any Chinese investment in Australia requires the approval of federal Treasurer Wayne Swan and the Foreign Investment Review Board
Perhaps that's prudent?
Well Clive perhaps it didn't occur to you that there is some difference in the Chinese methods of doing business and the Western ways. Perhaps we also share some more history with the USA too?
Open and transparent is the way all such contracts should be conducted. I don't think the checks are because of "the colour of their skin" as you seem to suggest, but its nice of you to throw in the racist red herring there mate.
Now that you mention it, perhaps everyone should be subjected to similar checks?
Unlike many "mining magnates" some of us would like to see some of Australia left for our kids. You may be keen to sell off all of it off (and your business interests seem to show the Colonial Heritage of dig it up or shear it) but personally I think that we need to be careful with our Foreign investment. You may make more money by just selling the resource now, but you know, we're just custodians of the place ... it really belongs to our future.
Perhaps you're not focused on that...
In case you're not aware of it, I recommend you read a short piece by C. J. Dennis called The Glugs of Gosh. In this story, foreigners who were once the enemy of the Glugs approached the King and Queen with a neat importing deal...
"We'll sell you pianers and pickels and spanners
For seventeen shiploads of stones:
Smooth 'uns or nobbly 'uns,
Firm 'uns or wobbly 'uns,
All we ask is stones."
For seventeen shiploads of stones:
Smooth 'uns or nobbly 'uns,
Firm 'uns or wobbly 'uns,
All we ask is stones."
It all sounded very good, but eventually someone noticed something wrong.
But a Glug stood up with a cast in his eye,
And he said, "Far too many baubles we buy;
With all the Gosh factories closing their doors,
And importers' warehouses lining our shores."
And he said, "Far too many baubles we buy;
With all the Gosh factories closing their doors,
And importers' warehouses lining our shores."
There are some parts of China which are hateful of the west and wish to see China returned to the true place it belongs to ... center country ... or didn't you know that's what the name meant?Some parts of China hate the west (quite rightly) for its involvement in exploiting them with the opium wars ...
Guess you'll claim you didn't know or you've never read history to know that some people there have long memories and an axe to grind with the west.
Australia is a little place ... we need to be careful ... don't you think?
2 comments:
The US has basically shot their economy on the foot by offshoring their entire manufacturing to China.
To the point where there is no middle-class anymore there - the essential financila motor of any economy.
Palmer is one of the morons around here who wants to refine that recipe by not only sendng all manufacturing there but also the extractives as well!
Of course: once the proverbial hits the fan, he'll be long gone.
it is a worrying trend that the middle classes are under pressure. It seems that they are also the least likely to get into child rearing as the welfare is directed to the lower income groups. So we're also applying darwin's theory to the removal of middle classes.
There seems to me to be some sort of "normalisation" process where left and right politics are pushing the middle classes down and appealing to the growing welfare dependent groups for votes.
but what would I know?
;-)
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