*So, in what ways do you think WA is not getting a fair deal?*

Firstly Ludwig, minerals do in fact belong to the States, as was
agreed at Federation. People can't just make up rules as they
go along.

WA has huge infrastructure costs right now, to deal with the growth
that is taking place. Its a huge State, covering a third of the
country. Its a young State. So it faces all these huge costs which
other states don't face. There is no good reason why royalties
should not fund those developments.In fact is was country West Australians who rebelled at the last elections, sick of being
treated as backward citizens and voted for royalties for regions,
so that some of this wealth goes back to where it is created, in
the regions. They kicked out the last State Govt and now at least
funding comes out to the country. If we don't yell and scream,
we get shafted and forgotten, it is that simple.

WA is an export state. Now you might not like these developments but
the fact is that Australia has to pay its bills, mining and agriculture are the only things that are going, without them
Australia would be a banana republic.

If you have ever tried to do business in this State, you realise
what you are up against, when everything has to go through Canberra.
When our meatworks were screaming for workers and could not find them
locally, they tried to get 457 workers. But alot of the time they
could not even do that, Canberra red tape. The latest saga over
cattle is another one. Ludwig did not have a clue as to what is
happening in the North of our State. He was to busy listening to
hysterical Eastern States city housewives to consider our pastoralists, who now wear the cost of his foolishness. Terry
Redmund is local, at least he understood our industry.

We are simply so far from the East, that alot of the time we are
simply forgotten.

Hi Jaylex
One of our best friends, whilst living in Kalgoorlie, was one of the World's renowned consulting geologists.
I asked him in the early 90's, "when will the precious minerals run out in W.A.?"
His answer?, " we haven't even touched the tip of the iceberg yet....and that is just in W.A.," so I don't think that there is much danger in the distant future of mining W.A. until all we have left will be big holes in the ground.
Thank for you comments,
NSB

Hi Noisy

Wishing you a quick recovery from the winter sniffles.

Hasbeen, I was suggesting that services in WA are comparable to those in the rest of the country. I wasn’t saying anything about the difference in services between city and country areas or different regions within one state.

I agree with you – services and infrastructure are very different in different places in Queensland, and indeed in different areas within WA. But on a whole-of-state basis, I can’t see that WA is doing any worse than any other state.

Dear Noisy,

Europe's got the European Union, the US is a unification of over 50 states. Each of these areas have a population well over 300 million and we in Australia with 21 million are arguing about splitting up the country? Allright WA has the mining boom but it's a huge land area
with a small population. That's why they have the capability of mining. The Eaastern states are more densely populated - the land is used for food production and nobody wants to dig up the agricultural lands. Recently the Chinese bought up large areas of agricultural land
near Tamworth NSW - because there's deposits of coal under the farmland. The local farmers are protesting this take-over. I'm sure if
WA broke away - the rest of the states will manage to replace the mining if it became a necessity - but it would be sad to break up
the Australian nation as we know it. The Australian continent is one of the oldest land masses on this planet and extensive resources are buried under its weather-beaten surface.

<< Firstly Ludwig, minerals do in fact belong to the States, as was agreed at Federation >>

Yabby, I think this is rather unfortunate. I would have thought that our founding fathers would have seen the merit in having resources like this owned by the commonwealth. Surely they would have realised that different states were going to have different mineral wealths and that this wealth differential could create real problems.

But I guess it was very different times back then prior to 1901 when gold was the biggest mineral wealth generator I guess, and it was presumably largely mined by individuals or small enterprises.

So the Federal Government has a very important job to even out the differences in wealth generation in the different states and make it translate into a more or less uniform quality of life for all citizens across the country, thus effectively cancelling out the state ownership of minerals, or of mineral taxes, royalties and other regulations, and in effect rendering them federally owned and regulated.

<< WA has huge infrastructure costs right now, to deal with the growth that is taking place. >>

Very interesting Yabby.

Firstly, isn’t growth supposed to generate wealth well over and above the costs? Isn’t that what we are always being told by our illustrious pollies and economists (or pseudoeconomists, or false economists more like it!)

Secondly, you agree with me that continuous population growth is bad news. You presumably see this applying in WA as much as anywhere else. And not just population growth but growth per se.

So, do we want all this growth? Should the commonwealth be funding it to a greater extent in WA? Or should they be trying to temper it by reducing funding somewhat?

I think that too much commonwealth expenditure is going into it and that it really should be wound back.

<< …sick of being treated as backward citizens and voted for royalties for regions, so that some of this wealth goes back to where it is created, in the regions >>

But, don’t you think the regions where big wealth is being generated are doing pretty damn well?

What about the towns of the Pilbara, or the region as a whole? How does it compare with many other sparsely populated parts of the country that don’t have this sort of wealth generation? It would come out miles ahead, wouldn’t it?

<< Ludwig did not have a clue as to what is happening in the North of our State >>

For the benefit of other readers, you are referring to Senator Joe Ludwig, Federal Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and not to me…. I hope!!