The ABC has announced that the US is threatening to put a 12.5% tariff on imports from Australia because it “has failed to take action to prevent slavery and forced labour”. Dozens of other countries would also be affected because of their “importation of goods made with forced labour”.

Albanese blames ‘ideology’ (his big thing) but the U.S cites American workers being forced to compete on an “unlevel” playing field.

So which is it? ideology or common sense? And is Australia not as interested in Australian workers as the U.S is in its workforce?

The Opposition Leader agrees with Albanese - the tariffs are “rotten”, but he doesn't address this particular tariff connected to slave labour. He and the Coalition are also fans of globalist “free” trade.

The slave employing exporter is not named, but we all know the country and how much Australia and a good bit of the West is dependent on it for things they won't do for themselves.

So, in my opinion, the tariff has nothing to do with trade or U.S workers: it is purely a threat to Australia (and others) to start pulling their weight against a common enemy. Bravo!

what is obvious that Trump is putting his country first. Look at the degradation under Wong, Albo, Bourke, Chalmers and Bowen. Treacherous dei incompetents who have done more in 3 years to destroy the country than the socialist grub Whitlam could of done in a decade.

"Australia does import goods from China that are at significant risk of being produced with forced labour (often described as "slave labour").

China's Xinjiang region (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) has extensive, well-documented evidence from governments (US, UK, EU, Canada), NGOs like Human Rights Watch, researchers (e.g., ASPI), and the UN of state-sponsored forced labour involving Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities. This includes cotton, textiles/garments, solar panel components (polysilicon), tomatoes, aluminium, chemicals, electronics parts, and more.
Australia is a major importer from China (its largest trading partner). Goods linked to these supply chains flow into Australia, including apparel, solar panels, electronics, auto parts, and manufactured goods.
In 2025, investigations (e.g., The Guardian) revealed thousands of import declarations (over 3,300 from just eight US-blacklisted companies) into Australia from firms sanctioned by the US over Uyghur forced labour links. This includes parts for Sydney Metro trains and other products.
Reports estimate Australia imports around AUD$25 billion annually in goods at high risk of modern slavery/forced labour, much of it from China.

Australia has not implemented a strong ban like the US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which presumes goods from Xinjiang or linked entities are made with forced labour and blocks them unless proven otherwise.

Australia relies mainly on its Modern Slavery Act 2018, which requires large companies to report on risks but has no import ban or strong enforcement.
A bill to ban goods made with Uyghur forced labour passed the Senate but stalled in the House.
The government agrees "in principle" with stronger measures but cites enforcement challenges. As of 2025-2026, imports from blacklisted Chinese firms continue.

Due to the scale of China's supply chains and weak import controls in Australia (compared to the US), it is highly likely that some goods imported from China involve forced labour. Many Australian consumers and businesses are indirectly linked through everyday products like clothing, solar panels, and electronics.
Australia faces growing criticism for lagging behind allies on this issue. Stronger due diligence laws and import restrictions have been recommended but not fully enacted."

Speaking of the lack of human rights in China, today is the 37th anniversary of the massacre of thousands by the CCP in the democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere

http://tr.rbxcdn.com/180DAY-a93409020bf0387665b16232bffb8e35/420/420/Decal/Webp/noFilter

WTF?

Slavery in all its forms is abhorrent.

Perhaps some of the commentators here could suggest ways of unionising the workers in these countries so that they can fight for higher wages.

This is vexed question for the Christian right. Do they just accept that exploited labour is just the invisible hand of the free market doing its thing?

Or will they look to their religious books that tell them that slavery, including sex trafficking, is quite acceptable?

America can talk about slave labour.
They built their country on exploiting cheap immigrant slave labour.

This is just "We can't compete and are going broke!" dressed up as "We're the good, honest and moral United States and we stand up for victims of injustice!"

Umm, say what?
Aren't they supplying all those bombs Israel uses to blow up Gaza and Lebanon and all the apartment buildings full of people and hospitals and used to blow up women and kids living in tents and people just trying to get food and also like girls schools in Iran and hospitals and universities there too and stuff?

- 'That- good, honest and moral United States?

Stuff his stupid tariffs, we'll just buy less stuff from the U.S. then and MORE FROM CHINA.
Doesn't he know our trade with his is piffle?

“Some of the commentators here” know that the idea of authoritarian countries using slave labour , but allowing unions to “fight for higher wages” is absurd.

Also absurd is the comment on the Christian right, whatever that is, and the idea that slavery is the same as “exploited labour” at the “invisible hand of the free market”.

The country in question, Communist China, is not Christian, has no freedom of association, and it is not a free market; it also constantly breaks WTO rules.

They built their country on exploiting cheap immigrant slave labour.
Armchair critic,
So did & still do many for a lot longer than the US. Some of the main ones are those who send people to Australia if they were lucky enough not becoming cannon fodder to hide behind !

I agree with the sensible comments from WTF and AC. There is a world problem with exploitation of labour, its not confined to China, which the evidence shows has a problem with certain minority groups such as Uyghurs, due to unrest fermented by foreign influences, namely America through its CIA. The Chinese government claims their labour measures, directed towards these minority groups are for economic reasons of poverty alleviation, caused by this unrest.

There is well documented evidence of labour exploitation in Africa and other parts of the third world by multi-nation companies. There is also massive abuse of labour in both India, the biggest abuser of labour in the world, and the United States, where illegality imported people from Mexico and South and Central America are exploited as "factory fodder" by American Big Business, championed by Daffy Donald himself.

'They're products are cheaper, and we can't compete!
- So we're increasing tariffs!'

Ok, if you wish to become less competitive and export less...
Next why don't you try to shoot yourself in the foot instead?
America's been good at that lately.

Uncle Sam's a drowning man in an economic death spiral.

America imports $310 billion from China, and exports $160 billion. Why doesn't Daffy Donald just cut off all American trade with China, if he's so peeved with it all? America is very much non-competitive with China, their technological and efficiency advantages they once enjoyed are now gone, and they just can't compete on the world market.

Even Americans prefer chinese goods.

Trumps too busy with his many building and renovation projects in Washington DC to manage anything else properly.

"Perhaps some of the commentators here could suggest ways of unionising the workers in these countries so that they can fight for higher wages."

Ahem....slaves don't get wages. And setting up unions in totalitarian China would be as easy as setting up a Maccas on the moon. The CCP and Xi don't allow alternate power centres to their rule.

Its interesting here that the usual CCP apologists are disputing that the slavery in China exists. Even if you want to cover your eyes so you can't see the evidence from the US or the EU or Amnesty International, there is also evidence from the UN and normally people like WTF, AC and Paul treat anything from the UN as Holy Writ. I guess its true unless its inconvenient to the narrative.

"The CCP and Xi don't allow alternate power centres to their rule."
- Apparently it's the municipal governments in China that decide pay rates.

And America lost the right to speak on humanitarian issues the day it started a war of aggression and blew up a girls school full of Iranian kids... and also publicly admitted using economic warfare starting Iranian protests which lead to many people being killed.

I don't support slavery.
I support a fair days work for a fair days pay.

"Its interesting here that the usual CCP apologists are disputing that the slavery in China exists. Even if you want to cover your eyes so you can't see the evidence from the US or the EU or Amnesty International, there is also evidence from the UN and normally people like WTF"

But I won't accept it from the U.S. who is essentially just a drowning man reaching out trying to drag others down with them.
If they stopped using humanitarianism as a tool of war and stopped building bombs to blow innocent people up and using it to keep U.S jobs and people elected maybe I'd be more open to what they say.

I try not to eat the official manipulative bs narrative sorry mhaze

WTF?

Poor old mhaze assuming that everybody is only referencing China.

Slavery exists in multiple parts of the world.

Here's an example.

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which famously abolished slavery in 1865, contains an explicit exception clause. It states that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in the United States, "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." i.e. people in prisons.

Some prisoners (slaves) in the U.S. are not even paid for their labour.

"Poor old mhaze assuming that everybody is only referencing China."

Well we were talking about China, but I get that the usual CCP apologists desperately want to change the subject.

And still the CCP apologists try very hard to not notice that the UN and various left-leaning NGOs confirm that the Chinese use slave labour to reduce the costs of production.

We even find out that criminal prisoners in the US are really slaves just like the Uighur nation!!. What was I saying about desperation.

Meanwhile China is now threatening Australia with a 55% tariff on beef. Now let's see. Trump 12.5% tariff proves the US is failing. 55% Chinese tariff proves China is?....STFU say the CCP apologists. I recall that when Trump wanted a tariff on Aussie beef, Paul was apoplectic but I suspect the Chinese tariff won't be so triggering for Sino-Paul.

And just on the Tiananmen commemoration, vigils were held all around the world.... except in China. In wonder why? It seems that the all-powerful CCP were so scared on their people that they even banned mothers from visiting the graves of their kids killed by the Chinese government in 1989.

Ditto repeato. Paying immigrants less than locals is not the same as slavery. Many immigrants in Australia get paid less. That's part of mass immigration: cheap labour, but still tax what they get.

Reminder. This thread is about tariffs and genuine slavery, plus the U.S still trying to get Australia into the grey war against our common enemy. If you want to express your opinions on unrelated matters, start your own threads.

Why doesn't the US cut off trade with China? Good question, also applying to Australia. Could be because politicians are working under direction from Big Global Business. It could be because the politicians want to send our tiny carbon dioxide emissions offshore. Whatever the reason, we will never get back to prosperity without tariffs on cheap labour, and straight out slavers like China.

Americans and Australians don't “prefer” Chinese goods: they want everything that they can't get free from the government to be as cheap as possible. They tell each other how terrible slavery and forced labour is, but they lap up the benefits of it.

"Australians don't “prefer” Chinese goods: they want everything that they can't get free from the government to be as cheap as possible."

I bet this hypocrite has a house full of cheap Chinese made goods, even the device he typed his post on is probably made in China. HE'll never admit it!

What nasty piece of shite, always attacking other posters personally instead of expressing your opinions. You are a horrible creature, seeing you like to make personal remarks about everyone else. Your guesses are all wrong, as usual. I leave the Chinese shite to shite buyers. Get back in your hole and stay there.

Hi ttbn,

Been stung called a hypocrite, which YOU richly deserve. YOU are quite the hater, the one attacking your fellow Australian's as wanting everything, "free from the government", or from everyone else as "cheap as possible". I don't believe that to be the case at all, Australians are hard working and productive people, not the free loaders and low life money grabbers you like to portray others as. You have a very low opinion of Australians who choose to be, "not like you!"

WTF?

mhaze bumbles his way into another discussion once again confused by the original post and wanting to retrofit definitions to mentally contort his opinion.

ttbn didn't specially mention China but that was good enough for mhaze to go all in.

The confusion continues, of course, as he sets up an imaginary argument with "CCP apologists" that he conjures up despite nobody on this forum supporting slavery in any manner by any government.

But nothing new here. Making statements, attributing them to someone else and then attacking said argument is par for the course.

Then the penny drops and mhaze appears to see the hypocrisy demonstrated by the U.S. when we compare that country's slavery with the slavery of the Uighurs. At least I hope he sees the hypocrisy.

The U.S. has constitutionally enshrined slavery and appears to be have no inclination to change that fact.

Hi WTF,

The American Deceleration Of Independence was formulated to only apply to white, land-owning men. While it stated "all men are created equal", it did not include enslaved people, women, or Indigenous Americans in that "equality". It has never been amended so that foundation of land-owning men still applies today. The so called unalienable Rights was the province of those same gentlemen. White racism still exists in the US today, following the civil war it was institutionalised, particularly in the Southern States, where racism was the accepted norm. Civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. believed the Declaration of Independence could be used to demand equal rights for Black Americans, such demands were met with stiff opposition from some extreme racists within the white population. African Americans still struggle today as they try to gain equality within their own country. The First Australians suffer much the same racism, as do indigenous peoples throughout the world in their occupied lands

360,000 white Americans died fighting slavery.

It's a real cop-out to bring up slavery in America that was stopped in the 19th. Century, when America's enemies - and Australia's - are still practising it now, in the 21st. Century.

If you want to know more about African-Americans, who overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump, read one of them: black economist and political commentator, Thomas Sowell.

Well, I was talking about the half a million undocumented workers harvesting American crops on the cheap, and the fact that American families lost 15,000 farms under Trump due to his immigrant crackdown.

Not past tense slavery ttbn, present tense.

Let's go back to the start.

The theme is definitely NOT slavery and its evils.

It's about the politics of tariffs and how Donald Trump uses them, or tries to use them, for political reasons.

He wants to turn Australia away from China. Albanese has no interest in slavery; he must know what goes on within China, and he still can't get enough of the country. He just bleated something about ‘ideology’.

So, forget slavery. Trump is, rightly, concerned about the huge advantage China has over the West because of low labour costs compared with the West's.

I don't think that Donald Trump is particularly concerned about what workers in China are paid or not paid; enslaved or not. He is interested in American workers, as he should be. But, most of all, he wants the help of Australia and other Western countries to put more effort into fighting the grey war, started by China, and fought against us by China via trade.

If we don't lift our game, we will be punished with tariffs.

Now, if anyone feels bullied by that, tough titty, we deserve it. We are not pulling our weight.

Our dependence on China is ridiculous.

As well as becoming self-sufficient, we have lots of other countries to trade with. In the region:

Japan
Indian
Bangladesh
Philippines
Vietnam
South Korea

Further afield:

Most of Europe
Canada
America itself.

It is batshite crazy to be so dependent on China, a Communist centralised economy, and the biggest, the only really, threat to peace in our region.

We need America more than it needs us. We don't need Communist China; we have most of the rest of the world to get what we can't, or won't in the case of the Albanese government, do for ourselves.

mhaze,
'As of early June 2026, China is threatening to apply a 55% tariff on Australian beef imports THAT EXCEED A 205,000-TONNE QUOTA'

So, no tariff on the first 205,000 tonnes of beef you moron.

ttbn's completely delusional,

He thinks we need the big bad tough United States and that they can beat China militarily but he hasn't gotten the memo when they couldn't beat Iran and couldn't even beat the Houthis couldn't beat the Vietnamese and their modern weapons are now overpriced obsolete junk.

I might own a couple dell computers, but beyond that I don't need much from America.
China is now better at high value items.
Take away my cheap Chinese products, and your asking for a fight though.

Chinese wages aren't too high for China, it's that Chinese wages are too low for America and western countries to compete..
We need $50 a hour wages to pay for houses that now cost a million bucks.

"Chinese wages aren't too high for China,"

The zero wages that the Uighurs earn are never too high.
The wealth the CCP earn from those workers is always too high.

But heh, we can solve that problem by unionising the slaves. What a bozo.

It's not a matter of how “high"Chinese wages are, it is how low they are that is the worry for Western countries.

In Australian dollars, the average for Chinese workers is $26k-$38k.

In Australia it is $107k.

In America it is $90k.

53 other countries are subject to the tariff threat for failing “to impose and effectively enforce a forced labour import prohibition".

America says that it doesn't want its workforce competing in a global “unlevel” playing field”.

Albanese and his mate Taylor have no such concern about the Australian workforce. The uniparty cooperation has kicked in. Let's stand against our greatest ally together!

Albanese is squealing about Australia's “robust, comprehensive and world-leading legislation addressing forced labour and modern slavery”.

This legislation is affecting the Communists, how?

They never like to compare, comparable countries, CHINA with INDIA, both with populations over one billion people. The average salary in China $20,000 USD p/a in India its $4650 USD p/a. India has a rudimentary pension scheme, where as China provides a very good universal pension. Same applies to education, housing and health care. Caulk and Cheese!

BTW, Uighur workers are paid wages in China, along with pensions and other benefits.

The hypocrisy knows no limits. The apparent richest country in the world with some of the richest men in the world enslave their workers by refusing to pay them a livable wage. Nothing so blind as a double standard.

The comparison is between the cost of labour in China and in Australia and America. That's it. If Australia and America want to retain/regain their industries, they have to protect them. Manufacturing is not just about growth; it's about security. Heavy manufacturers can switch to producing armaments. The day will come when the closing down of our motor manufacturing (helped though it had to be) will be bitterly regretted. The same thing applies to pharmaceuticals, much of which now comes from Communist China. Trade routes get blocked, people die.

40,000-50,000 jobs were lost when car making ceased. About one third of them never worked again.

All this talk about tariffs putting prices up sounds convincing until you realise that you have to pay more to live in the sort of country we want - the sort Australia used to be until China was foolishly allowed to enter the WTO by Bill Clinton and George W Bush. Any chance there is to break the WTO rules China will be on it - and get away with doing so.

For a country that's ideal population was 13 million, it is now 28 million. Almost 700,000 of them are unemployed, and we are still bringing people in, most of them are unskilled, although 70% of ‘spots’ are reserved for people with skills. Of course, apart from ‘professionals’, there's not much left in Australia requiring any skills that the 700,000 couldn't do.

Australia must be as self-sufficient as it was at the time that several generations now have not been taught about. That means backing away from China, having fewer, but smarter people. Australia is sinking fast. There's not much time left.

Aries54,

Sorry, but your post is yet another one that has no relevance to the subject of ‘the politics of tariffs’.

I'm amazed that anyone, particularly his critics, would believe Donald Trump cares about the pay and conditions of Chinese workers or anyone else's. He wants the business back that China's low labour costs have taken off America.

You can't say that your “richest men in the world” ‘enslave’ people when they actually pay them. Slaves don't get paid.

You might think that what they are paid is not a “liveable wage”, but that's just an opinion. Millions of people live on a minimum wage because it's all they can get.

But, that's not the subject of this thread.

Americas biggest trading partner is Mexico, from where the US imports $540 billion annually, mainly cars, car parts, machinery and pharmaceutics from cheap labour factories. Mexico imports about $328 billion in US goods. Factory workers in Mexico are paid less than $10,000 USD p/a. Trump doesn't need to look as far as China for slave labour, they're right there on his door step. Plus 4 million Mexicans working illegally in America.

Fancy. All those "slaves" actually getting paid money. Things have improved. Slaves used to get nothing but their food and and shelter, and a jolly good belting if they didn't work hard enough.

I’m sorry ttbn, you seem to have missed the whole point of my post which was to point out the hypocrisy of the USA imposing tariffs on other countries because they use slave labour. Completely in line with the topic of this thread. You and I may disagree about the definition of a slave, and that’s fine. But please, don’t be blind sided by the double standards of the current USA president.

Hi mhaze,
>>"Chinese wages aren't too high for China,"

The zero wages that the Uighurs earn are never too high.
The wealth the CCP earn from those workers is always too high.

But heh, we can solve that problem by unionising the slaves. What a bozo.<<

Bozo...

You want to kow what's stupid?

When you brought up the issue of too many immigrants
And you did so in a really valid way I thought...
And then Paul said 'racist' and then then you threw yourself on the ground and rolled around on the ground trying to defend the accusation...
- To your valid argument...

So now, because I pointed out that the beef tariff only applied to beef in excess of 205,000 tonnes, which you curiously omitted when you brought it up yourself;
Now you want to throw 'Uighur' at me, like you think somehow I'm now supposed to throw myself on the ground and roll around in feces trying to defend your most clever response? (idiot)

How should one describe this modern form of communication and discussion?

One person says a single word, and the other person should lay on the ground in the fetal position and piss a little, just like when they say 'anti-semite'?

Let me ask all you all
What exactly do you want?

Do you want China to increase wages so OUR cost of living goes up a bit more? YES or NO
Tell me what do you really want?

And as for the unions, well they kept pushing year after year for increased wages, where did that get us?

Hows the Australian motor vehicle manufacturing Unions going?
Are they all doing well for themselves and their members?
Probably became Prime Minister and all the auto workers lost their jobs..

Americans complaining, 'We can't compete!'
Weren't saying that when handing out redundancies and offshoring the jobs, with dollar signs in their eyes.
- The wages weren't too low then.

They sold the farm for a quick buck, now they're unhappy because someone else owns the farm and is doing better than them.

Hi ttbn,

>>It's not a matter of how “high"Chinese wages are, it is how low they are that is the worry for Western countries.

In Australian dollars, the average for Chinese workers is $26k-$38k.

In Australia it is $107k.

In America it is $90k.<<

Have you ever heard of Purchasing Power Parity?
Or maybe I should ask a simpler question, so you get this.

Google? how much is a can of coke in china

AI Overview
A can of Coca-Cola in China typically costs between ¥2.5 and ¥4 RMB (about $0.35 to $0.55 USD at current exchange rates).Prices vary slightly depending on where you buy it:Supermarkets and Convenience Stores (e.g., 7-Eleven, FamilyMart): Usually ¥3 to ¥4 RMB.Street Vendors and Local Grocers: Often as low as ¥2.5 RMB.Airports, Train Stations, and Tourist Sites: Can go up to ¥5 RMB or more due to higher rent and premiums.

So between 50 cents and a dollar there and between $3 to $4.50 here?

It's not about what they earn it's about what they can buy with it.
Cost of living in China is, on average, 57.9% lower than in Australia.
Rent in China is, on average, 71.4% lower than in Australia.

Aries

No to you again, I'm afraid. The “hypocrisy of the USA imposing tariffs on other countries because they use slave labour” is not not in line with ‘this’ thread - actually ‘my’ thread, and I know what it is about. If you misunderstood the topic, I am sorry.

There is no slavery in the U.S. Nobody who receives a wage is a slave.

And it's not a matter of difference of opinion on the meaning of words. There is nothing unambiguous about slavery, which is forced, unpaid labour and actual assumed ownership of a human being.

Even the Left's penchant for changing language and using the incorrect word often enough to make their arguments seem legitimate can't get around that.

Tip. Replace ‘slavery’ with ‘exploitation” and you might get more people agreeing with you.

In the meantime: no slavery in America, and therefore, no “double standard” from Trump. Could he have picked a better reason to threaten 54 countries to backing away from China? I think that he could have; but maybe he is not all that different from other politicians and listens to the wrong advice. Perhaps he is losing his touch. But, that doesn't detract from his right, and responsibility as leader of the free world to expect his allies to help restrain the common enemy, China, and withdraw privileges and ‘special treatment’ from those who don't shape up - e.g Australia.

Why is China 'the common enemy'? please explain.
China's not my enemy, and I don't want any 'privileges' or ‘special treatment’ from America.
When people like you talk like this 'common enemy' and clutching onto loser America's skirt, it's no wonder China sanctions us.

You're in love with an America in it's former glory, but you fail to realise the toothpaste just can't go back into the tube.

America is not getting its manufacturing back.
It's not going to persuade foreign countries to manufacture there.
It's not going to pay off its debts.
It's not going to regain it's former glory.
It's weapons aren't suddenly going to become both affordable or effective.
It not going to ever be able to compete with China, whose wages and energy costs are much cheaper.

I don't support sanctions, but I've got absolutely no problem with personal boycotts. If you don't want to buy cheap stuff from China then don't.
Boycott all Chinese goods ttbn, I'd like to see you go for a whole week.

But if you wish to increase the cost of living and take food off Aussie tables by increasing the cost of everything for some pie in the sky dream that somehow we can compete then you are the enemy, not China.

You ever heard the saying stop worrying about what others are doing and worry about what you're doing?

That applies here.
If you think Chinas wages are too low, then maybe you should support Aussie wages lowered to the same level so we can compete.

That would be 'US' taking responsibility for our own problems, instead of blaming others.

What next, do you want to abuse your neighbour because his wife might be prettier than yours too?

- That's about how stupid this is -

Who made China great again?
- We did, now stop complaining.

Do you even actually comprehend that America is so broke, it cant even afford to be world policeman anymore, and its drawing down NATO troop deployments and equipment?

America's had it.
Let's see how well they make it through the end of the year.

Hi AC,

I believe that our forum buddy ttbn, "leaves the Chinese shite to shite buyers". No way as an aged pensioner would he buy cheap CHINESE junk like the K-mart 'Anko' 2 Slice Toaster @ $7.50, rather going up market with the made in Great Britain 'Dualit' 2 Slice Toaster @ $199.99, available where all the rich snobs shop. He could even have a spare 'Dualit' for when the visitors pop in...Ah then again there's always the Aussie toaster, a twig off a gum tree over a camp fire, toast while you're roasting a Koala, that's free!

Holy crap. You weren't kidding.
$449. On sale for $349.
http://www.davidjones.com/product/dualit-newgen-2-slice-toaster-20119674

I wonder if it actually toasts better than the $7.50 one?
There are people out there with plenty of money, they'll go and buy $4000 bedside tables then decide a few months later they don't like them.

$450 for a 2 slice toaster, that's ludicrous.
- Hand assembled in the UK, guess where they make their cheap models?
It starts with a 'C'.

Hi AC,

Do I ever kid? All my posts cover very serious matters.

"Holy crap. You weren't kidding.$449. On sale for $349." A real bargain! When does the sale end? Can you let ttbn know, he'll probably want to stock up with Chrissy pressies at that cheap price, he'll get em' out of next weeks pension.

"I wonder if it actually toasts better than the $7.50 one?" Nah, leave it in too long and you've got BURNT TOAST, spend the dosh and you'll get BURNT FINGERS.

WTF?

Even using ttbn's definition of slavery (which is not the definition commonly used for slavery) he is wrong.

In the United States, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas do not pay wages for the vast majority of prison jobs.

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows slavery in prisons as a form of punishment.

Albanese lies again about Australia having sufficient laws to stop companies from importing goods made by forced labour or slaves.

It was revealed today that the legislation is 8 years old, and Australia is once again behind the times.

The U.S has the right laws. The EU is phasing them in, as are Canada and even Mexico.

Albanese Australia stays pigheaded.

WTF,

I don't invent meanings of words. I rely on dictionaries and Roget's Thesaurus.

I accept that you blindly follow the mischievous manipulation of language by your Leftist idols. I can't do anything about that, other than keep as many people who will listen aware of the social engineers’ weaponising of language.

I'll take your word on prison conditions in certain American states, although l have to say that prisoners do lose certain rights, and not all countries are as lenient as Australia is when it comes to criminality.

However, I say again, you are ignoring the fact that all the excuses you and your kind make for Communist China, and despite all your hatred of America, none of what you say means a thing on the issue of trade or the threatened tariff against the ageing spoilt child and extreme Left Albanese, who also likes to excuse Communist China, and who also hates America.

More than once I have tried to point out to you heroes of the Left that your protests and objections, your dragging up of everyone who you like to think of as a slave owner (except the Chinese: they are allowed to do anything they like) that the actual slave labour in China is irrelevant in itself. I don't give a damn about what China does behind its own borders to its own people. I obviously can't know, but I don't believe Donald Trump would either. It's about trade. It's about China acting badly. It's about the disgusting Albanese government being too gutless or shameless to pull its weight - again.

WTF?

ttbn is wrong again as usual.

The Oxford Dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the Collins Dictionary (to name just 3) all show that ttbn's definition is a incomplete and therefore wrong.

So just like another regular poster who usually gets it wrong, ttbn's appeal to authority fails and he finds out that his own source disagrees with him.

Also like another regular poster who usually gets it wrong, ttbn invents a position, attributives it to someone else and then argues against that position - he is effectively arguing against himself.

I suppose the logic is if ttbn is wrong twice that somehow makes him right.

Wow! Wonder who the "other regular poster" who also gets everything wrong is? The two of us have got WTF in a frenzy. I hope there's someone on hand to pat WTF on the back if he swallows his tongue. If they can get past the toys he is throwing out of his cot.

"Do you want China to increase wages so OUR cost of living goes up a bit more? YES or NO
Tell me what do you really want?"

I want China to stop using slavery as a means to enforce their rule over captive nations. Or more precisely, recognising that totalitarians will always seek to enforced their rule over captive nations, I want freedom-loving nations to stop enabling that slavery by buying its product.

What China pays its people is utterly immaterial.

Hi Trumpster,

No one condones slavery, physical or economic, slavery in its broader sense does include exploitation of labour. The forced labour practised by the CCP against the 12 million Uyghurs is reprehensible. Although the Chinese government denies it, there is evidence that labour exploitation is taking place in China. I don't think Trumps gives a crap about labour exploitation, he's happy to support American multinationals exploiting cheap labour in third world countries, just as American agriculture and industry exploits cheap illegal Mexican and other labour within the United States itself.

" American multinational companies routinely take advantage of significantly lower minimum wages and weaker labour regulations in countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Mexico and others to reduce production costs, with the aim of maximising profits."

Australia might not be able to dodge this tariff, and the statement that the tariff also targets countries “that have the toughest anti- slavery laws in the world” might just support my contention that the yammer about who indulges in slavery and who doesn't is irrelevant. Well, some of them, perhaps.

A U.S official bluntly said, “It's another avenue to steer away countries from Chinese goods”.

https://michaelwest.com.au/no-way-for-australia-to-talk-way-out-of-fresh-tariffs/

Israel is the number 1 hated and despised people on the planet.
America is number 2.
http://x.com/Fx1Jonny/status/2063353948929470528

America already has to repay US $160 bln for tariffs it charged that were overturned in the supreme court.
So really all he did so far was put prices up for U.S. consumers and didn't earn a dime.
He can place all the tariffs he wants, I'll just be even less inclined to buy goods made from America.

They want to pressure me to buy U.S. products?
Well, even if Chinese goods even get more expensive one day, I'll still buy them rather than give America anything.

Hi AC,

China isn't Utopia.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=frm3TwjuFuw

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BtVozQG2Q-4

We have people here utterly misunderstanding the nature of the slavery imposed on the Uighurs by the CCP. We have some who think its just a union problem, or the Uighurs are just like low paid Mexicans, or just like of the US prison population. Name one slavery and the other slavery and they magically became identical. Observe that a wombat and an elephant both have four legs, declare them to be the same.

Here's a brief summary of the Uighur situation....

"...the Chinese government has conducts a systematic campaign of mass detention, cultural erasure, and forced labor against Uyghurs and other minorities in the Xinjiang Region. Over one million people have been held in internment camps—often called "re-education" centers—where they face political indoctrination, torture, and coercion into labor: overcrowded cells, beatings, electric shocks, sleep deprivation, and forced renunciation of faith. Factories have been built inside or adjacent to these camp producing textiles, apparel, electronics components, , under constant surveillance. Refusal to work brings punishment.

The XPCC, a paramilitary organization, plays a central role in running prisons, farms, and factories exploiting this labor.

Beyond the camps, programs forcibly relocate hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs to factories across China. Families are separated, movement restricted, and workers subjected to Mandarin lessons, ideological training, and abusive conditions. Reports document quotas enforced through threats, physical violence, and separation from children, who are often placed in state-run facilities.

These practices amount to state-imposed forced labor and, according to UN experts, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and others, may constitute crimes against humanity—including enslavement, persecution, and inhumane acts. They aim to assimilate Uyghurs by breaking cultural, religious, and familial ties. Leaked documents, satellite imagery, survivor testimonies, and supply chain analyses support the scale of this system.

The human cost is immense: destroyed lives, erased identities, and generational trauma. Global efforts like import bans seek to disrupt these supply chains. The Uyghur crisis stands as one of the gravest human rights abuses of our time, demanding continued scrutiny and action."

Trying to stop all this is a moral imperative. Trying to minimise it, is the opposite.

More concerning Uighur women....
"Uyghur women face compounded horrors, including widespread sexual violence. Multiple former detainees and survivors have described systematic rape, gang rape, and sexual torture inside the camps. Guards reportedly took women, often described as “pretty girls,” from cells at night for assaults. Testimonies include oral rape, insertion of electric batons or iron rods into genitals, and forced stripping or restraint of other victims. Some accounts mention external men paying for access to detainees. These acts occurred alongside routine torture such as electrocution and beatings.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has found these allegations of sexual and gender-based violence “credible,” including patterns of torture and ill-treatment. Reports also document forced sterilization, coerced abortions, mandatory IUD insertions, and invasive gynecological examinations in front of crowds as part of a campaign to slash Uyghur birth rates, which dropped dramatically in affected areas."

I wonder what Penny Wong thinks of that. She had no problem believing the sexual assault allegations against the IDF.

Wong once believed marriage was between a man and a woman and was happy to weaponise rape for her own gain in Parliament. She will say and do anything that enhances Penny Wong. No wonder you have the dei incompetents like Wells, Gallagher. O' Neill, Bourke, Albo and Bowen who see her as high priestess destroying this nation.

I say you're full of shite mhaze.
Since when did you care about the harm of innocent Muslims?
You don't care about them.

Muslims being killed by Israel, bombs supplied by USA.
Not a word of objection in 3 years.

Suddenly China is accused of doing something wrong (of course)
And now suddenly you care about Muslims so much you wrote an editorial.

Deep Dive: Adrian Zenz & Claims of "Coerced Labor" in Xinjiang China
http://youtu.be/z8uuzaG7dI4

Hi Indy,
"I wonder what Penny Wong thinks of that. She had no problem believing the sexual assault allegations against the IDF."
- I've no reason to question Juliet Lamont's telling of the recent Gaza flotilla events.

http://x.com/Truthtellerftm/status/2061348039747342634

What do you think, does she seem honest to you?

Look at the 'attack' dynamics here.

http://www.skynews.com.au/insights-and-analysis/smh-writer-channels-progressive-anger-as-he-takes-aim-at-abc-star-charlie-pickering-for-stating-the-obvious-about-grace-tame/news-story/0db7f6e2c656aa312b3ca8b8c5242b79

They are clearly attacking Charlie Pickering in the article for backing down and for not continuing to attack Grace Tame more.

You wonder why I say Jews are waging an endless war.
This is their endless war, everywhere you look.
Even attack their own when they go off script.

Hi AC,

I think that there is an endless war about how to make your country better. As for violence between people and nations, that is a matter of hatred. The former is necessary if you want things to improve in the long term. What you see in nations like Russia, China and Iran, is the consequence of rule by hatred. That is what Starmer is doing in the UK and what Magoo is trying to do here.

"I say you're full of shite mhaze.
Since when did you care about the harm of innocent Muslims?
You don't care about them."

What is it with you and scatological references?

As usual AC, you missed the point. I wasn't talking about how we need to be supportive of the Uighur (that ought to go without saying). I was pointing out to the clowns who thought the Uighur slaves were the equivalent of US prisoners or Mexican basic wage earners and merely needed to be unionised, that their (the Uighur's) situation was very different. I suspect you won't understand that.

As to supporting oppressed Muslim victims, I'd point out that when I started talking about the 100s of 1000s of Muslims killed by their fellow Muslims, you couldn't exit the thread fast enough. The fact is you only care about Muslims killed by Jews and that's only so you can criticise the Jews.

"Suddenly China is accused of doing something wrong"

Not suddenly AC. This has been a point of discussion since at least 2017. Its just that you've only suddenly become aware of it because the people you rely on to tell you what to think, don't like to address it.

"And now suddenly you care about Muslims so much you wrote an editorial."

Well I have talked about Uighurs on these pages before as far back as 2023. You took part in that thread and tried very hard to excuse the Uighur genocide then as well. But it went so badly for you that you've obvious expunged it from you memory.

What is happening to the Uighurs is a crime against humanity and all efforts to stop or at least highlight it are to be commended and supported and all efforts to defend the CCP genocide of a suppressed captive nation are to be condemned.