Australian Politics
Thursday, May 02, 2024
Dr Jim’s economic elixir has left us with a hangover
Typical Leftist folly
The story, possibly apocryphal, goes that protectionism ended for the Australian economy when Paul Keating went out to buy an Italian knit cardigan and discovered it cost more than a Holden Commodore. The tariff wall had to come down and the nation joined other free traders such as the US, the EU, China and Russia.
If you believe that, I’ve got a poorly made pair of underpants to sell you at a wildly inflated price.
Last year alone, the International Monetary Fund detailed more than 1500 cases of what it euphemistically calls “subsidy variation” with the overwhelming majority of tariff hikes coming from the three largest economies.
Philosophically, the effect of trade subsidies and tariffs is to make imported goods more expensive, sometimes pricing them out of the market (think China’s punitive tariff hike on Australian wines at more than 200 per cent).
This leaves domestic production of similar or identical goods less efficient and less reliable in the absence of real competition. The benefit of a free trade environment means consumers pay less for goods of better quality. The only real benefit of tariffs is governments that impose them get to pocket the cash.
Thus the Hawke-Keating reforms gave us $20 thongs that don’t blow out whenever one breaks into a trot, and we will be forever grateful to them. In truth, these were bold and courageous reforms carried on later by the Howard government that necessarily meant Australians in manufacturing industries, especially in textiles, clothing and rubber footwear and later in automotive engineering, would lose their jobs.
There was pain and plenty of it, and pain often leads to cricket bat-toting voters unhappy with the current arrangements.
Risk taking has its limits, amid questions Jim Chalmers has got the trowel and muck out to start rebuilding the tariff wall that the Hawke-Keating governments dismantled.On Wednesday, in a speech at the Lowy Institute, the Treasurer released a new set of rules for foreign investment.
I never trust a man who refers to himself as Dr unless he can legally prescribe OxyContin. That aside, Dr Jim says it is time for the Albanese government to get the form guide out, pick a few potential winners and throw a bit of the taxpayers’ hard-earned cash around to supercharge private investment in critical infrastructure, minerals and decarbonised energy sources, while warding off present and future investments from overseas companies that put national security at risk.
The main problem is that while government has vast capital resources at its disposal, it is not very good at picking winners. Or it sometimes picks winners and then discards them when budgetary forces pull the rug out from under the winners’ feet.
It’s not so long ago that the Rudd government, promoting its green credentials, created a subsidy via rebate for homeowners to install photovoltaic cells on their roofs. The solar business boomed briefly until Rudd’s treasurer, Wayne Swan, announced the rebate that had been available to all was to be scrapped for households with an income exceeding $100,000. The net saving was a relatively piddling $50m while handing over more than $500m to the coal industry for research into the fantasy of carbon sequestration. The manufacture of photovoltaic cells in Australia collapsed almost overnight, most of it shifting to China.
Having devastated the industry then, Labor now is setting itself up as its saviour, promising $1bn in subsidies and grants to domestic production of solar panels, including in the NSW Hunter Valley where there is a lot of coal. It was an early contribution into what the government calls, no doubt with a nod to the next election, the Future Made in Australia agenda. It may as well have been called The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same.
Casting a doomsayer’s eye over the current economic environment, a large increase in public investment, with government spending already in the stratosphere, could contribute significantly to inflationary pressures and thus require intervention by the Reserve Bank, with further increases in home lending rates adding to cost-of-living pressures that will have voters reaching for the cricket bats again.
Dr Jim says other countries are doing more or less what he plans – Japan, South Korea and the US, home of the mothership of all public investment programs, Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, with a total fiscal cost estimated at $1.2 trillion, more than $500m of which is being spent to incentivise investment in renewable energy.
The Treasurer’s argument goes that if we don’t do the same relative to our economy, Australia’s economic future will sit at the bottom of the food chain. Chalmers’ sales pitch will have some force in the electorate. Recent Newspoll results reveal that Australians broadly support the notion of the nation building things. I’d argue this is a lovely sentiment but without any basis in reality.
The economic rise of China with its large, well-educated, trainable labour force as a manufacturing hub of the world is changing. One of the many economic indicators that should send a shiver up the collective spine of the Chinese Communist Party is that minimum hourly rates for labour in China stand above those in Mexico, which also has a well-educated, trainable labour force. Private investment without exception is going to shift to where the lowest unit labour cost exists.
The answer for Australian manufacturing in a tariff-free environment is to make niche, high-end, value-added goods that people need and where high labour costs can be absorbed. Throwing money at our manufacturing industries cannot change that equation. We simply cannot build photovoltaic cells at anywhere near the same unit cost as one can be made in China now and in Mexico in five years.
There may be a flicker of sentiment for the good old days when Australia made its own things (badly), but with Chalmers and Labor putting public funds in the wrong baskets it could cost the nation a hell of a lot more than an Italian knit cardigan.
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Federal Court grants ‘urgent injunction’ order stopping CFMEU blockades at Cross River Rail sites
Union thuggery costs us all in the end -- by pushing up costs
The Federal Court has granted an “urgent injunction” order stopping the CFMEU from blocking access to Cross River Rail sites.
Non-aligned workers had reported two days of blockades on project sites across the city, meaning they could not work despite not being covered by the CFMEU’s protected industrial action.
The Federal Court injunction was brought by CPB Contractors - the major contractor on the $6.2bn project - and granted late Wednesday.
A CPB Contractors spokeswoman confirmed it had sought an “urgent injunction” in response to the union’s “intimidation tactics towards people working on the Cross River Rail project”.
Union members had walked off Cross River Rail worksites for a second day on Wednesday and blocked non-union workers from accessing the site - causing tensions to erupt in a fight at the Dutton Part site.
A Queensland Police spokesman confirmed they were investigating reports of a physical altercation between two groups off Cope St at Annerley at 6:50am.
A CFMEU spokesman accused CPB Contractors of sending labour hire workers to the site to bait protestors.
“The CFMEU backs Cross River Rail workers taking protected industrial action and is keen for CPB to return to the bargaining table,” he said.
In parliament the state government was grilled over its position on the CFMEU’s conduct and new revelations Mr Miles met with CFMEU boss Michael Ravbar in March.
The meeting marked a departure from his predecessor’s ban on the union following its invasion of the Transport and Main Roads office in August 2022.
Mr Miles defended the meeting and, in the wake of the brawl vision, did not rule out future meetings.
“I don’t always agree with everything they say or do but I am always happy to meet with them,” Mr Miles said.
The Premier was asked in parliament what he would do to allow Cross River Rail workers to access the worksite without being assaulted by the CFMEU.
“Bullying and violence and intimidation should never be tolerated in any workplace, whether it is union related or not,” he said.
A spokeswoman for CPB Contractors slammed the conduct of some CFMEU members.
“We stand firm against any unlawful tactics used to intimidate workers and delivery partners supporting this essential infrastructure project for Queensland communities,” she said,
“CPB Contractors applied to the Federal Court for an urgent injunction against the CFMEU in response to intimidation tactics towards people working on the Cross River Rail project.
“CPB Contractors will not tolerate acts of intimidation towards its people or any workers on our construction sites.”
CFMEU protestors were again present outside CRR sites in Brisbane on Thursday morning, however its blockade had softened.
As of 8am, about 40 union members had settled in front of the site as more non-aligned workers entered.
As members arrived they brought camp chairs, CFMEU flags and signs while others dropped of supplies for a BBQ.
Other nonalinged workers - who it was understood can still not do their jobs due to the impacts of the strike - were sitting across the road.
Members were engaging with some non-aligned workers as they entered but talks were peaceful.
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Nation’s foreign policy is being driven by minority influence
In a new and disturbing first, immigrant communities are now driving Australia’s foreign policy in ways that are at odds with the national interest.
The Albanese government’s changing policy towards the Middle East is the result of pressure from Muslim activists. There are now three websites, which this paper reports are “circulating among political and community circles”, seeking to mobilise the country’s almost one million Muslims to use their local voting power to force the government to change Australia’s long-held and previously bipartisan support for Israel as the only liberal, pluralist democracy in the Middle East.
This was most memorably expressed in Bob Hawke’s immortal statement that if the bell tolls for Israel, it tolls for all mankind.
Labor frontbenchers, such as Tony Burke and Jason Clare (whose electorates are more than 30 per cent Muslim), failed to condemn unequivocally the October 7 atrocities, have supported local councils flying the Palestinian flag and have told local Muslims that they’re advocating for them in cabinet. The Albanese government only briefly suspended aid to the UN agency active in Gaza, despite clear evidence that much of it has been channelled to Hamas and that staff were involved in the October 7 killings.
Anthony Albanese was very slow to make a solidarity call to his Israeli counterpart after October 7, despite the terrorist murder of an elderly Australian, but was almost immediately in critical contact when an Israeli drone strike mistakenly killed an Australian aid worker.
Worst of all, our Foreign Minister has called for the recognition of Palestine even though this would reward the apocalyptic death cult that has been running Gaza.
This is not the first time that foreign fights have seeped into Australian politics and it’s not the first time that religious activists have influenced our public life. But it is the first time in our history that religious pressure has been put on our leaders to take a position that’s at odds with our national interests and our national values. And this eruption of ethnic politics into what’s best for Australia should be a reminder that migration doesn’t just build the country; it can change it, too, sometimes in unwelcome directions.
It’s hardly surprising that cultural roots should play a part in people’s contemporary attitudes. Think Irish Australians and the 1916 conscription debates and the involvement of the Catholic hierarchy in the anti-communist campaigns in the union movement of the 1940s, later playing out in the ALP split in 1955. What’s new now, though, is this unabashed appeal to a transcendent religious loyalty, with partisans in a foreign quarrel trying to drive a change to our national policy.
Exhibit one is the Muslim Votes Matter website: “The Muslim community,” it declares, “is the largest and among the fastest growing minority groups in Australia. Our collective voting bloc is the most valuable, yet under-utilised asset we have.” Muslim Votes Matter aims to unlock “this highly influential tool”, as the website call it, in the “over 20 (federal parliamentary) seats where the Muslim community collectively has the potential deciding vote”. That may not sound like much, says the website, but “in the last 25 years no federal government has been elected by a margin of more than 15 seats”.
It specifies 32 federal seats (all bar two currently Labor held) where Muslim votes “have the potential to move the needle” and for each one shows the Muslim vote against the seat’s margin.
Unsurprisingly, the MVM website claims discrimination against Australian Muslims, complaining that “Islamophobes” have protested against the opening of mosques and declaring that Australian Muslims “have had enough” and “will no longer tolerate bias and veiled racism”.
Harnessing religious solidarity with Marxist militant minority tactics, and cleverly pitched to culturally adrift adolescents and young adults, the aim is to have the 4 per cent of voters who are Muslim change the national position, not just on Palestine but “on a broad range of issues … which resonate most with the Australian Muslim community”.
The most critical, of course, is “Australia’s foreign policy response to the growing atrocities in Gaza”. “A more engaged Muslim voter base,” says the website, “benefits all Australians, and in particular those from under-represented and disadvantaged backgrounds.” Even though the website also claims to be politically independent and “solely dedicated to serving the best interests of the Muslim community in Australia”.
Then there’s My Vote Matters, a website run by the Islamic Council of Victoria that says it has “run four successful campaigns”. It says 70 per cent of Muslims are “extremely” or “very concerned” about right-wing extremism and 82 per cent of Muslims think their political representatives “don’t care” about Islamophobia. Its 2022 Victorian election scorecard heavily preferred the Greens and Labor over the Coalition.
As well there’s The Muslim Vote, urging Muslims to vote in accordance with MPs’ position on the “genocide” in Palestine. Those stated to have shown “support for Palestine” include Labor’s Ed Husic, Graham Perrett, Tony Zappia, Julian Hill, Maria Vamvakinou and Anne Aly. The “our campaign is backed by” section of the website merely says “coming soon”, although it also says “our supporting organisations enjoy the support of hundreds of thousands of Muslims”.
Muslim leaders and community organisations are not the only recent immigrant groups seeking to change Australian government policy and, sometimes, foster grievances against broader Australian society. A decade or so back, the local Indian community felt not enough was being done to protect Indian students against attacks by gangs. There are various “united front” groups active inside the Australian Chinese community in support of Beijing that were thought to have used their influence strongly against the Morrison government, particularly in online Chinese language spaces.
What’s striking, though, in this push by Muslim leaders to change Australia’s policy on the Middle East is that there’s no attempt to appeal to Australia’s long-term national interest. It’s taken for granted that what matters most is local Muslims’ solidarity with their fellow Muslims abroad.
Australia’s Muslim leaders (and also much of their communities), it seems, aren’t thinking as Australians who happen to be Muslims but as Muslims who happen to reside in Australia. If they were thinking as Australians, there would be at least as much emphasis on the return of the hostages as on an immediate ceasefire. Perhaps this is to be expected given Islam’s lack of any notion of the separation of church and state and its “death to the infidels” instinct that many local leaders seem to be playing up rather than down.
Most troubling has been the pressure put on politicians and law enforcement to change the language on Islamist terrorism: first to drop any mention of “Islamist” and call it “religiously motivated extremist violence”, and now, as advocated by an alliance of peak Islamic groups, to drop any mention of religion at all and refer to it as ”politically motivated extremist violence”.
Even when the teenagers arrested in connection with the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel quote the Koran and have images idolising Osama bin Laden. Coupled with the hate speech spewing from influential mosques and websites, we can’t pretend away the links between radical Islamist theology and terrorism.
Right now, at 765,900 last year, immigration is far too high. It is depressing wages, boosting housing costs and clogging infrastructure. And without a much greater stress on the importance of migrants joining Team Australia, we’re at risk of importing all the troubles of the wider world, of which the Gaza conflict is just the most obvious immediate example.
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Jewish students rally at University of Melbourne
Hundreds of pro-Israel supporters, many draped in Israeli and Australian flags, have gathered at The University of Melbourne.
The group is calling on educational institutions to make its campuses a safe place to be for Jewish students.
Zionist Federation of Australia chief executive officer Alon Cassuto opened the rally.
“We know that students don’t feel safe to be who they are and celebrate who they are,” he told the crowd.
“And since October 7 … anti-Semitism around the world has been on the rise.
“We’re here to say that the past seven months are not something we’re prepared to tolerate any longer. Our campuses have to be free of hate.”
The Australasian Union of Jewish Students president Noah Loven said he would not give the pro-Palestinian encampment any oxygen.
“We don’t want to lean into what they want. So we’re here to stand proud as your students and to stand together for peace,” Mr Loven said.
“In response to the troubling trend that has taken root in our academic institutions across Australia and New Zealand … Jewish students, my peers, have increasingly become targets of fear intimidation, and harassment.”
Protesters were holding signs that read “keep hate off campus” and “stand together against anti-semitism”.
Groups of police officers were stationed around the parameter of the event.
Jewish students say they are in fear of being intimidated and harassed on campus.
The Australasian Union of Jewish Students has voiced concerns and decided to take action after hearing reports of Jewish students avoiding their universities
The union is calling for a roundtable with Education Minister Jason Clare, state education ministers and vice chancellors, and are also demanding that universities implement policies that prohibit hate speech on campus.
It also demands that universities require students to show their student identification “to ensure that external extremist actors do not hijack our campuses”.
The union’s Victorian branch president Holly Feldman said she had friends at Columbia University in the US who have been harassed for being involved in Jewish life.
“The situation continues to escalate and Jewish students are distressed,” Ms Feldman said.
“It’s simply not safe for many Jewish students on campus at the moment, and it’s unacceptable that many feel they cannot attend their lectures and classes in person without fear of intimidation, harassment and violence,” Mr Loven said.
“This is not an issue of free speech – it is of vilification and the endorsement of terror.
“Some of these extreme groups are crossing the line.”
The protest, to take place on Thursday afternoon, is in response to student activists camping out at Australian campuses, including at the University of Melbourne.
Thursday will mark the eighth day members of Uni Melb for Palestine have camped out on the campus’ south lawn.
Students at the University of Sydney, University of Queensland and Australian National University are also holding their own camps.
Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni has shown his support for the Melbourne outfit by attending and giving a speech, and in Sydney, Greens Deputy Leader Mehreen Faruqi also addressed students camped out.
The new wave of protests take inspiration from university encampments across the United States, which on Wednesday saw a heavy police presence descend on Columbia University to forcibly clear protesters out.
Uni Melb for Palestine issued a warning to students ahead of the Jewish student-led protest to “not engage with agitators or Zionists at all” and to “not divulge information/details of comrades to cops or security”.
The group are hosting a “teach in” event which will include speeches from Melbourne Law School senior research fellow Dr Jordana Silverstein and a Jewish anti-Zionist student who will discuss “Palestinian liberation from an anti-Zionist Jewish perspective”.
Zionist Federation of Australia chief executive officer Alon Cassuto said he was concerned about the welfare of Jewish students on campus and voiced his support for the demonstration.
“We warned universities last year about the manifestations of antisemitism on campuses, but the situation has gotten worse since that time,” Mr Cassuto said.
“There has been a collective absence of leadership, with appalling and intimidatory behaviour being ignored in the hope that it will go away. Instead, in the face of inaction, it’s gotten worse.”
He claimed that Jewish students are scared to complain “for fear their marks will be affected” which has resulted them to stay away from campus.
“Societal cohesion requires community and political leaders to publicly and strongly call out and push back on those seeking to undermine that cohesion,” the ZFA leader said.
“Anti-Semitism under the guise of political discourse is still antisemitism. We must be vigilant and clear in our opposition to any form of hate on our campuses.”
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Evelyn Rae, a conservative Australian political commentator
Margo Robbie -- a beautiful australian
My son Joe at ANU
One of the happiest pictures ever -- Cleo Smith, aged 4
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