OPEN SKIES - bull****! Australian Industry protected from cheap imports?

[BP2197]

Tariffs are economically inefficient. In theory terms, it is described as a dead weight loss. Deadweight loss - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How do you think the rest of the tourism industry would feel if this was imposed on them on top of the high $AU and weather events? Jobs in the aviation sector would come at a bigger cost to those in the rest of the economy.

As a developed economy, the way forward is a better educated population so that we can can continue to thrive whilst the lower skilled work is undertaken overseas.

Certainly liberalising IR policies would help productivity and keep Australian firms competitive but I can't see it happening under this govt.

[Sunfish]

As a former industry advisor for a State Government Department and later a CEO of a university technology transfer company I can give a little insight into this matter and also perhaps explain why Qantas is part of the problem.

The first thing you need to know is that there are quite a lot of highly profitable technology companies in Australia that are laughing all the way to the bank, every year.

Here is just one of them: ANCA - The World's Most Flexible Tool Grinder - they supply Boeing, GE, Rolls, GM, you name it. There are plenty of others.

You never hear an Australian business saying "Hey! Look how profitable I am! Look how much money I'm making!" do you? I know one company doing aerospace stuff where the owners and managers collect Ferraris. There is a high tech company not more than Five kilometers from here that is the world leader in making the highest of high end luxury super yacht and racing yacht hardware, but you will never know..

On the other hand, you will occasionally hear on morning talkback radio, the small manufacturer getting worked up: "I provide jobs in Australia!", "I ought to be protected from XXXXX!", "The Government is taking too much tax", "I can't get workers", "unfair competition, cheap slave labour in China" etc. etc. etc. Ever heard one of them?

Well whenever the Minister or the Premier copped a spray from one of those on talkback radio and said "I'll have someone contact you", it was always poor old Sunfish who got that job! Let me tell you what I found every time I visited one of these businesses...

I always found plenty of Australian flags and boxing kangaroos everywhere. The factory itself was always run down. The equipment was old. The employees were untrained. The machinery and staff were incapable of producing a quality product. The owner was always hyper patriotic. When questioned about his competition and their product quality, there was invariably a lack of detail. If I raised the subject of quality and technology it was quickly ignored. This even applied to a division of a public company - they couldn't understand why their competitor from Europe consistently was cheaper! A simple look at the product, the factory and the systems explained why! What these guys invariably asked for in the end was a Government grant. So much for proud ultra conservative free market economics!

I saw other companies that were highly successful. They all had one very simple secret - they benchmarked themselves against their international competition and then set out to first match them by copying them, then doing their own R & D and finally beating them. I had guys in Thomastown
who knew that their competitor wasn't Joe Blow in Brisbane, it was Hitachi in Japan - and they were fighting over highly specialised markets that don't even exist in Australia! I have dozens of examples. Does anyone know that the worlds leading manufacturer of specialised Tobacco handling equipment is in country Victoria? Mining machinery? ?

..And you get you knickers in a knot because Chinese hand tools are cheaper? Why are you even trying to compete in such a crappy market?

And this is where Qantas comes in. To compete internationally you need to go overseas - and often. You need to send freight overseas as well. So Qantas provides a ****ty slow and expensive service - and it effects Australian jobs and growth as a result.

[waren9]

why can't our fruit industry modernise and efficiently produce fruit at reasonable prices, rather than being a net importer of fruit to meet the Australian demand?

Too busy fighting over water allocations for water that doesnt exist and red tape and paying tax to fund a north south pipeline would be my guess.

Too much time spent arguing about how it should be done rather than getting on and doing it.

[Wally Mk2]

Another 150 employees finished in the SPC fruit canning business ( to the Nth of ML as heard on the news this morning) due they can't compete with imported fruits...............christ we have stuffed a country that could have been the best!

200 years is all it has taken, Govts over the years ought to be ashamed of themselves


Wmk2

[UPPERLOBE]

Nah Wally, it took about 160 years to build it up and the nongs in charge have been shoving the level playing field into us for the last 40 years.

Our favourite 2 big supermarket players are the ones killing off local production. Does anyone look past the price and see where stuff actually comes from?

[my oleo is extended]

why can't our fruit industry modernise and efficiently produce fruit at reasonable prices, rather than being a net importer of fruit to meet the Australian demand?

The Government is too busy sitting on its hands letting the Murray River turn int a salt pan filled with rotting Carp. But don't worry, they will spend millions on consultant mates to produce long winded reports peppered with lawyer speach and wank words. Clowns.

I always found plenty of Australian flags and boxing kangaroos everywhere. The factory itself was always run down. The equipment was old. The employees were untrained. The machinery and staff were incapable of producing a quality product. The owner was always hyper patriotic. When questioned about his competition and their product quality, there was invariably a lack of detail. If I raised the subject of quality and technology it was quickly ignored. This even applied to a division of a public company - they couldn't understand why their competitor from Europe consistently was cheaper! A simple look at the product, the factory and the systems explained why! What these guys invariably asked for in the end was a Government grant. So much for proud ultra conservative free market economics!

Yep, that is the modern day Qantas !

[tail wheel]

I see SPC Ardmona retrenched 150 workers as they can't compete with import products.

Having seen an ultra modern canning facility overseas I wonder if the real reason was no investment in ultra modern, automated canning technology and 140 staff too many?

Common with many developed countries, our politicians of all shades are engrossed in the game of factional politics, rather than the art of national leadership.

Whilst I acknowledge the previous Government exercised excellent fiscal management and should take credit for our strong economy, they too had their share of failures but I don't think it was as many as the lemons the current Government has so far achieved:

The Top 50 Labor Lemons

1.. Carbon Tax – “There will be no carbon tax under the Government I lead.”
2.. NBN – $50 billion but no cost-benefit analysis
3.. Building the Education Revolution – The school halls fiasco
4.. Home Insulation Plan (Pink Batts) – Dumped
5.. Citizens Assembly – Dumped
6.. Cash for Clunkers – Dumped
7.. Hospital Reform – Nothing
8.. Digital set-top boxes – Cheaper at Harvey Norman
9.. Emissions Trading Scheme – Abandoned
10. Mining Tax – Continuing uncertainty for our miners
11. Livestock export ban to Indonesia – Over-reaction
12. Detention Centres – Riots & cost blow-outs
13. East Timor ‘solution’ – Announced before agreed
14. Malaysia ‘solution’ – Only just agreed, now blocked by the High Court?
15. Manus Island ‘solution’ – On the backburner
16. Computers in Schools – $1.4 billion blow out; less than half delivered
17. Cutting Red Tape – 12,835 new regulations, only 58 repealed
18. Asia Pacific Community – Another expensive Rudd frolic. Going nowhere
19. Green Loans Program – Abandoned. Only 3.5% of promised loans delivered
20. Solar Homes & Communities plan – Shut down after $534 million blow out
21. Green Car Innovation Fund – Abandoned
22. Solar Credits Scheme – Scaled back
23. Green Start Program – Scrapped
24. Retooling for Climate Change Program – Abolished
25. Childcare Centres – Abandoned. 260 promised, only 38 delivered
26. Take a “meat axe”’ to the Public Service – 24,000 more public servants
27. Murray Darling Basin Plan – back to the drawing board
28. 2020 Summit – Meaningless talkfest
29. Tax Summit – Deferred and downgraded
30. Population Policy – Sets no targets
31. Fuel Watch – Abandoned
32. Grocery Choice – Abandoned
33. $900 Stimulus cheques – Sent to dead people and overseas residents
34. Foreign Policy – In turmoil with Rudd running riot
35. National Schools Solar Program – Closing two years early
36. Solar Hot Water Rebate – Abandoned
37. Oceanic Viking – Caved in
38. GP Super Clinics – 64 promised, only 11 operational
39. Defence Family Healthcare Clinics – 12 promised, none delivered
40. Trade Training Centres – 2650 promised, 70 operational
41. Bid for UN Security Council seat – An expensive Rudd frolic
42.. MySchool Website – Revamped but problems continue
43. National Curriculum – States in uproar
44. Small Business Superannuation Clearing House – 99% of small businesses reject it
45. Indigenous Housing Program – way behind schedule
46. Rudd Bank – Went nowhere
47. Using cheap Chinese fabrics for Defence uniforms – Ditched
48. Innovation Ambassadors Program – junked
49. Six Submarines – none operational
50. Debt limit to be increased to $250 billion – to pay for all of this and much more

Fifty lemons is a notable achievement?

I could add to that:

• The Qantas Sale Act - what is that?
• The $90 billion Australian Future Fund - quietly spent, now all gone!
• Fair Work Act - a nighmare of industrial regulation for which Australian workers gain no real benefits.

[TIMA9X]

Fair Work Act - a nighmare of industrial regulation for which Australian workers gain no real benefits.

Yep, and nothing 'fair' about it, if you consider what happened to Captain SA in HKG the other week. FWA is a "lawyers playground" developed by lawyers weighed towards the employer who have the cash to stall or delay every legal procedure. AIPA did all the right things to get the PIA ratified, so they thought. It really is sad what is happening in this country, meanwhile whatever is to be announced on the 24th the government/opposition will continue to remain silent. Nick X appears to be the only politician in the country who has some sort of an idea.

[my oleo is extended]

Conga line of suckholes

Tailwheel, you forgot these:

51.. Billions spent on Foreign Aid to other countries ( $500 million to Indonesia alone) while sectors of out own country, including pensioners and war vets have to beg for money while the government fukc them over.
52.. Beef Industry. Baning exports to Indonesia and sending dozens of Australian farmers to the wall. And why ? Because of a typical knee jerk half arsed hair brained move aimed at protecting some political scalp.
This country is being run by a red haired clown, a bunch of inept nufties completely blinded by their snouts being buried in the trough.

Next........

[tail wheel]

This country is being run by a red haired clown

So is McDonalds and that is a very successful business.......

Billions spent on Foreign Aid to other countries

Small change! The US Government just audited their Federal Reserve for the first time in history and discovered they had been cranking out bills, $16 Trillion in fact (not millions, not billions, but $16 trillion), to give as 0% interest loans to US and foreign banks, not approved by the US Congress.

Don't believe me - check HERE.

And you wonder why the US dollar is headed south and we have a world recession looming?

I note these 0% interest loans, not approved by Congress, were managed through J P Morgan Chase, who also received a $390 Billion 0% interest loan.

And here was me worried about Qantas largest share holder, J P Morgan, with around $2 Billion invested in Qantas!

[my oleo is extended]

Tailwheel, no disagreement here !
The below Pprune thread is a pretty accurate description of what has been going on in the USA.
http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-reporting...t-banking.html
I know a lot of people will say that some of us are 'conspiracy theorists' but the reality is that with a bit of time, an open mind and a lot of digging you will eventually uncover the truth. As an example, just look at a few of the QF threads, sift through the chaff and you will find a lot of interesting facts, large and small, coming to light simply by people probing, searching and digging.

So is McDonalds and that is a very successful business......

I agree that the red haired clown called Ronald does run a very successful enterprise, but the Labor red haired clown does not.

Small change! The US Government just audited their Federal Reserve for the first time in history and discovered they had been cranking out bills, $16 Trillion in fact (not millions, not billions, but $16 trillion), to give as 0% interest loans to US and foreign banks, not approved by the US Congress.

Its called fiat debt. The fools have been doing it for decades, hence the eventual mess they (and we by default) are now in. Research who and what the Federal Reserve System actually is. You will be quite surprised and shocked, but it is not what it appears. Billions is small change in the USA market, for Australia with our number of people and business structure per capita it is a big deal.

I note these 0% interest loans, not approved by Congress, were managed through J P Morgan, who also received a $390 Billion 0% interest loan.

Oh yes, now you are connecting the dots my friend. Try Googling these words in the same format as follows - Morgan, Federal Reserve, Jekyll Island.You will understand very quickly the connection.

‪G. Edward Griffin on the Federal Reserve System‬‏ - YouTube

How much longer will society take this ?

[ACT Crusader]

Hot off the press, NZ apples will now be exported to Australia.

OZ apple growers obviously not happy with the decision.