Free trade agreements worked wonders for Amerika. It's totally broke, oh and Detroit is now bankrupt soon to be followed by others. Moar free trade I say, the TTP perhaps would do moar wonders for us as well!

Free trade just creates a freeeshit society full of cheap skates wanting moar freeeshit and even voting for it, just look at the posters on this forum, nuff said!

SOG Very impressive figures, but there was a sale on. Lets hope the trend continues, for Graincorp customers. Shutting down more infrastructure will not help and farmers will change their habits.

Didn't Abbott say he wouldn't "do deals with minority Parties"?

Coalition or not, he's still the Nationals' Bitch and getting his instructions from groups like the IPA.

Banana-by Joyce is in turn Gina's housepet and he presumes to speak with her influence.

Ok, obviously no-one is going to respond intelligently to the relatively simple questions I put earlier, e.g.

>>Why on earth would ADM jeopardize their business here by "impeding the ability" of growers to access the services they offer?<<

So let's get down to the nitty-gritty.

Who is now going to provide the cash needed to keep the company's basic storage activities viable?

"There's a lot of people upset about how run down the infrastructure is. There are plenty of stories of big lumps of concrete falling off silos and the general state of repair has been poor."

http://www.theland.com.au/news/agriculture/cropping/general-news/shutting-silos-what-cost/2680553.aspx

Oh, and then there's this, from the same article:

"One of the nation's biggest growers, Ron Greentree, says as many as 150 of GrainCorp's 280-odd east coast storage sites could be closed."

Not to mention this:

"'It's a real balancing act in some areas. Growers are already questioning whether they will stay in grain in some areas where the combination of freight and handling costs are so high,' he said."

Looks very much like an Abbott own goal to me.

Or perhaps he just wants to slap the industry around a bit, to create a more competitive environment?

“'We would probably receive less than 50 per cent of the grain produced on the east coast,' GrainCorp chairman Don Taylor said. 'There’s competition from rival bulk handlers, private storages and increasingly, on-farm storage. You only have to fly over cropping regions to see the amount of grain farmers have stored in sausage bags. There’s multiple opportunities for growers to market their grain without it coming into our system, so claims we have an upcountry monopoly are just incorrect.'”

http://www.theland.com.au/news/agriculture/agribusiness/general-news/no-monopoly-graincorp/2680384.aspx

Possible, I guess. But far more likely is that he simply needed to appease the Nationals with a vested-interest-based decision.

P, I have no time for the coalition and particularly the "nationals," the CSG industry has every ex national polly you could name doing their bidding....for the money....they were nationals...now they are multinationals.

What's the big deal with the Libs listening to the Nats ? Aren't they partners ? Doesn't the word Coalition infer partnership ?