The shirt front bravado was sheer stupidity.
Barrie Cassidy sums it all up very nicely
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-14/cassidy-how-a-shirtfront-became-an-own-goal/5889054
No, no, the budget's fine. Labor says so.Yep as the rate of falling revenue was continually misjudged............................just like the current Coalition government is doing right now.
IN a tangible recasting of Australia-China ties the free trade agreement to be announced on Monday both eliminates market discrimination against Australia and gives many Australian service industries an unmatched position in China’s economy…
The critical point in the negotiations came when both sides, facing concessions that were too hard politically, agreed to postpone for three years the “deadlock” issues.
This makes it a two-stage deal. The main items deferred for the next stage are Australia’s decision on investment liberalisation for China’s state-owned enterprises and China’s decision on better entry for our rice, sugar, cotton and canola…
Referring to the rapidly expanding middle-classing of Asia and China, [Trade and Investment Minister Andrew] Robb says: “...If we can just capture the premium end of some of these Chinese markets we will set up Australia for the next 50 to 100 years...”
In relation to services, the FTA has about 40 areas where China has improved Australian access so it becomes equivalent or superior to that enjoyed by other nations. An illustration of the potential is the access the Australian aged-care industry will now have to China’s market…
Services constitute 80 per cent of our gross domestic product but only 15 per cent of exports. [Robb] sees the middle-classing of Asia as the opportunity for a range of expanded services such as finance, insurance, tourism, health and medicine, education, construction and water management....
Under the FTA, a wide range of Australian agricultural exports (beef, most grains, seafood) will see tariffs reduced to zero between now and 2021.
On investment, Australia has accorded Chinese private investment the same threshold as US and Japanese investment. This means investment proposals below the $1.08 billion threshold will not require Foreign Investment Review Board approval…
China has agreed to reverse the higher duties it recently imposed on our coal exports. The coking coal duty will be reduced to zero. The thermal coal duty will be cut from 6 per cent to 4 per cent at once and then phased out across two years.
Careful provision has been made for China to bring skilled labour to Australia. Temporary access can be negotiated for major projects worth more than $150 million, if the skills are not available in Australia. This would be negotiated on an enterprise-by-enterprise basis…
“I think we are on the cusp of a new wave of foreign investment from Asia,” [Robb] says, given that China has $4 trillion in reserves, about the size of its equity market.
That's normal transmission from your good self.Just to stick the boot in.........
I have to admit to being completely puzzled by Mr Abbott's presentation to the world leaders his worries about our domestic budget difficulties. Seemed extremely inappropriate, but I suppose he was trying to create an atmosphere where each individual could similarly comment on the particular difficulties they face on their own domestic fronts.
Still less than great in an international forum.
Kudos to Stephen Harper for his upfront remark.
I know this is really silly, but I almost feel sorry for Putin who has not been given an opportunity to offer his side of the story on either the Ukraine or the crash of the Malaysian Airlines flight. (FWIW I suspect the most likely explanation on the latter is not at all that the Russians intentionally shot down a commercial flight, but that some dope on the ground intended the missile to go for an enemy plane. In other words, a ghastly accident. ) That guess might be completely wrong.
When you look at all the world leaders here this weekend, Putin has years and years of experience over all the others, yet has been treated with consummate rudeness. Perhaps that's entirely appropriate. I'm not sure.
If there was any shirtfronting done it was by Obama toward Abbott in a frantic attempt to make himself relevant on the world stage when he no longer is.
I don't think anyone is saying he pressed the button but rather that he supplied the weapon for someone else to apply their digit to the aforementioned button and then reclaimed the weapon once the "unintended incident" had occurred.I know this is really silly, but I almost feel sorry for Putin who has not been given an opportunity to offer his side of the story on either the Ukraine or the crash of the Malaysian Airlines flight. (FWIW I suspect the most likely explanation on the latter is not at all that the Russians intentionally shot down a commercial flight, but that some dope on the ground intended the missile to go for an enemy plane. In other words, a ghastly accident. ) That guess might be completely wrong.
Just to stick the boot in could the Abbott supporters here please come out and say how proud our PM made us all feel feel from the G20 I thought winging about domestic issues was particularly relevant and no doubt reverting for the other word leaders.
BTW the only shirt font to Putin goes to the Canadian PM, Abbott offered a wet lettuce / Koala so much for balls maybe the Australian navy gave him advice on how big the Russian navy is.
Just to stick the boot in could the Abbott supporters here please come out and say how proud our PM made us all feel feel from the G20 I thought winging about domestic issues was particularly relevant and no doubt reverting for the other word leaders.
BTW the only shirt font to Putin goes to the Canadian PM, Abbott offered a wet lettuce / Koala so much for balls maybe the Australian navy gave him advice on how big the Russian navy is.
[ACCI] said that some FTAs were so poorly drafted that most Australian firms selling goods to those countries did not even claim preferences to which they were entitled, because of the cost and delays involved. He said the Korean FTA was the worst…
…unless technical elements of the Korean deal are redrafted before it is formally ratified, it will become *“unworkable in a commercial sense”, as will the Japanese deal if its compliance clauses are not drafted in a business-friendly way…
In a recent survey, most Australian exporters told the ACCI the technicalities precluded them from understanding Australia’s FTAs to date…
Australian exporters have been slow to take advantage of the business benefits of FTAs. On average each FTA signed by Australia is used only by 19% of Australian exporters, compared to an average of 26% among Asian exporters using their respective markets’ FTAs.
The research also found half of the Australian respondents had limited or no understanding of one or more of Australia’s FTAs, citing complexity of trade terms, a lack of understanding of benefits, and deals with non-strategic markets being the key factors behind the subdued uptake…
Amongst the Australian companies who use an FTA as part of their business strategy, 75% have experienced export growth with the main competitive advantages being access to new markets (nominated by 40%), access to a wider client base (39%) and the creation of new business opportunities (37%).
Hogan concluded: “Australian exporters that invest the time and resources to understand FTAs and imbed them within their business strategy are seeing clear business benefits. However, greater focus in making FTAs more accessible to Australian businesses – particularly amongst smaller and resource-constrained businesses – s also key.”
Just looked at the Age and the Trade deal is front page!
The success of the G20 summit is pages 2 and 3.
Not sure what's going on with the SMH.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...t-says-business/story-fn59nm2j-1226876184926#
At least 6 Aussies are languishing in Chinese prisons when their Chinese business partners turned on them and used the rigged legal system them to generally steal companies Australians had helped to start.
I can picture Chinese companies selling off the right of a 457 Visa job in Australia to the highest bidders. They may "pay" Australian wages but likely claw them back in some way.
Stern Hu has showed the Chinese can change the rules of the game any time they like by declaring publicly known information as a state secret. Australians may want to hold all their business meetings outside the mainland.
The 5000 working holiday visa is good though. Might help the young Chinese see what life in a relatively free society is like. It's that kind of soft power than helps to change things for the better.
HSBC did some research earlier this year:
I'd be extremely suprised, if China doesn't own us in 50 years or so, anyway.
SOON the centrepiece of one of China’s most spectacular engineering projects will be completed, with the opening of sluicegates into a canal stretching over 1,200km (750 miles) from the Yangzi river north to the capital, Beijing. The new channel is only part of the world’s biggest water-diversion scheme. More than 300,000 people have been kicked out to make way for the channel and the expansion of a reservoir in central China that will feed it. But the government is in a hurry, and has paid their complaints little heed.
China’s leaders see the so-called South-North Water Diversion Project, which has already cost tens of billions of dollars, as crucial to solving a water problem that threatens the country’s development and stability (see article). Grain-growing areas around Beijing have about as much water per person as such arid countries as Niger and Eritrea. Overuse has caused thousands of rivers to disappear. The amount of water available is diminishing fast as the water table drops and rivers dry up; what little is left is often too polluted even for industrial use. The World Bank has said that China’s water crisis costs the country more than 2% of GDP, mostly because of damage to health. The new supply’s arrival in Beijing will thus come as a huge relief to officials. Indeed, so desperate is the lack of water that some have in the past suggested such drastic answers as moving the capital.
I'd be extremely suprised, if China doesn't own us in 50 years or so, anyway.
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