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The Forum > Article Comments > A genuine regional people-to-people engagement must be Australia’s highest priority > Comments

A genuine regional people-to-people engagement must be Australia’s highest priority : Comments

By Jeffrey Wall, published 13/5/2022

Rebuilding relations with the Solomon Islands is just not going to happen while the current pro-China government is exercising a suffocating influence over the islands.

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Sorry Jeffry, but if PNG want to play Australia off against the CCP we need to vacate the field! Because we shouldn't succumb to blackmail!

As for the S.I., as long as the current P.M. is at the helm, it's hands off for us. Those who want to do deals with the devil need to understand, we don't want a bar of that arrangement or with the boneheads that have invited the CCP in!
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Friday, 13 May 2022 8:13:42 AM
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Labor spokesman, Marles, has said that China's "march through the region" is none of our business. Labor likes China. China likes Labor. People smugglers like Labor. Australian voters do not care.
Posted by ttbn, Friday, 13 May 2022 9:27:35 AM
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You know what…Australian Givernments have plundered cheap labour from the Solomons for decades.

“Using” the Solomons as a supply of cheap labour to suppress farm wages in Australia, is all part of the game!

I’m actually quite happy to see the whole arrangement back fire in the face of Australia.

Looking after their National Party mates in the bush hasn’t worked out too well for the LNP.

Dan.
Posted by diver dan, Friday, 13 May 2022 10:32:31 AM
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Closer to home: there is a Chinese spy ship "hugging" the WA coast now.
Posted by ttbn, Friday, 13 May 2022 2:54:06 PM
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The whole things stupid.

First Russia's been saying to the West for years
No NATO in Ukraine - That's a RED LINE for us..
And what does the West do, start arming and training Ukrainian miltary and starting a war with them after they overthrow the country in 2014 and the Eastern Russian-speaking people say nar we don't support this coup, and this new leadership so the 'new' Ukraine bombs and attacks these people for 8 years and lets Russia think Ukraine joining NATO is imminent and acts...

You didn't care about Russia's Red Line then, you just went ahead and tried to make a way with them and China anyway.

Now we're all being told that China is a threat to regional security, and if they build a military base in Tuvalu that will be a 'Red Line' for us.

Can you see the hypocrisy over 'Red Lines' there?

China's only acting this way because it sees how much the West ACTUALLY cares about 'regional security' and 'Red Lines' by the example of what the US has done in Ukraine.
(And what it's willing to do in Taiwan in the future)

It's sees how the west seeks to destabilise and overthrow 'so-called' 'authoritarian' regimes, so now they act in response to the threat.

And we're at home, can't afford the rent or the price of food.
And your telling us that we need to spend hundred of billions of dollars to protect our 'regional security'.

Who are we protecting our regional security from exactly?
We all know who - China.
What EXACTLY is most important to our 'regional security'?
Maybe that would be our trade routes?
- WITH CHINA -

China's our biggest trading partner.

So we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on new military equipment to protect of regional security (trade routes) with our biggest regional trading partner?

Do I understand this correctly?

Scomo already caused far more damage to our nation by getting us a coal ban from China, when he accused them of wrongdoing during the pandemic. How much did that cost our economy?
Posted by Armchair Critic, Friday, 13 May 2022 3:47:03 PM
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[Cont.]
You people are all a bunch of bumbling idiots.

Aussies would kick BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES out in an instant if we don't get our cheap chinese goods, and it's our own fault, because we don't manufacture anything of our own anymore.

The West is doing more harm to itself with these foolish policies.
Europe will be ruined without Russian energy, US will be ruined without Russian fertiliser, and many other countries will be in famine without grain.

China will take all Russian energy and get stronger whilst ALL Western countries (especially the living standards of its citizens) gets weaker.

This whole things is folly, and for what?
Posted by Armchair Critic, Friday, 13 May 2022 3:52:21 PM
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Here is a thought. The present government plans to establish a
merchant marine industry by purchasing a number of ships.
Most ships are crewed by Phillipinoes.
Their pay rates are usually less than pay rates in the flagged country shore workers.
We might be able to offer a scheme to Island countries to employ
islanders on our ships at rates as good or better than they could
get at home. It could tighten the connections between Australia and
the Pacific Islands.
Worth examining such a scheme ?
Posted by Bazz, Friday, 13 May 2022 10:37:29 PM
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Yes Bazz. everybody else is doing it and having our own merchant fleet is long overdue! most modern ships need just a few crew members to operate the vessel.

The biggest cost is diesel fuel. And a big black hole to pour money into. Whereas, if were nuclear powered the fuel would cost less. But even more so if that nuclear option was MSR thorium!

Just 8 grams of thorium contains enough recoverable energy to power your house and car for a century. The cost of mining and refining that 8 gram fraction around 100 dollars. And that is just 1 dollar a year.

As for a ship, we'd likely need a couple of kilos for a similar outcome? TBC.
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Friday, 13 May 2022 11:21:38 PM
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AC

Free speech is an anathema to Democratic freedom.

Opinions are cheap; a bit like eating peanuts from a jar. Individually, the peanuts taste great, but the raw ingredient is sourced from Chinese farms with marginal environmental oversight and using dodgy farm chemicals, processed and packaged by cheap Chinese labour and exported under a free trade agreement. Dodgy value!

So, like the Chinese imported peanuts; free speech is presented as the end product, looking acceptable and designed to fool you into believing your security in food sources, is attended to by your own Governments food import safety regulations, but now carrying a baggage of conditions which water down the original intentions of the necessary rules: So similarly, your Democratic rights are reduced to a mirage.
Who listens?
Certainly not a Politician.

Globalisation is a failure. Welcome aboard the good ship “ Catastrophe”, and wish hard and long that you have no need for a spare part for your vehicle you so rely upon for transport to work, in order to pay your huge mortgage payments, the success of which swings on your job, and the success of that job swings on reaching the destination on time every time! Good luck from here on!

As Ukraine has lost the war of independence and looks into a dim future beside a pissed-off Russian neighbour, so has Australia lost the war with China before it begins. By the “short and curlies “ fits!

Back to your valueless free speech and legitimate unheard complaints. The reason your are ignored by the those who should listen, but think they have no need to, due to your totally insignificant view (to them), being outside a ten trillion dollar real estate market as being the one and only significant channel marker, I think this situation will not change for the better anytime soon.

Dan.
Posted by diver dan, Saturday, 14 May 2022 6:04:23 AM
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Opinions...
If you control peoples input, then you also control their output
Which then begs the question, are your opinions really yours?

Globalisation is a failure.
- Well, maybe it depends on which parts of it.
There's positive's and negatives to most things.
Global trade for example has helped to raise many peoples standard of living.

Just think how much better off we might be as a country, if there wasn't this agenda to 'GET AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES' and we spent all the money we're already wasting on silly agendas, on fool proofed systems that actually benefit us?

Nation-building? Our leaders seem hell-bent on nation-destruction.

We have a system that creates problem kids, underachievers and mentally ill, then we spend all our money trying to manage the problems that we created.

- Then there's too many snouts in the trough making bank from managing all these problems and are invested in the status quo, rather than people creating better systems (actual change for the better) that would see the money better spent and alleviate said problems.

We've got base-level standards of healthcare and education
But if we don't figure out a sustainable system to pay for it those benefits will continue decay.

We're on a downward slope by every measure in my opinion.
And the sad part of it all is, we really could do better than this.
Posted by Armchair Critic, Saturday, 14 May 2022 10:23:15 AM
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"Australia's highest priority" is China, which has had a warship spying and prowling off Western Australian in the run up to the election. A Labor victory could see them entering the port of Darwin, which they have leased for 99 years. The greatest threat to Australia hasn't been an election issue for either of ouf piss-poor political parties.
Posted by ttbn, Saturday, 14 May 2022 10:48:29 AM
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Yes, A.C. The whole thing needs reform from top to bottom, starting with the dithering jelly backs who will promise anything to anyone or sell the national heritage just to stay in power.
We will get the parliament we deserve. Why? Because most voters don't give any thought to how they vote and for who as we sleepwalk toward becoming another Tibet?

What we need is a new Labor party that are more than union controlled puppets, doing as the string jerkers decide?

Candidates need to be cross examined by those who vote rather than a few self important media presenters. Something like Q+A minus the presenter's longwinded contributions and over abundant control?

We need tax reform to ensure every dollar earned here or local profit is taxed at no less than 15%.

And given no reconcillation, no need to fork over tax compliance costs and a saving to the bottom line of around 7%. And 15% is 2% more than the top transfer to the ATO in actual dollars of 13% with some paying in actual dollars as little as 4% with around 40% paying no company tax to anyone!

Second reform is in energy which needs to transition to nuclear yesterday! The current energy bill is crippling our debt ravaged economy as is the extreme capitalism that is the sole benificary!

We need to keep capitalism but as cooperative capitalism. Which keeps our money here working for us, where one dollar does the work of around seven!

Something PNG should adopt instead of always looking to Oz for handouts?
Posted by Alan B., Saturday, 14 May 2022 11:24:13 AM
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The 'softer' reaction of the PM to the menacing Chinese warship, compared with that of the defence minister's, has been jumped on by the media and opposition, who will both exploit the PM's weakness mercilessly, particularly after his wet 'no maritime rules broken' and chuntering on about Aukus, which is of absolutely no use against China at the present time.
Posted by ttbn, Saturday, 14 May 2022 11:39:03 AM
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Bazz, we used to have our own merchant marine fleet, but was killed off by excessive demands by a militant seaman's union. And cannot go down that path again with taxpayers dollars!

Fillipino seamen get paid good money by Fillipino standards and as long as they are happy? Why do we need to worry?

The only really important concern now is the cost to us of running the operation, which would be considerably less with MSR thorium as the fuel source! Something clearly not on the minds of the jellybacks in Parliament! I mean if we paid considerably less for the fuel, we'd be better placed to pay local rates to foreign seamen! Understanding, every thing that leaves the country or comes in has a transport component included in the final price to the consumer/user!
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Saturday, 14 May 2022 11:40:56 AM
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Ignoring the aggressive presence of a CCP warship spying on militarily installations in WA doesn't mean that it didn’t happen, and will not happen again. What a fool's paradise Australians are living in.
Posted by ttbn, Sunday, 15 May 2022 9:33:30 AM
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ttbn. We do the same with our intell gathering ships/subs! Moreover, a warship has guns, or missiles or torpedoes!

This small intell gathering ship is 490 nautical miles off of our shoreline and we know they are there! So we can jam the airways/feed false info to our hearts content until they bugger off!

As for their threat to us? we could respond by making all Chinese land or housing purchases illegal and retrospectively! That'll show them we are not a land of jellyback investors like Clive trying to get rich/wax fat off of Chinese cheap money or labour!
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Sunday, 15 May 2022 11:09:17 AM
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Any information the Chinese could gather from a ship is certainly pretty harmless compared to what they are gathering by satellite, just as we are on them the same way.

They may get more by shadowing an exercise fleet, but with todays tech they will get little they don't already know about shore instillation with a ship.

I can't imagine what they hope to gain with this ship, unless it is election manipulation, at which they may be having some slight success.
Posted by Hasbeen, Sunday, 15 May 2022 11:50:50 AM
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Hey ttbn,

I hate to bring up the irony here:

"A Labor victory could see them entering the port of Darwin, which they have leased for 99 years. The greatest threat to Australia hasn't been an election issue for either of our piss-poor political parties."

Usually when you lease something, you own the right to also go there.
Isn't that how it works?
As far as sailing off WA's coast, they were in international waters, no laws were broken.

If you don't like what they are doing then maybe they wouldn't be doing it,
If they didn't see the hypocrisy of the Wests actions when it talk about it's regional security.

Do you understand, respect is a 2-way street?
You need to give it - if you want to get it?

If you don't like their actions against us, then please vote for a leader
- That doesn't follow the US in spitting on THEIR regional security.
- That means DON'T SUPPORT OVERTHROWING COUNTRIES OR ARMING UKRAINE
AND DON'T SUPPORT STIRRING CHINA UP OR ARMING TAIWAN

Simples.

You know what?
I can almost bet that if we just asked Russia for nuclear tech for power generation,
And nuclear weapons as a strategic defense deterrent,
So that we can de-couple from the US lead sphere of interest,
To become a voice of reason in the world and remain neutral,
- They would probably just give it to us.
Posted by Armchair Critic, Sunday, 15 May 2022 12:07:48 PM
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"As for their threat to us? we could respond by making all Chinese land or housing purchases illegal and retrospectively! That'll show them we are not a land of jellyback investors like Clive trying to get rich/wax fat off of Chinese cheap money or labour"

Sorry Alan B, but this will only backfire and create further tensions.
The last time Scomo tried to stand up and act tough like the big man.
- China smacked him down like a little girl, and our whole nation suffered.

You would all do well to understand that the US wants our greatest trading partner to the their enemy.

If you think we should shoot ourselves in the foot like Europe has by playing fire with it's reliance on Russian energy, or the world to suffer from a lack of wheat.

If you think Aussies relying on Chinese goods wouldn't kick both Labor and Liberal out if either they took away their cheap goods, think again.

We're in a stage of the game now, where just like in the Ukraine, all citizens of all countries will suffer, but not the politicians and bureaucrats who caused the mess.

I have a feeling this whole thing is a part of Klaus Schwab and other elites plans.
Can't create a new society without destroying the old ones first.

"We will get the parliament we deserve."
Not exactly, if you control the input, you control the output.
So if they dumb-down our nation, then dumbed-down we will act, and vote.
- Then we will get what we deserve, (or what they decide for us) but that won't correlate with what any of us actually wants.
Posted by Armchair Critic, Sunday, 15 May 2022 12:28:03 PM
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The ship came within 50 nautical miles of the WA coast near Exmouth.

Both the defence minister and the opposition spokesman are taking the matter seriously.

It is unusual for a foreign warship to be caught hugging our coastline without prior notice.

But, of course, they haven't consulted the two defence experts, Alan B and hasbeen, who seem to know more about intelligence gathering than is safe. They seem to know more that the Chinese, who wasted all that time, purposefully, veering off course to within 50 miles of Exmouth, thinking it was worth their while to collect intelligence that hasbeen could have told them that they could have got elsewhere
Posted by ttbn, Sunday, 15 May 2022 1:59:04 PM
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Hey ttbn,
I'll meet you half-way.
Even if laws weren't broken (and 50kms does seem a little close)

It's definitely provocative.
But maybe it was meant to be provocative?

Maybe they're sending a message to us.
"Are you absolutely sure you wanna go down this path"
If we keep saying "Yes" then they will keep doing more provocative things.

The US might want to go to war with Russia and China.
But how can this situation possibly benefit us in any way?
Can anyone answer this question for me?

Is standing up for human rights, Uyghurs, and messing with Taiwan really worth a nuke detonated on our soil?

I wish we could just stay out of it, but instead we're getting dragged into it.
We're supposed to be our own sovereign country, not a US lapdog.
Our submarine deal won't even get us one until 2040, unless we lease them.
WWIII's gunna be all over by then, and if we take sides our bases will get nuked too.
Submarines won't do a damn thing to save our country from invasion, if that's what China decides to do.
All they are going to do is be used to further the US military objectives against our biggest trading partner.

Maybe can all the people who want to go to war with Russia and China move to one side of the country?
And all the people who don't want to get nuked or lose their cheap Chinese goods and pay a huge premium for fuel go to the other side of the country?

At least half of us might then live to tell the tale of western stupidity.
Posted by Armchair Critic, Sunday, 15 May 2022 3:45:16 PM
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Yes A.C. We need to lease a couple of nuclear subs armed with reprisal nuclear missiles, which should be the new Mach five plus missiles.

Mach five plus would mean they'd hit their intended target before the counter measures could be launched!

And these subs used as training vessels, so when we do receive the new subs, we'll have crews to man them!

So, if we could respond with a nation destroying reprisal? Few would do more than threaten to let lose hell or impose trade embargos! A trade embargo against Russia has to include oil and gas to be effective! And means we and the west need to transition to nuclear power and maximized electrified transport options, like yesterday!

To be effective as an independent sovereign nation, we need a big stick in a velvet glove! And hope we are never placed in a position (M.A.D.) of having to use it!
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Sunday, 15 May 2022 6:57:03 PM
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Regarding the Chinese snooper ship, as they were detected before
arriving near the coms bases I doubt they would have been able to
gather any information.
If the base was transmitting anything the ship would have received
an overpowering noise level. An old jamming technique.
There are even aircraft so equipped, they are called "Growlers".
However the coms base would have stopped operations until the ship
left. Not sure what new they could have heard that could not have
picked up in Beijing anyway. Its known activity is for submarine
communications on very low frequencies.
I presume it was just a niggling exercise to be hard to get on with.
After all the Central Kingdom is entitled to come here and look at
anything they desire, just ask them what is required of vassel states.
Posted by Bazz, Sunday, 15 May 2022 7:24:17 PM
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"I presume it was just a niggling exercise to be hard to get on with."

Yes, that's what I think it was, niggling.

Hello Australia! [Chinese sailors waving]
We've come to visit, won't you welcome us?
Just enough to stir Dutton up into a frenzy, they're probably all laughing right now.
Posted by Armchair Critic, Sunday, 15 May 2022 7:47:53 PM
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