Shadow Ministers are far from average.

Thank you Belly.

That you are predicting TA remaining for 1 term makes me sure that he is in for at least 2.

If SPC borrowed $50,000,000 from the banks, the banks would make sure
SPC sorted out the problems.
They would apply much stronger discipline than any government would.

Hi there BANJO...

I'm sorry for my delay in responding to your thread ? I do thoroughly agree with you. Reducing tariffs proved very unwise in my book. For whatever reason, Oz manufacturing does need some legitimate protective measures, particularly as it's very difficult to sustain an equitable industry, when up against almost slave labour ?

Your illustration of the downfall of Letona Canned Fruits was a good example of little or no protection. We have an abundance of every type of fruit and vegetable produce. Sufficient, so it would seem to feed the entire Asian region. Then why have we not exploited this burgeoning asset ? How many times have we heard politicians from both sides, exclaim Australia could be the food bowl of the entire world !

Dear paul1405,

Thank you very much for the link.

Perhaps you might persuade Shadowminister to read it as he seems thoroughly out of the loop as usual.

The part I found interesting was the 'wet area allowance' specifically highlighted by Abbott as one of the reasons for the company struggling.

I quote from the agreement;

53.37 WET PLACE ALLOWANCE

3.37.1 An employee (other than a cleaner of machinery, equipment, vats and the like) working in
any place where the employee's clothing or footwear becomes wet shall be paid 58 cents per
hour extra, such extra rate to continue for all time the employee is required to work in wet
clothing or footwear.

3.37.2 Provided that such extra rate shall not be payable to an employee who is provided by the
employer with suitable and effective protective clothing and/or footwear. All protective
footwear supplied to an employee under this sub clause shall, if previously worn by another
person, be properly sterilised before being issued to that employee.

End quote.

To me this was just a way providing the company with the incentive to provide adequate protective gear. Keep in mind some of these employees are moving to and from some very cold conditions, some down to -15C. To be doing so with saturated footwear or clothing would most certainly been a Health and Safety issue. It seemed to have worked since the company did not need to pay a single cent of 'wet allowance' money in 2013.

So in highlighting this as a factor Abbott was lying I'm afraid.

o sung wu,
Mountain Maid is another company, now gone and did not Edgell close a plant somewhere near Orange, NSW. There have been so many Aussie companies go by the board it is hard to recall them all. There is ample film of growers dozing trees and ploughing in crops, enough to make a man cry over the waste.

The reason, we are bloody dills, that is why and we allow stupid politicians to get away with short sightedness.

After being caught short in two world wars you would think we should know better. What would happen if a regional conflict cut many shipping lanes? I doubt if any beaurocracy has any contingency plans.

o sung wu, "How many times have we heard politicians from both sides, exclaim Australia could be the food bowl of the entire world!"

What they actually mean is that Australian farming land will be sold off to all and sundry to become their food fowl.

Smarter governments would be promoting joint leasehold investment that develops the abundant marginal lands and desert.

But no, those dumb Aussies - reputably long in the legs and thick in the head - are falling over themselves to give away their prime agricultural land and water rights. Labor's ship of fools, the Gillard/Greens government, sold the massive Cubbie Station with its generous water rights to a Chinese government controlled consortium,

<Cubbie station goes to China for 'a steal'

AUSTRALIA'S most valuable farm, Cubbie station, has become majority foreign-owned as its former chairman questioned whether the vast cotton growing concern was a "steal" for Chinese investors.

The sale, reportedly for about $240 million, settled last night, ending years of controversy over the fate of the irrigation operation that straddles the headwaters of the Murray-Darling river system in southwest Queensland.

A spokesman for new owners CS Agriculture, a consortium bankrolled mainly by Chinese textile-maker Shandong RuYi, confirmed the sale had gone through on the eve of Australia Day.
...
Outgoing Cubbie chairman and former Queensland treasurer Keith De Lacy said the operation had turned the corner when a 12-year drought broke soon after voluntary administrators were called in in 2009. At the time, the business had debts of about $320m.

By 2010-11, the 96,000ha farm was producing cotton and cotton seed that earned $80m before interest and tax.

"If they got it for $240m, they have got a steal, considering it's an enterprise that is capable of producing a gross profit of $80m a year," Mr De Lacy told The Weekend Australian.>
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/cubbie-goes-to-china-for-a-steal/story-e6frg8zx-1226562159297#