Not free trade

DoctorDamage
Our federal trade boys are off to the states again to fix up our negative trade index. A free trip and a couple of cheeseburgers have not done us any favors since we signed it. This to the Australian.

Please send someone else to fight the US on sugar (The Australian, 5/01) Poor old Minister Vaile has had enough. On the "level playing field" of global trade Vaile is now reeling and the score is US 3, Australia -1. Minister Vaile uses the sporting term "win win." Only one game, soccer can achieve close to this fallacy, with a nil all draw. Australia will not even make this mark with our US free trade agreement.

Minister Vaile further erodes voter confidence by blaming a strong Australian dollar and competition from Asia. Well hello! Multinationals have all their products made where it costs the least. Electronic consumer items are put together in China by assemblers being paid 65 cents per hour. We export ores and energy that go towards the make up of consumer products that we then import in enormous quantities. Computers alone make up $19b per annum. This will not change for years!

Just what Minister Vaile and his small retinue of advisors are up against is now being played out in the Abramoff lobbyist scandal in Washington. This threatens to expose the extent of vote buying by special interest groups in the US.

If Minister Vaille hopes to have any influence on the "evergreening" practice by US pharmaceutical makers he is facing one of America's biggest lobbyist groups. This $500b pa industry comprises 50% of the global market and funds 60% of US bio-medical R&D. It is vehemently supportive of evergreening and will work on any weakness to enhance its grip on the Australian market.

Topping this, the US even has a "Buy American Bill! No counterpart exists in Australia. American industry will remain fiercely protective, particularly its agricultural and primary products groups.

Minister Vaile's caution, that the figures are just for one year completely ignores the historical trade deficit and the recent Customs computer fiasco, which now has frustrated importers threatening to sue the government for damages.

The one ray of hope is to invoke the "free trade" escape clause (six months notice) and retire hurt from the field, until it is tilted at somewhat less than 45 degrees.

Victoria's Xmas Humbug

The Victorian Attorney General has urged Australia to have a Bill of Rights. Victoria's record of dealing openly with its populace is dubious to say the least. The Australian published the following letter the day prior to Xmas. They edited out para 3 and the last sentence. Probably cause I was grinding the axe too much and the last sentence suggests a referendum which Australians traditionally vote against.

The Comonwealth Games will eventually cost Victorian taxpayers twice the original sum quoted. Perhaps Australians will then begin to question bread and circuses and understand why politicians run up flags like a bill of rights.

Letter begins...
Victoria’s Attorney General Hulls demonstrates just how far out of touch he is with folk ordinaire. (Public expression of shared values, The Australian, 23/12) He claims his Victorian Charter of Rights was endorsed by 90% of those chosen via “extensive community consultation.” AG Hulls did not place an advertisement in the press inviting 400 individuals to draft such a charter. Rather, the consenting group was a result of an invitational process. Just as lawyers will never ask a question to which they don’t know the answer, so too political parties do not hold consultations that they can’t control.

To suggest that the Bracks Government, via this Charter of Rights, will fix those that seek to “curb public criticism or scrutiny of the executive,” is disingenuous. It completely overlooks the Victorian Government’s own lack of openness when Freedom of Information request costs, are tallied by the nation’s press.

The states have an appalling record of getting it right, even when governed by the same party. From railway gauges, health and water rights through to defamation and libel laws, their history is a sorry one. Hulls’ clumsy political shot at the Feds saying that Victoria will get this right is exposed for the humbug it is, when police shootings and vibrant organised crime, extant in his state, are examined.

It could be suspected that this is a sideshow to distract us from Victoria’s looming financial debacle as the Commonwealth Games cost blow out, again negatively impacting Victorian’s health and eduction. Or will the Attorney General insist on a full cost disclosure in the nation's media?

This is not agitation Attorney General. This is opposition. A referendum on such an issue, or no deal.

Bond opens in Aus

DoctorDamage

The SMH "Frankenstein" column challenged folks for an Australian opening for the latest Bond film. They hope that the next 007 epic will open with an Australian sequence. Most of the entries published on the SMH web were set in Sydney or along the east coast. My entry was a little different and they kindly displayed it on their web site.

Its night, shots, explosions and a running Bond - dingo scurries off - large roo veers aside. Bonds heading for a sheer drop over one of the cliffs in the Buccaneer archipelago - far Northwest Australia.

Pulls gadget from backpack, fires a bolt into rock, locks in and jumps, shooting at baddies as he goes.

Bond abseils down cliff - we see large crocs thrashing in the water below.

Hooded figures chasing him slash the rope - it parts - he is hurtling down - fires gas thrusters strapped to his legs - descending gently - a huge croc rears out of the water - bond disappears feet first down its throat.

Teeth flash as baddies grin. Leers turn to horror. Bond has twisted - slamming beasts jaws shut . crocs eyes - bright blue - we see JB safe in a snug cockpit. (crocpit)

The crocs legs paddle - it dives. Lying prone he scans the instruments -- baddies prepare to lob grenades - "Never smile at a crocodile," says JB. He jabs a button and from the crocs rear shoots a missile. It arcs up out of the water - baddies blown into the water where real crocs eat them.

"Crock of shit," quips JB as he heads towards Horizontal Falls.

Sharks and swimmers

DoctorDamage

Pressing my luck I sent this one off to the "Tiser" following increasing reports of nasty noahs bumping boats and biting people.

Little wonder that sharks are getting closer to offshore fishermen, The Advertiser 14/12. Fishermen's habit of putting burley, a mixture of blood and rotting food, into the water will attract big fish and little fish alike. Sharks now associate boats with food.

Mounting evidence suggests there are fewer fish to be caught so sharks may be finding it harder to get a meal. This seems to be supported by the shark's behaviour in mouthing the boats.

The upshot for swimmers and especially anyone falling in from a boat is therefore increasingly perilous.

Ministers all talk

DoctorDamage

SA pollies have nicked off for the summer. They wont be back 'till March. Minister Holloway is using his time to attend another talk fest on the auto industry in Victoria. I hope he sees this letter (to the Tiser) before he goes.

Minister Holloway will gain no answers at any summit junket on automotive industry decay.

Ford, Mitsubishi and GMH are all global companies. Just as there is no Australian computer there is no Australian car. Australia has always been a cheap, reliable place to manufacture cars. These global icons located here for the following reasons. Stability, cost, access to markets, access to labour (skilled and unskilled) and sound infrastructure.

We no longer have a solid hold on these criteria. With Chinese electronic assemblers prepared to work for 65 cents per hour and production line staff $3.50 per hour, further industry subsidies would have to be huge. SA householders will even be asked to switch off their air conditioning as our sagging infrastructure threatens industrial production. Cheap imports and free trade agreements prevent state governments mandating the above brands for government automotive needs. So we are left with stability – one out of four location criteria.

Automotive manufacturing in Aus faces terminal decline. GMH and Ford are currently sacking thousands of workers. The decision to move GMH, Ford and Mitsubishi to cheaper sites will not be made here.

Minister Holloway and his advisors would be better off estimating the “doors shut” date and moving to ensure worker entitlements and retraining programs. They should be looking at subsidised training for autoworkers in shipbuilding and other emerging areas. This will at least defray government carping on not enough workers and provide some comfort to existing workers that they do have a future.

One government level too many

DoctorDamage

On August 19 I posted a comment on many SA councils approaching insolvency. Their own association commissioned a report that indicated that 75% of our 76 councils (for 1.5m people) could go under. Today the Tiser front page reports that our wise city fathers want more money. This to the paper in dismay.

Until today I did not know exactly what unmitigated gall was. Then I see the good ‘ol councils are at it again. Pay rises for all and it will cost ratepayers more! These proposed pay rises come hard on the heels of the recent Local Government Association’s council report, which claimed 75% of SA’s 76 councils were considered financially “vulnerable,” or “minimally sustainable.” What part of this equation am I missing? Dodgy councils demanding more money for ineptitude. Now is the time for massive amalgamation. Those councils that have been regularly useless should disappear. Lets hear from our pollies what they will do about this rot before the 06 election.

Aus customs system fiasco

DoctorDamage

Australian Government departments continue to burn taxpayer money. This time it is Customs' turn and they have done us proud with hundreds of millions vaporised on a computer system that was never going to work. The Aus IT section registered my (and hopefully fellow taxpayers) disgust in the following letter.

The oft-repeated claim that Australian ICT companies are “more of a risk,” is now well and truly discredited. (Customs faces huge payouts, November 15)

The new Customs Integrated Cargo System, or lack of it, is a classic study of how not to put in a system. On top of the hundreds of millions of dollars paid to the US based ICT industry icons, for a dud system, Australian taxpayers must now foot additional millions in compensation for lost trade and damages.

Where were the penalty and non-compliance clauses in the contracts? Who was the Customs ICT manager that allowed the project to pass the FF (fix or flush) point? Where was the risk management? It is outrageous that the same companies, whose gross ineptitude is responsible for this mega expensive disaster, will continue to be paid tens of millions of dollars!

The Federal Government, long a major contributor to Australia’s eye-watering ICT trade deficit of $19b pa, has ensured the Customs debacle will only enhance its position. To see no evidence of any penalties against the incompetents who mismanaged the project is utterly unacceptable.

The Minister, department head and the CIO must be sacked and all future government ICT contracts underpinned by penalty clauses.

Meanwhile all legal avenues should be pursued in an effort to get compensation from the US based ICT scions whose abject failure has cost this country so dearly.