Chinese Free Trade Deal, Has the Australian Government Betrayed Australia

[Play by Numbers]

Feel free to provide evidence of all these countries that have more expensive grocery prices than Australia.

As opposed to your anecdote about Thai limes

 

[pokerspiv]

So, we are 10x as expensive as most EU countries?

Why do you keep trying to make up s**t that I didn't say? Just admit you were wrong and get over it.

Some fruits and vegetables are 10 times more expensive in Australia than they are in neighbouring countries we could be importing them from.
Grocery prices in general in Australia are more expensive than in the vast majority of European countries, including the UK, France and Germany.

Those are 2 claims I have made and I have backed them both up. You keep responding with strawman after strawman with no backup whatsoever because you have nothing.

 

[Play by Numbers]

Why do you keep trying to make up s**t that I didn't say? Just admit you were wrong and get over it.

Some fruits and vegetables are 10 times more expensive in Australia than they are in neighbouring countries we could be importing them from.
Grocery prices in general in Australia are more expensive than in the vast majority of European countries, including the UK, France and Germany.

Those are 2 claims I have made and I have backed them both up. You keep responding with strawman after strawman with no backup whatsoever because you have nothing.

You were and are wrong.

You have backed up neither claim.

I am making fun of you, not providing strawmen, because you deserve it.

 

[pokerspiv]

As opposed to your anecdote about Thai limes

Limes in Australia: $1.20 each
Limes in Thailand: 7 cents each

 

[pokerspiv]

I am making fun of you, not providing strawmen, because you deserve it.

Nope, you are continually providing strawmen because you've got nothing else. I have now backed up both claims, you have still provided nothing.

 

[madmug]

Limes in Australia: $1.20 each
Limes in Thailand: 7 cents each

Well I guess that confirms it then. Its a Lime led economy in Thailand!
Thats a lot less impressive than your original big statement on the costs of some aspects of our daily food needs & wants!

 

[clogged]

http://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity/import/food

You ignored me pointing out that Australia has extremely strict internal quarantine laws. I guess it doesn't fit in with your pinhead argument.

 

[pokerspiv]

Well I guess that confirms it then. Its a Lime led economy in Thailand!
Thats a lot less impressive than your original big statement on the costs of some aspects of our daily food needs & wants!

Feel free to compare the prices of various fruits and vegetables on the 2 major supermarkets online shopping lists all you want.

The information is there for you, not too hard to search.

 

[pokerspiv]

You ignored me pointing out that Australia has extremely strict internal quarantine laws. I guess it doesn't fit in with your pinhead argument.

They are nowhere near as strict as the quarantine applying to foreign imports, and it's much less of an issue with perishable goods since they don't have to go as far.

 

[smokingjacket]

Encouraging greater Chinese investment is one thing, but allowing state owned companies the ability to sue Australia, when they feel new regulation impinges on their ability to make revenue is madness.

Mining lobby supported? Ties Australian lawmakers hands in regulating the mining industry if they can then ask their Chinese clients to sue the Australian government for higher costs?

Just a question not answer.

 

[clogged]

They are nowhere near as strict as the quarantine applying to foreign imports, and it's much less of an issue with perishable goods since they don't have to go as far.

How are you determining strictness? You get fined if you are caught bringing fresh fruit into the Ord River scheme.

 

[pokerspiv]

How are you determining strictness? You get fined if you are caught bringing fresh fruit into the Ord River scheme.

You are talking about the laws applying to individuals and tourists rather than how commercial operations liaise with state governments to send produce. Woolworths don't try to sneak their apples in the boot of a car across the Nullarbor.

 

[clogged]

You are talking about the laws applying to individuals and tourists rather than how commercial operations liaise with state governments to send produce. Woolworths don't try to sneak their apples in the boot of a car across the Nullarbor.

Since when is that the point? Australia has a complex system of quarantine, both within its borders and at its borders.

You can't bring objects with wood into the country as a tourist, and you can't bring fresh fruit or vegetables into the country as a supplier. Both are due to the quarantine laws.

The laws should not be different just because Woolworths is a billion dollar business.

 

[pokerspiv]

The laws should not be different just because Woolworths is a billion dollar business.

You guys are so against corporations that you really can't see that it's the consumers who are most hurt by these laws.

We get it, you can afford to buy whatever you want no matter the cost. Not everyone can. There are many kinds of food that are simply unaffordable to Australians on low incomes, and the primary reason for that is government regulation meant to protect producers. I personally can't think of any more immoral policy in modern day Australia than the ones that make food more expensive for the benefit of special interests.

 

[Play by Numbers]

Nope, you are continually providing strawmen because you've got nothing else. I have now backed up both claims, you have still provided nothing.

The most important thing is not cost of food, but percentage of income spent on food. We are way down on that list.



Next, different countries or even cities and regions, have different costs depending on food item based on availability.

Australia is expensive, but comparable to many similarly developed countries. France, Denmark, Norway, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, South Korea all have comparative prices and many other countries are far more expensive, depending on what.

http://www.ibtimes.com/us-spends-less-food-any-other-country-world-maps-1546945

http://www.numbeo.com/food-prices/

 

[Sydney Bloods]

You guys are so against corporations that you really can't see that it's the consumers who are most hurt by these laws.

We get it, you can afford to buy whatever you want no matter the cost. Not everyone can.

and what about the aussie farmers that are under cut and put out of business as a result?
not everything is about woolworths or qaurentine. the fact is just like with the us fta it means aussie producers get skull ****ed so a some kid overseas can be paid 6 bucks an hour.

then you turn you noes up about farmers living of government handouts.

 

[pokerspiv]

The most important thing is not cost of food, but percentage of income spent on food. We are way down on that list.

Again, that's super for people earning the average income, which is around $80,000 per year.

Not so super for people living on $30k a year (which is btw the combined income of a couple on the aged pension, and more than an employed person makes per year).

Deliberately taking measures to increase the cost of food is immoral.

 

[smokingjacket]

Limes in Australia: $1.20 each
Limes in Thailand: 7 cents each

Limes are a tropical species native to the region.

What do lemons cost in Thailand? I wouldn't know because I've never seen one.

 

[Play by Numbers]

and what about the aussie farmers that are under cut and put out of business as a result?
not everything is about woolworths or qaurentine. the fact is just like with the us fta it means aussie producers get skull ****** so a some kid overseas can be paid 6 bucks an hour.

then you turn you noes up about farmers living of government handouts.

Can you imagine his outrage if we subsidised wheat and grain producers to the degree of the yanks. Direct farm subsidies to corn producers alone are in the billions and billions.

Yet in Australia:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-14/malcolm-turnbull-correct-on-farmers-subsidies/5252596

 

[Slax]

Yes, we are. Much, much more expensive. You should check your workings.

You really should do your homework before you start making bold statements a bit more, maybe next time do a little surfing, doesn't take long. Here's somewhere to go and look at.

If you want to compare some really expensive places then look up Zurich v Melbourne/Sydney

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp

 

[pokerspiv]

and what about the aussie farmers that are under cut and put out of business as a result?

What about the Aussie blacksmiths who were put out of business by the automobile?
What about the Aussie textile workers who were put out of business by allowing the import of clothes?
What about the Aussie manfucturing workers who all got laid off and had their jobs shipped overseas after Australia introduced the minimum wage in 1907?

They got different jobs.

Farmers will grow something else, or sell their farms to someone who can make a profit. Owning a farm should not be a license to print money at the expense of the rest of the population, and I say that as someone who grew up on a farm and is still involved in the family farm.

 

[Play by Numbers]

Again, that's super for people earning the average income, which is around $80,000 per year.

Not so super for people living on $30k a year (which is btw the combined income of a couple on the aged pension, and more than an employed person makes per year).

Deliberately taking measures to increase the cost of food is immoral.

Nope.

Even taking into account disparity of wages, we still spend as a percentage of income, less than the majority of other countries on earth. A lot less.

Our prices in no single catagory are also the highest. Sure Australia is one of the most expensive, but it is directly comparable in cost to other similarly developed countries.

 

[Play by Numbers]

You really should do your homework before you start making bold statements a bit more, maybe next time do a little surfing, doesn't take long. Here's somewhere to go and look at.

If you want to compare some really expensive places then look up Zurich v Melbourne/Sydney

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp

Very elastic value this 10 x more expoensive.

 

[Kynge of Begrem]

http://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity/import/food

Where on that page does it point to the law which makes it illegal to 'import competition to locally grown fresh fruits+vegetables'

 

[Sydney Bloods]

Can you imagine his outrage if we subsidised wheat and grain producers to the degree of the yanks. Direct farm subsidies to corn producers alone are in the billions and billions.

Yet in Australia:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-14/malcolm-turnbull-correct-on-farmers-subsidies/5252596

same as every other industry open it up to countries that have actual working poor, aussies can't compete then complain about people living off the state.

I find it ironic he claims this helps the poor when it leads to a loss of unskilled workers decreasing the opportunities for the poor and thus less competition for unskilled workers means they can keep their pay low.