I was saddened when I heard on the news that good old Westpac, despite making billions in record profits, was looking at moving jobs offshore. And I was wondering what, if anything, could be done to stop jobs being hived off to India and all points cheaper on the map? Then I had an idea. So here it is Mr Swan if you're listening...

Put a payroll tax on offshore job positions

I don't know if this would work but it seems to me that to stop losing Australian jobs without whittling away the pay and conditons of Australian workers, we need to make overseas positions more expensive. If we taxed companies per head of offshore employee then this would be a less attractive option. What's more it would swell the Treasurer's coffers so he can fix our health system!

Anybody got any thoughts?