NSW Cattle producer “Straight Talking” John Carter writes: (Opinion)
Australia’s new Trade Minister, Simon Crean (pictured), is coasting along on the back of the same idiotic advisor’s that have taken Australia to the second highest debtor nation in the OECD during a mineral boom.
His disappointment at the new US Farm Bill continuing to subsidize grain farmers is akin to a child bemoaning the setting of the sun. “Please Mummy, stop it going away”. They have repeated the disappointment press release for over 30 years! These people need a heavy dose of reality salts.
Chinese, European and US Governments have known for years that food supply is as important as defense.
Australia’s fat cat bureaucrats, NFF (National farmers Federation) officials on their career paths and Business class travel around the world and empty minded ministers in First Class don’t want to understand this very basic concept.
Amongst public figures only the late Bob Santamaria and Independent Federal MP Bob Katter (pictured) have been able to see and say . Bob, apart from his deep reading and use of the Parliamentary Research Library lives in the far north of Australia and is closer to the real world.
Insular Canberra doesn’t understand that when you are in a hole and want to get out of it the first thing to do is to stop digging. They neither understand holes or digging. They just keep travelling and polluting the atmosphere with their free trade passports. Why?-
“Put your money on self interest, you always know that it is trying”.
We are disappearing under a mountain of debt. We have the second highest interest rates in the OECD- and rising because we have to service the huge debt and, unlike the USA, we don’t have the power to claim that ours is the world currency and print it with no backing. Our high interest rates mean speculation in “carry trades” as money men borrow at 0.5% in Japan and lend at 7-8% in Australia. Madness.
We now import all sorts of food from subsidized Communist China. We have destroyed our manufacturing industry and are destroying our pork, orange, milk and sugar industries. The policy is the antithesis of Pliny’s AD 69 call to Rome ” We must, whatever happens, safeguard the family farm”.
When I went to Paris in 1983 on my Churchill Fellowship tour and met with OECD officials they told me that they had dismissed Australian negotiators as fools as they protested at subsidies.
But what about our beef access to the world? With the world’s only mandatory RFID NLIS we can’t get another kilo into Europe. We haven’t filled the US quota for 5 years and are unlikely to ever fill it again as drought and alternative land use lower our herd.
As we near parity with the US dollar expect to see US Choice grade beef begin to appear in our top restaurants. “They can’t do that, they have no NLIS and they have BSE” we will cry -That mightn’t work-. South Korea is BSE free and the US are forcing their beef in there even without a free trade agreement finalized.
But what about our mineral exports to China? No Free Trade agreement there or with Russia where some of our beef is now going. “Our minerals will save us”. Look at South Africa but worse-look at Nauru.
Nauru was one of the wealthiest countries on earth as its phosphate royalties flooded in, there was no push for alternate industry or self sufficiency, the phosphate ran out and it is now a basket case economy. If we don’t change course it is also Australia’s future.
Globalisation has seen the people of 47 of 50 African countries and much of South and Central America go backwards under free trade and US multi national company thuggery.
That is why desperate people sank the Seattle negotiations with mass protests. That is why the US multinational dominated WTO now meet in isolated centres like Doha.
Oodnadatta should apply for the post Doha meeting with a well organized farmer/manufacturer repeat of the Battle of Little Big Horn to follow. The Custardisation of the Free Trade Custers would make the world in general and Australia in particular, a far better place.
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Tags: Free Trade, Globalization, NFF
John,
I always enjoy your summaries and direct way of writing. Black or white is how I always see things and it easy to be labelled negative when one challenges the gravy train system.
You have years of experience and know the agri-political landscape much better than I and the history behind the here and now. The issues that you raise are beyond the scope of the average cattleman like myself to solve. The cattle “Industry” has no body representing the producer-breeder except the “Australian Beef Association” of which I am a Voluntary Director. We are a genuine group as there is no trough to get one’s snout in at ABA.
The progress made by the ABA in the past 4 months has been nothing short of outstanding. Our fight against the large corporations has got them rattled and deserves a continued push by all producers. Old age and producer apathy are our biggest threat as people just quietly get out of the business rather than fight for change or make a noise. Owning a family property and liking the stock and land so much makes this not an option here. The breeder is at the bottom of the food chain and from the day he puts the bulls out his pay packet is a couple of years away with limited choices. These days it is hard to budget 6 months in advance. Forget the past where the odd “good” year kept us afloat, for now we are global our margins are gone forever.
Two things that I have been pushing for would have a very practical effect on my margins. Firstly , to make NLIS voluntary to anyone who likes the system, otherwise the breeder should be reimbursed by $6.00/ tag, being for fitting tag and administration. Second,have the Transaction Levy reduced to $1.00/ head, (one fifth for sheep as well) to bring us into line with USA.
How often do we hear from our industry leaders that they are ‘passionate’ about the Red Meat Industry? Just reflect on what you are normally doing when you get ‘passionate’.
Regards Rob Moore
STOP NEWS FLASH
GREENHOUSE GARNUTS GREENPAPER IS DEAD..
I LOVE THE SOUND OF SHREDDERS IN KLIMATE KEVVIES KARBON KAVE Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ANU REPORTS 8/8/08
160 % OF OUR EMMISSIONS ARE CAPTURED EACH YEAR BY THE FORESTS JUST IN SOUTH EAST AUSTRALIA…
NO TAX REQUIRED JUST A WHOLE BAG OF CREDITS TO COLLECT AND WE HAVENT COUNTED ALL THE TREES YET….
GIVE MY KARBON KREDITS now KLIMATE K E V V I E
Sadly the richest people in the world are also the dumbest and therefore are poor dummies with debts when they should be in credit, count count up the trees and divide by 21 million, the rest of the world gets us to suck in 4 to 10 times the amount of carbon we use and pays us nothing, then Klimate Kevvie, Wonder Wong Woman, Greenhouse Garnut and Kaptain Karbon (g-rat) want to T A X us for being bad when were so good its hurtin…
Australia 5% of the world over 200 billion acres
0.003% of the population over 21 million people
Using less than 2% of the emissions
Grows 33% of the raw food and materials
and has consumed more eats the bad greenhouse gases than any other nation on earth with its trees…
and owes the world ?
get real
they owe us
you do the math
We need the general public to be aware of the price it costs the retailer in the price tag;
You Pay $1.50 Baked beans
we paid farmer $0.07
because were smarter than you
You pay $9.99 mince meat
we paid farmer $3.00
because were smarter than you
You pay 19.99 t bone
we paid farmer $3.00
because were smarter than you
You pay 20cents per kwh
we pay 3 cents on coal and 3 cents for other
because were smarter than you
You pay $1.78 diesel
we pay 40 cents plus taxes
because were smarter than you
…thats why we pay our staff $550 per week
and our directors $25,000 per week
because were smarter than you
and our director that owns a truck business gets $5000 per load both ways
and we pay independents $3000 one way
because were smarter than you….