Foreign Investment in Australia

I saw this in the paper this morning:

CHINESE state-owned firms are still eyeing off Australian resources companies for strategic investments.

Western Australian iron ore junior FerrAus announced today it had plans to sell 12 per cent of the company to China Railway Materials (CRM) for about $12.6 million.

we're all aware of the threats to Australian ownership of big business and our assets, but are we looking at the small fish ... often there can be tons of tiny fish which can make for a bigger catch than a single tuna.

macro economic vs micro economic

This article reminded me, that talking to a friend of mine at home (I'm Australian but living in Finland at the moment) recently said that some person had offered to buy his business for a foreign investor. The person was intending the broker the operation to sell to a non Australian person simply for the purposes of them obtaining Australian residency.

Seems to be some sort of loop hole which while intended to facilitate business is giving people a leg in who may not otherwise have a an opportunity.

You see, small business is not only one of the largest employers in Australia, it is also the most sensitive. Owning and working in a small business is quite a stressful thing in itself especially in the current times. People often work long hours and have little opportunity to take leave.

So when someone comes along offering to buy your business so that some foreigner can move in and take it over in exchange for a residency it may just seem too good an opportunity to miss.

There is then nothing to say that the new owner will have any sence of how to operate this business and that it may go broke soon, leaving us with migrant who is now a resident while side stepping the immigration procedures.

nice
Looks to me that the immigration department needs to start looking at the bigger picture.

A fool and their money

I am clearly not learning the lessons in life, particularly on just how gullible can members of the general public be. I found this article this morning in the news:

People are being warned against joining a NSW dating service following reports victims were fleeced of thousands of dollars in their quest for love....
... the Tweed Heads company had used misleading and deceptive tactics to induce people to sign expensive contracts for dating services, life coaching and grooming packages .... Some victims reported paying up to $35,000 and $110,000 but received nothing in return. Evidence also existed that the company had preyed on emotionally vulnerable.

Ok ... here's what I'll do, for absolutely nothing I'll offer a strategy to people who might be in similar situations. This will save you money and I'm sure that you'll be no worse off

1. Stick up an ad at the local supermarket saying:

   WANTED: person of {state required / desired sex} gender to offer: personal advice on grooming; tell me how they think I should to run my life; meetings will be in the form of a date on weekends, at my personal cost. Additionally I will pay you $200 per date. Sexual intimacy not required, but it would be nifty
   

   
   
2. wait for the calls
3. go out with the person who calls

Even if you get a date every Saturday night for a year it'll only cost you $20,000 and you'll have had a date every saturday night (with exactly the sort of person most people end up marrying anyway).

GF1 - rumor no more

Its out

and man it looks exactly like the leaked images

So toddle over to your favourite review site and check out the facts.

I'll be getting one in a flash with that 20mm lens that I can use on my G1 it makes the price of a spare body a peach.

Gillard takes on the impossible

I never cease to be surprised by our politicians ... I read that Julia Gillard is going to try to stop shonky operators in India who try to mislead students about study in Australia.

Right ... she clearly has no scene of the scale of the place

Julia ... have you tried setting up a stool and holding back the tide with your hand? You've got about as much luck on either count.