands that will now be produced offshore.

Like the fauna on our coat of arms, brands like Bonds, KingGee and Holeproof intimated a certain level of national protection.

Indeed, we believed their profitability was assured along with their cultural status.

Sadly, the world has changed and there are no untouchables.

Just as the Victa lawnmower, Aeroplane Jelly and Vegemite still exist as products, so too will those familiar KingGee and Bonds products still appear on the nation's clothing racks.

But they won't be produced by hard-working Aussies at Unanderra or Bellambi. And these workers will find it difficult to secure new employment, both because of their dying trade but also the tight labour market.

This places a great expectation on Premier Nathan Rees' jobs summit today and tomorrow.

Summits are notorious for becoming bogged down in rhetoric and unworkable strategies. However, his government faces an economic tsunami as unemployment rates skyrocket and the people of NSW need to know his disaster plan.

What the Illawarra clearly requires is a region-specific stimulus package.

As we told the Premier directly several weeks ago, there will be three key issues in the Illawarra in 2009 for his government to address - jobs, jobs and jobs.