Yabby:>> Sheesh, we have too many kids trained to flip burgers. What about training them for skills that employers actually need?<<

The breathtaking inanity of that statement does not surprise me given the utterance came from you. The often misquoted "let them eat cake" comes to mind as a parallel to your misinformed statement. We have no manufacturing industry therefore we have no ongoing jobs in that segment. The service industry and the Tourist industry are the largest employment segments in Australia at present; our economy is a burger flipping economy.

Yabby and what skills would employers be looking for in our economy, Other than a trade relevant to the housing or mining industry. I will give you a short list of vocations that had more Australians employed in those trades twenty years ago than today.
cabinetmaker, metal machinist, fitter, turner, welder, metal polisher, aircraft engineer, toolmaker, blacksmith, motor trimmer, wood turner, shoemaker, textile maker, electroplater, boilermaker, etc.

So Yabby you grow a little wheat yourself do you, and you use an agent other than the AWB, how does that have any relevance to us selling off the AWB. If you are still a farmer do you consider yourself "the landed gentry", you surely talk like it given your comments that tradies are the new nouveau riche.

Pericles:>>And this is a giggle.<<

>>We sold the Australian Wheat Board yesterday.<<

>> That's the company who bribed Saddam Hussein to buy our wheat, right? I'm only surprised that they are still in business. But they don't actually grow anything anyway, do they? <<

Yes P they don't grow anything, they are an agent, it seems Yabby grows stuff though.

Like all agents trading in the Middle East money is paid separate to contract, it all depends on what you call it and who gets it. The only reason that the over contract payment became an issue for savvy observers such as yourself is that you probably seen it on the tv.

The truth is Saddam was fine when he was employed to keep Iran away from the Moneys investments, then he was the devil. P the reason we waged war with Iraq is that in 2000 Saddam refused to accept the U.S. dollar for his oil, and instead switched to the euro. Saddam also made a foolish move by switching all of his U.N. reserves from the dollar to the euro. So it was all about the dollar’s monopoly on oil purchases throughout the world and the wheat thing is a normal but immoral business practice outed for propaganda purposes that would further denegrate the character of the nation of Iraq.

*We have no manufacturing industry therefore we have no ongoing jobs in that segment*

Total nonsense, Sonofgloin. We simply don't make a heap of el
cheapo consumer goods anymore, like we used to. The nature
of manufacture has indeed shrunk somewhat and it has changed
somewhat, as times have changed. But service jobs, like the
internet, has created a whole range of new jobs, in areas like
IT. They need skills too.

Most of the things that I buy, are still Australian made. Silos,
stock feeders, welders, water tanks, water pumps, poly pipe fittings,
etc, all Australian made. Agricultural machines like seeders,
topdressers, sprayers, Australian made.

In Fremantle, Austal ships builds huge ferries and exports them
around the world. They could not find enough trained workers here,
so relied on 457 workers, then moved part of their business to the
US.

To develop mines, takes huge structures and lots of skilled tradesmen.
Maintaining all that machinery, takes skilled tradesmen, from
electricians, to boilermaker welders, to mechanics, to spraypainters.

Not everyone just frolics on the coast and then wonders why there is
no work.

AWB is nothing but another grain trader. My grain goes to CBH,
a coop owned by 5000 farmers. They own the storage and handling
systems, the ship loading facilities, the works really. Why
on earth would I want to put the paperwork through Melbourne?

'Flick'.
“BTW, Western Australia covers a third of Australia.” Thank you for that fascinating statistic, yabby. Did you know Mt Everest is the tallest mountain in the world? Strangely, neither of these stats., have any bearing on the fact that WA still only has about 10% of Australia's population.
If you had bothered to check the link I supplied earlier, you would have found these statistics:
93,000 motor mechanics nation wide earn an average of $800.00/ week.
This, it should be noted, is probably just a little over the current median wage. It should also be noted that while the 'average' wage has risen steadily and significantly over the last decade or so, the median wage hasn't moved much at all. In fact, in the USA the median wage has actually dropped.
Carpenters, 110,200 earning an average $923/week
Metal trades, 78,300 earning an average $980./week
Keep in mind in order to achieve these princely sums, tradies have to undergo a 3 to 4 year apprenticeship, earning sub adult wages. Compare this to truck drivers:
170,600 earning an average $1000./week. When I went for my truck license a year or 2 back, it cost me $420. for 3 one hour lessons.
Why would anyone want to be a tradesman?
And of course the inferences that all these tradies are lolling about in seaside resorts is just typical yabby nonsense. By no coincidence, most tradespeople are in the same places as most people are; in the suburbs of capital and regional cities.
And yes, subbies and small businessmen can make better money -but around 80% who try, fail. Even within the small cadre of successes I would suggest almost all would envy anyone who can make $100.00/hour, with no overheads (and full employment?).
Which should anyone be more impressed by; anecdotal evidence from yabby, concerning a completely atypical (if not completely unbelievable) example, or census statistics?

The point is, none of the tradies mentioned above would have an ice cube's chance in hell of buying a house and raising a family on their wage alone, even with tax subsidies.
You might say “so what”? These days, even doctors' and lawyers' wives work. When Menzies was excoriated for saying 4% unemployment was a 'good thing', he was talking about male unemployment. The real unemployment rate in the 50's and 60's, by today's workplace standards, was closer to 50%.
As I pointed out in my first post, scarcity raises prices. And I have admitted, skilled immigration has not been the only hit against labour scarcity in this country; women entering the workforce has had an enormous impact on the overall economy– but very few women have affected the trades mentioned. They have however, joined the ranks of truckies and bus drivers, which just shows they're not silly.
I strongly urge everyone to watch Elizabeth Warren on youtube, on 'The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class' in America. Although the USA's situation is not entirely applicable to Australia, there are more than enough similarities to make it more than worthwhile.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A
It is also interesting to note the video was posted in January, 2008.

*93,000 motor mechanics nation wide earn an average of $800.00/ week.*

I did in fact check out that site, Grim. There was no talk of
"average", that I saw, but of what a worker might expect. Given
that it deals with all of Australia, a Govt dept dealing with job
seekers, is hardly going to raise wage expectations. I could
be wrong, but show me where this is the "average".

As to population, you seem to have forgotten mining industries
in Qld, SA, NSW. What to you think a mechanic earns at Roxby Downs?
So its not just WA.

Or even this, all on the coast in Victoria:

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/nice-earner-for-desalination-workers-20090929-gb3q.html

130 Grand a year for workers, not one of them in WA.

*Why would anyone want to be a tradesman?*

Because they can make great money, if they have half a brain.
Just ring your electrician to see what he charges.

*And yes, subbies and small businessmen can make better money -but around 80% who try, fail*

Who said that 80% of tradies fail? Small business yes, but that
includes many dreamers who set up shops etc, or try some you beaut
scheme, usually not understanding the first thing about running
a business.