Sort of labour pains could bedevil a number of Australian industries in the months ahead but Prime Minister Julia Gillard has expressed confidence that her government's policy tools are sufficient in meeting the demands of shifting economic environment.

Ms Gillard believes that once her major initiatives, such as the nationwide roll out of the National Broadband Network and the implementation of carbon pricing, get fully underway, Australia's economic prospect will only change for the better.

In an interview with ABC Radio on Tuesday, Ms Gillard is highly optimistic that "our economy in the future is going to be different than in the past ... it's going to be a clean energy economy ... and we'll have an even higher level of technology through the NBN."

"People will have different skills and higher levels of skills," the Prime Minister was quoted by The Australian as saying, obviously referring to the parallel growth of the country's human resources as new economic policies spur expansions.

Along with her pronouncements, Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said that while new government policies may entail 'painful adjustments', which he admitted could disrupt some sectors in the short term, the Australian manufacturing industry could look forward to a brighter prospect despite its current difficulties with the soaring value of the Australian dollar.

Those temporary sacrifices, according to Ms Gillard, would be wiped away as the country gradually shifts to what she called a 'new economy'.

"We believe we can take traditional industries like manufacturing with us, giving them the benefit of the clean energy future which will require things to be manufactured; the benefits of higher level skills, the productive benefits that come from new technology, as well as the direct advocacy and assistance as procurement decisions are made," Ms Gillard told ABC.

At the moment, the federal government has admitted that robust growth in the mining sector is fuelling the rise of the local currency, which in turn hurts that manufacturing industry and to quickly counter that ill-effect, Swan said that he is looking at possibility of pushing forward for greater patronage of local products amidst the higher buying power of the Australian dollar.

"Certainly there will be changes in employment, there are changes in employment across sectors all the time," Swan was quoted by ABC as saying as he talked about new policies that intend to boost the country's manufacturing sector.

"We do see a very strong future for manufacturing in this country and what we do want to do is work with manufacturing to make sure that is the case," Swan told ABC.

Swan's comments were made as the local manufacturing industry called on federal authorities to step in and impose policy interventions that could reverse the negative impact of the surging Australian dollar to the country's locally-produced merchandises.