The closure of Holden's Adelaide plant on Friday will not be the end for Australian manufacturing if the sector's size and progress are measured more accurately and assistance better targeted, says a major report that claims the manufacturing workforce is 1.3 million, not 905,000 as previously thought.

Meanwhile, construction technology is another source of new jobs getting overlooked, according to a separate report that recommends the government follows the UK's lead in mandating building information modelling (BIM), so all construction projects are digitised and contributing to the local construction tech ecosystem.