Should WA secede from Australia?

[CakeEater]

Nah, we just need Clive to bugger off and leave us alone.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

They've tried many times throughout history and failed.

Now is a good time to try especially with the border wars going on between the WA government and Clive Palmer.
Scomo has made it clear he wants WA to remove its hard border too.

Absolutely, then every time I fly over for work it would be a duty free run.

McGowan can eat a bag of dicks and so can the Victorian *******s who can't help themselves and do the right thing.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

This Victorian obsession with WA is getting unhealthy.

Haha, I step off the plane on site in the Pilbara and the yapping Sandgropers just start going, they just repeat the same 4 or 5 slogans spoon fed to them by McGowan (a New South Welshman), they're like an Andrew Bolt headline, 5 hobby horse topics and that's it.

Two in particular wouldn't shut up last week.

Me to them : When I'm on break home in Victoria and I'm catching up with family and friends, when the topic turns to WA, what do you think we talk about?

Them : rolling eyes, what? We can just imagine.

Me : NOTHING. We don't care about you, we don't talk about you, we don't give a * about you.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Realistically secession is never going to be a good idea. We have too few population to be able to cope on our own. We'd need to throw open the borders and let in about 5 million new people, But since we're only 2 million to start with we would be rather swamped with new arrivals who would probably immediately vote for reunion with Australia. Without a population influx we'd remain an isolated backwater, albeit a very nice one, if we decided to go it alone.

Maybe we could just persaude the other states to suspend QLD from the Federation for a time, like until Clive Palmer dies. That would probably be easier.

When I lived in Cairns for awhile, the people of FNQ talked about seceding as much as WA does.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Yes but iwe will never be allowed because we prop up the country

Yep, no mining anywhere else in the country and just lucky the iron ore price is high while Brazil is ****ed by corona and their mining companies keep burying villages.

Give it a decade until China gets their hands on the high grade iron ore in Africa.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Thats where the paper shufflers (sic) and latte sippers are working from home, meanwhile:

Rio Tinto issues $3.4b to shareholders as Chinese demand bolsters iron ore prices

Rio Tinto has issued a multibillion-dollar dividend to shareholders as Chinese demand bolsters iron ore production levels.

Rio Tinto issues $2.5bn to shareholders

Rio Tinto has issued a $US2.5 billion ($A3.4 billion) dividend to its shareholders despite profits falling by almost a fifth due to the coronavirus pandemic.

www.news.com.au

&


Fortescue ships record tonnes amid surging iron ore prices

Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Elizabeth Gaines atop a shiploader at the iron ore miner’s Port Hedland facilities

Fortescue Metals group has smashed through its own production records, shipping 178.2 million tonnes of Pilbara iron ore last financial year and saying it realised a bumper average price for its products.
Fortescue released its June quarter production report on Thursday, saying it had easily beaten the 177 million tonne top end of its annual production guidance for the financial year, and shipped a record 47.3m tonnes in the June quarter.

Just imagine how good WA would be going if they voted for Grylls' $5 per tonne levy on iron ore at the last state election in 2017

 

[Schneebly11]

Just imagine how good WA would be going if they voted for Grylls' $5 per tonne levy on iron ore at the last state election in 2017

Would have been nixed by the mining companies for sure. And even if it had been implemented the price would’ve been keeping Colon Barnett in power so the continued damage he would’ve wrought would more than offset an increase in iron ore revenues

 

[Schneebly11]

Realistically secession is never going to be a good idea. We have too few population to be able to cope on our own. We'd need to throw open the borders and let in about 5 million new people, But since we're only 2 million to start with we would be rather swamped with new arrivals who would probably immediately vote for reunion with Australia. Without a population influx we'd remain an isolated backwater, albeit a very nice one, if we decided to go it alone.

Not necessarily.
Westralia could limit migration from Australia for a period to ensure they don’t get swamped.
At 2.6mil currently Westralia would be in the league of countries like Uruguay, Qatar and Slovenia.
If Westralia did let in 5mil skilled migrants from a diverse background of regions then they would be around the same size as Switzerland, Israel and Austria.

Westralia’s GDP per capita would be significantly above the rest of Australia. In fact it would have about the 3rd highest in the world, above nations like Norway, Singapore and Denmark. A very high level of living standard would be able to be achieved.

I think WA/Westralia could cope on it’s own quite well. If anything a defence treaty would be signed with the Asian neighbours to North for assistance in case of a possible invasion from it’s most likely enemy, the rest of Australia!!

 

[Caesar]

Not necessarily.
Westralia could limit migration from Australia for a period to ensure they don’t get swamped.
At 2.6mil currently Westralia would be in the league of countries like Uruguay, Qatar and Slovenia.
If Westralia did let in 5mil skilled migrants from a diverse background of regions then they would be around the same size as Switzerland, Israel and Austria.

Westralia’s GDP per capita would be significantly above the rest of Australia. In fact it would have about the 3rd highest in the world, above nations like Norway, Singapore and Denmark. A very high level of living standard would be able to be achieved.

I think WA/Westralia could cope on it’s own quite well. If anything a defence treaty would be signed with the Asian neighbours to North for assistance in case of a possible invasion from it’s most likely enemy, the rest of Australia!!

WA would be fine for the time being because of mineral exports. The problem is that it’s economy is very undiversified and with a small population it is hard to add diversification.

Sandgropers advocating for independence would be well advised to remember that although WA currently sends a decent portion of its wealth east, it has in fact been a net beneficiary of the Commonwealth Grants Scheme across its history. That is - the rest of Australia propped you lot up for the better part of a century before the mining boom.

Having a diverse national economy helps all Australians, and it’s quite likely that at some point the rivers of gold will start to run west again.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Would have been nixed by the mining companies for sure. And even if it had been implemented the price would’ve been keeping Colon Barnett in power so the continued damage he would’ve wrought would more than offset an increase in iron ore revenues

The first month after the election, 80m tonnes of iron ore went out, that's $400m in a single month that went begging.

Are you saying that Barnett was costing the WA economy at least $5b per annum? It would be even more atm with record numbers being shipped.

 

[Kwality]

Just imagine how good WA would be going if they voted for Grylls' $5 per tonne levy on iron ore at the last state election in 2017

Reckon it'd be a shoe in now

Wouldnt the GST distribution have discounted the effect?
(excuse my rant : rewarded the pro pokie States !!!)

 

[Admiral Byng]

Not necessarily.
Westralia could limit migration from Australia for a period to ensure they don’t get swamped.
At 2.6mil currently Westralia would be in the league of countries like Uruguay, Qatar and Slovenia.
If Westralia did let in 5mil skilled migrants from a diverse background of regions then they would be around the same size as Switzerland, Israel and Austria.

Westralia’s GDP per capita would be significantly above the rest of Australia. In fact it would have about the 3rd highest in the world, above nations like Norway, Singapore and Denmark. A very high level of living standard would be able to be achieved.

I think WA/Westralia could cope on it’s own quite well. If anything a defence treaty would be signed with the Asian neighbours to North for assistance in case of a possible invasion from it’s most likely enemy, the rest of Australia!!

I don't think so. 2.6 million is not a big enough tax base ti support the full apparatus of government for an independent nation. We'd have to acquire our own army, navy and air force, plus all the government departments like foreign affairs and trade, regulatory authorities for health, medicnes, consumer protection and so on. The income tax base would be just too small to afford all that. Unless we start taxing resources more heavily - but that would make then noncompetitive. In terms of defence and foreign affairs we'd have to form alliances with other stronger countries, but that would leave us vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation by foreign powers - which os not a good place to be either.

Forget the whole thing, it won't work.

 

[Kwality]

the Victorian *******s who can't help themselves and do the right thing.

Spot on.

 

[Power Raid]

people forget, geologically WA built this nation. we don't get the credit we deserve!

 

[ascendancy6000]

I don't think so. 2.6 million is not a big enough tax base ti support the full apparatus of government for an independent nation. We'd have to acquire our own army, navy and air force, plus all the government departments like foreign affairs and trade, regulatory authorities for health, medicnes, consumer protection and so on. The income tax base would be just too small to afford all that. Unless we start taxing resources more heavily - but that would make then noncompetitive. In terms of defence and foreign affairs we'd have to form alliances with other stronger countries, but that would leave us vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation by foreign powers - which os not a good place to be either.

Forget the whole thing, it won't work.

The Scandinavian countries have near no army but is protected under the Europeans union and USA

so WA would probably use use some of the rest of the countries defence. They already have some bases and satalight stations set up across the state

 

[Bomberboyokay]

I don't think so. 2.6 million is not a big enough tax base ti support the full apparatus of government for an independent nation. We'd have to acquire our own army, navy and air force, plus all the government departments like foreign affairs and trade, regulatory authorities for health, medicnes, consumer protection and so on. The income tax base would be just too small to afford all that. Unless we start taxing resources more heavily - but that would make then noncompetitive. In terms of defence and foreign affairs we'd have to form alliances with other stronger countries, but that would leave us vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation by foreign powers - which os not a good place to be either.

Forget the whole thing, it won't work.

A lot of countries have less than 2.6 million people.

 

[Admiral Byng]

The Scandinavian countries have near no army but is protected under the Europeans union and USA

so WA would probably use use some of the rest of the countries defence. They already have some bases and satalight stations set up across the state

We don't have any such close and powerful friends. If we became independent and had to rely on our paltry 2.6 million people from which to fund and raise our defence forces, then any country could pretty much just walk in and take what they want. There is no guarantee that the USA would be on our side, nor the rest of Australia. We'd be left with the wheatbelt rump and the south-west and become a backwards agricultural country.

If we had powerful friends we could rely on it would come at the cost of being more or less a vassal state to them. It would not be true and genuine independence. As it is, Australia is already a bit of a vassal state to the USA, an independent WA would be even moreso, or would be left to wolves of China, Indonesia or India.

 

[Rasha]

We don't have any such close and powerful friends. If we became independent and had to rely on our paltry 2.6 million people from which to fund and raise our defence forces, then any country could pretty much just walk in and take what they want. There is no guarantee that the USA would be on our side, nor the rest of Australia. We'd be left with the wheatbelt rump and the south-west and become a backwards agricultural country.

If we had powerful friends we could rely on it would come at the cost of being more or less a vassal state to them. It would not be true and genuine independence. As it is, Australia is already a bit of a vassal state to the USA, an independent WA would be even moreso, or would be left to wolves of China, Indonesia or India.

There's many countries with populations smaller than WA.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

A lot of countries have less than 2.6 million people.

The land area of Western Australia is 2,646,000 km2 with a coastline of 20,000 km and a land border of 1,874 km. WA has a population of 2,640,000 and a population density of 1.04 people per km2

Countries with roughly the same population and the land mass they have to service / protect.

Armenia 28,400 km2 p/density people per km2 = 104
Jamaica 10,830 km2 p/density people per km2 = 273
Qatar 11,610 km2 p/density people per km2 = 248
Albania 27,400 km2 p/density people per km2 = 105
Puerto Rico 8,870 km2 p/density people per km2 = 323
Lithuania 62,674 km2 p/density people per km2 = 43
Namibia 823,290 km2 p/density people per km2 = 3

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

We don't have any such close and powerful friends. If we became independent and had to rely on our paltry 2.6 million people from which to fund and raise our defence forces, then any country could pretty much just walk in and take what they want. There is no guarantee that the USA would be on our side, nor the rest of Australia. We'd be left with the wheatbelt rump and the south-west and become a backwards agricultural country.

If we had powerful friends we could rely on it would come at the cost of being more or less a vassal state to them. It would not be true and genuine independence. As it is, Australia is already a bit of a vassal state to the USA, an independent WA would be even moreso, or would be left to wolves of China, Indonesia or India.

You could fifo soldiers in from the east on contract when needed

 

[Bomberboyokay]

The land area of Western Australia is 2,646,000 km2 with a coastline of 20,000 km and a land border of 1,874 km. WA has a population of 2,640,000 and a population density of 1.04 people per km2

Countries with roughly the same population and the land mass they have to service / protect.

Armenia 28,400 km2 p/density people per km2 = 104
Jamaica 10,830 km2 p/density people per km2 = 273
Qatar 11,610 km2 p/density people per km2 = 248
Albania 27,400 km2 p/density people per km2 = 105
Puerto Rico 8,870 km2 p/density people per km2 = 323
Lithuania 62,674 km2 p/density people per km2 = 43
Namibia 823,290 km2 p/density people per km2 = 3

Puerto Rico is a US territory.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Puerto Rico is a US territory.

Good to know that's what you got out of that.

How about you ignore that I put Puerto Rico in and work on the rest of the list.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Good to know that's what you got out of that.

You've learned more from the exchange than I have.

 

[Caesar]

You've learned more from the exchange than I have.

Educational difficulties are nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s odd you boast about them.

 

[ascendancy6000]

A lot of countries have less than 2.6 million people.

learn how there basic economies work