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The rhetoric is confused... government is not responsible for private business unless you have inside connections (like Cadbury's or the Mining industry) or you are a key Coalition constituent (Farmers). We were told that auto manufacturing had become dependent on public funding (like the Private Health Insurance and Private Education maybe?), and it was time to let them sink or swim, saving the public a great deal of money in support payments, but costing even more in future social security payments and costing communities a great deal in both financial and social terms.
Trust the Tories to jump at false economies.
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The Australia Thailand Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) came into force on the 1st January 2005 and was implemented by Prime Minister John Howard. This agreement allowed Thailand’s subsidised vehicles into Australia without restriction but has not prevented Thailand imposing secondary restrictions that have totally prevented Australian vehicles from being sold into the Thai market. Australia’s three top selling vehicles in 2013; the Toyota Corolla (43,498 units), the Mazda 3 (42,082 units) and the Toyota HiLux (39,931 units) all came from Thailand. In the same year, the Australian made Holden Commodore sold 27,766 units locally and the Toyota Camry sold 24,860 units locally.
Doesn't sound like Free trade. And it sounds like a bum deal for car makers.
For more details on the issue, check out the original article by Carol Taylor in the Independent Media Network.
Being a reactive, non-thinking government, who repeated say they are open for business despite having no actual industry policy, the Abbott government is on the cusp of signing another international document (the TPP). The key aspect of these agreements (which have many other countries baulking) is the clause that opens up the legal avenue for transnational corporations to sue the government if any decisions impact on their profits. This will mean we will have greater difficulty in legislating in areas which are in the public interest. For example, the recent plain packaging legislation would not be possible, leaving health policy at the discretion of tobacco companies.
Completely unacceptable and inapropriate you would think. But hey, we're open for business... non-Australian business that is. For more detail on this complex matter (that Abbott and Hockey likely don't understand themselves), go to this article.
And now to add insult to injury, they are proposing to sell off Qantas to foreign interests. 5000 workers are already slated to go, foreign ownership will lead to many more jobs going off shore.
The Abbott government has already done a great deal of damage to Australia. There is a real risk they will do a great deal more which will extend far beyond what is likely to be a short term in government.
The greatest hope we have as a nation is that the Senate re-run in Western Australia will deliver a resounding vote of no confidence in Abbott, and will ensure the Senate is able to function as a true house of review.