Change as inevitable as death: Macfarlane

Australian manufacturing must embrace changes in science and technology, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says.

The biggest challenge was maintaining productivity, sustaining Australia's international competitiveness and upholding the standard of living of workers, he told a Committee of Economic Development of Australia conference in Canberra on Tuesday.

"There will be all sorts of anxieties and all sorts of worries ... (but) you can only be sure of three things in life - death, taxes and change," he said.