Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Labor team have once again plucked the Goose that lays the golden egg – Australian Agriculture.
Labors urban boy wonder, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke announced increases in AQIS fees and full industry cost recovery that amounts to a massive tax increase of up to 1,300% on the nations rural exports.
Whilst many exporters will pass those increases straight back to rural producers it will drive a number of them out of business, destroying jobs.
At present agriculture is the shining light in the Australian economy. Not because of any great government policy present or past, but simply because we still have an Ag industry and with the Australian Dollar at 65 cents US we are competitive.
Thanks to the Free Trade policies pursued by governments of all persuasions over the last 30 years we don’t have a strong manufacturing industry, its now in China and other low cost counties. If we did still have a manufacturing industry then it too would be doing well with the dollar at 65 cents.
It is diabolical that Labor doles out $6 billion dollars to prop up Australia’s zombie Car manufacturing companies yet slugs the viable agricultural industry with a huge export tax.
Its reverse free trade, tax our exports that are then slugged a protective tariff by the importing country.
Why does the car manufacturing need $6 billion dollars of government subsidies to survive? Because in the World of Free Trade it can’t compete with cars built in factories in China and South Korea etc.
The Australian Agriculture industry, has survived despite being the only Ag industry in the world (along with NZ) that operates without the assistance of subsidies or the protection of tariffs.
The Rudd government is obviously broke. Why else in the time of the greatest financial storm in 90 years would you slug your only growing export industry and in doing so put 1,000′s of jobs at risk.
Kevin Rudd has quoted that the $6 billion given to the car industry is to protect the 50,000 Australians that it employs. Just one sector of Australian agriculture – the meat industry employs 50,000 people. The difference is that the 50,000 employed in the car industry are in key Labor held urban seats, while the 50,000 employed in the meat industry are in rural & regional Australia and predominantly coalition held seats.
So jobs in coalition held seats are expendable. Just a mere casualty to the game of politics in Australia, cannon fodder if you like.
In many respects Australia is the luckiest country in the world. We are rich in natural resource, mining and agriculture. The only thing that ruins this country is the ruling political elite who make decisions based exclusively on getting themselves re-elected and not in the national interest.
If it does not stop Australia will end up a third world country destroyed by party politics and ego maniacs.
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Have Your Say!
December 18, 2011 at 4:08 pm
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March 21, 2009 at 7:43 am
Go Barnaby a man who can’t be bought and sold. No one is always right but at least he isn’t a YES man. John Purcell is another. Steve it is a shame that you didn’t take the same career path as Mark Vaile as you are both ex stock and station agents i think.But then we wouldn’t have Agmates- that would be a greater pity!I’m hoping Greg Brown Agorce,CCA will stand up and be counted on ETS ,NLIS,$1 cattle trans Levy. I suspect he might have some integrity but we’ll see.
March 20, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Although bad news, it comes as no surprise. Once again urban centric Labor slogging those working the land and supporting the nation during the hard times.
However, I think this is one of the best posts I’ve seen on Agmates- it exposes Labor for what they are and the best thing is they don’t even bother with the subterfuge, it’s out in the open.
Of course fellow Agmates will be outraged and justifiably so. The thing is, where to now? We can either snarl amongst ourselves (among the converted and thinking), or we can run with the ball and get the word out about what the major parties are doing to those putting food on our plates and helping to keep the balance of payments from spiralling out of control.
Write to agricultural papers, representative bodies, politicians. If you’re a member of a political party,any party, make some noise-hold people to account for their actions.
If we don’t do something, now, then there will be nothing for our children to inherit.
March 20, 2009 at 4:30 am
The Minister & AQIS, Must have been some meeting they have had recently.
Minister, if you were fair dinkum about cutting cost of the expensive way AQIS is run – you would regionalise it and give it back to the people who understand the business of Quarantine. Field Vets. Thats who.
You paper pushing puppets in canberra have – & for some time been that far out of touch with their own Senior Vets it is amazing you have any left working for the service.
I can quote that in the past – it wasn’t all smooth sailing – but mostly the export industry was able to find some common ground.
Fee for service occured in the 90′s and generally worked.
Now you have high paid beaurcratic regional clerks as AQIS managers, just doing the books and raising fees to pay for their own agenda’s.
Rarely does any Veternarian expertise from Senior Vets play any part.
All drive by higher senior clerks in Canberra.
Message is Sir, Clean up your own backyard before you impose extra costs on the only industry that may assist Australia in it’s time of need.
Not all cost can be sent back to the producer, as lot will have to be incorporated into Export charges to Importers – then guess what.
The product will become possibly unaffordable to export. End of the penny section.
Refer Asian Crisis 1997 – 2000. Look at the figures then.
Good luck.
DDave