G.S.T. BUSHFIRE GATHERS FORCE:
Normal life in Australia switches off from hundreds of day-to-day issues of importance. The sheer weight and complexity of government prompts Australians to take more interest in cricket scores, where statistics on the score-board are more reliable than those from politicians.
Occasionally something comes along of such moment that the community is galvanized. The I.D. Card was one. At such moments politicians are appalled at the public reaction, and attempt to distance themselves from the object of fury.
The approaching G.S.T. is without doubt another. The public anger is sweeping through Australia, and takes some keeping up with. These rare events have what Douglas called "steam". Media commentators and politicians alike are seen to have entirely misjudged the mood in the electorate, and end up with egg all over the place.
Take Paul Kelly, writing in The Weekend Australian, (Feb 18,19/2/00). This was his description of the Australian economy:
"... We enjoy our strongest economic expansion of the century. Our Reserve Bank governor, Ian MacFarlane, says that the 1990s growth has run for nearly nine full years and our average gross domestic product growth rate in this period has been 4.1 per cent as opposed to 3.6 per cent in the U.S.. We have outpaced the U.S. miracle. Yet any visitor touched by the media-driven political debate in the past few weeks would conclude only that Australia is in the depths of a national crisis. This crisis lies in our own heads and hearts. The 1990s have delivered a prosperity and peace rare in our history ...."
Kelly has only been able to reach such conclusions by avoiding other areas of "growth" - our foreign debt, our tax-levels, our loss of Australian-owned production enterprises, our highly-dangerous levels of foreign ownership, our cynicism and distrust of our political representatives, our levels of poverty and homelessness etc.
Later in his article Kelly was forced to concede: "Polls show upwards of two-thirds of Australians either oppose the GST reform or think they will be worse off. But most people will be better off ...."
So why do two-thirds of Australians disagree with Kelly? He provides the answer:
" ...Howard's economic policies - tax reform, industrial reform and privatisation - are designed to reap the benefits of globalisation. Yet his populist rhetoric largely confirms the world view of the talkback jocks that globalisation is an evil ...."
Another journalist, George Megalogenis, wrting in The Australian, (23/2/00), condemned Howard for not doing the job properly:
" ....Neither Howard's half-baked GST, not Beazley's genetically-modified alternative will generate enough money to pay the nation's bills. Therefore neither package can be considered tax reform in the truest sense of the word .... It's like the U.S. soldier who torched the village in Vietnam in order to save it for democracy. The Government and Opposition preach tax reform, but they practice tax rip-off …. When the people and/or their respective parties, finally give Howard and Beazley their marching orders, the tax system will still be crying out for reform." WHAT DO THE POLLS SAY? Two polls within a week of each other show the the majority of the Australian people opposed to the GST. On February 16, 2000 The Age (Melbourne) included the following in its front-page article:
" …. On the GST Mr Howard faced a barrage of questions from nervous backbenchers in the party room after the release of an AgePoll showing that 60 per cent of Australians opposed the new tax, that Labor held a 10 percentage-point lead over the Government in two-party preferred terms, and that Mr Howard's approval rating had plunged by 15 points. Mr Howard said the Government faced a "challenging" time, especially in the lead-up to the 1 July start of the GST. But because an election was 18 months away, it was crucial not to cave in to scare campaigns and allow more tax exemptions …."
One week later, again in its front-page leading article, The Australian, (23/2/00), under the heading VOTERS GROW TO FEAR GST, said:
" ….A majority of Australians - 56 per cent - still oppose the GST and more than four in five believe it will make their lives worse …"
It is a safe prediction that hostility to the GST will escalate rapidly between now and July, and that the Howard government will face an informed and implacable opposition from the Australian people that will certainly not be assuaged in the 18 months until the next election.
CAN YOU HEAR THE JACK-BOOTS?
It is already expected that the mass of new laws round the GST will create new crimes that didn't exist before. A chilling article in The Australian Financial Review (21/2/00) had this to say:
"The Australian Taxation Office is recruiting 100 specialist staff to work in its new GST fraud prevention and control unit …. If overseas experience is anything to go by, the tax office will start seeing serious cases of fraud soon after the GST's introduction. Canada, for example, introduced GST in 1991 but was forced to expand the GST fraud unit in 1993 after an upsurge of cases.
In that year, Ms Lori Kunimoto moved from Revenue Canada's audit department to GST and income tax fraud investigations. Ms Kunimoto is considering moving to Australia in response to an advertisement for GST experts that was placed in the Canadian press by recruitment firm Robert Half. Ms Kunimoto was one of 2,000 people who responded to the advertisement ...."
All we need now are new detention centres - alongside Port Hedland and Woomera - for Australian GST fraud perpetrators, routed into the open by the no-doubt formidable Ms Kunimoto and her foreign-recruited fraud squad!
WHERE HAS AUSTRALIA'S CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRY GONE?
For the first time, clothing and textile's have become Fiji's biggest export-earner, eclipsing sugar for the first time. Ten years ago the industry didn't exist. Christopher Dore, writing in the Weekend Australian, (18,19/2/00) explained how it was done:
"Today, one in five of Fiji's 100,000-strong work force toil in more than 150 garment factories, scattered in and around the capital, cutting, sewing and finishing fabric - mostly supplied by Australian companies such as National Textiles - into more than $400 million worth of export products, most of which ($250 million last year) is sold and shipped directly back to Australia .... The catalyst for the creation of the textiles and clothing trade in Suva has been the onset of the demise in protection of the Australian industry and the import credit scheme set up in the late 1980s to soften the blow. .... The import credit scheme allows Australian textile companies to source the fabric from Asia before treating and dyeing it locally, ostensibly to officially transform it into an Australian-made product, before exporting - and earning valuable credits - it to factories in Fiji that in turn sell it back to Australia ...."
The article added that a number of companies were involved in this exercise, including Moontide South Pacific Ltd. owned by National Textile's director and main shareholder Philip Bart. Also Mark One Apparel Ltd, and the Australian-owned Consolidated Textiles (Fiji) Ltd, which sub-contracts to such companies as Yakka and King Gee, owned by multinational Sara Lee. Halabe and Ranjit Garments Ltd have contracts to supply official uniforms for the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.
Somehow, we don't think Canadian Ms Kunimoto will be directing her no-doubt formidable talents to this one!
BANKRUPTCIES:
We have written recently on the continuing number of farmers leaving the land. What about small businesses? Clara Pirani, writing in The Australian (21/2/00) included the following in her article:
" ....The Australian Securites & Investments Commission says in the nine months to September 1999, 5,877 companies became insolvent ...."
That's an average 27 a day through the nine months! And the GST hasn't even started! But then, you see, as Paul Kelly described it: "The 1990s have delivered a prosperity and peace rare in our history ...."
LABOR SPLIT: It looks as though there is a growing element within the A.L.P. that has woken up to the disaster of 'free trade' and globalism. The Australian Financial Review ((18/2/00) reported:
"A brawl is looming for the Labor Party over the direction of trade policy, with key members within its Left faction pushing for a windback of the free tyrade agenda.
One of the most powerful figures in the labour movement, Mr Doug Cameron, has lashed out at the ALP's economic direction and called on the Opposition Leader, Mr Kim Beazley to 'wake up to the turning tide of public opinion against free trade" ...."
Mr Beazley has to consider the source of his Party's funds, where the donations from the big corporations would soon dry up if he started talking 'anti-globalism'. He would also face the wrath of the Murdoch media. If the Labor Party turned its back on the globalist policies of Howard and Anderson, and began to reinstate the policies of traditional Labor leaders like John Curtin, -starting with the re-establishment of a 'peoples' bank - Beazley would be crucified by the media. But it might spark a chord of sympathy in the electorate.
MALAYSIA BOOMS: Manufacturing sales increased by 16.5 per cent in Malaysia last year. In December, manufacturing sales were 30 per cent higher than the corresponding month a year earlier. The country recorded a trade surplus of $M72.3 billion. The Australian (23/2/00) added:
" ....Analysts said manufacturing sales were being driven by electronics, which were highly competitive in overseas markets because of the pegged exchange rate for the ringgit, which is seen to be undervalued. Manufacturers also benefited from an increase in domestic sales as Malaysia's economy picked up after the 1998 recession. The Government has raised its estimate for growth in gross domestic product this year from 5 per cent to 6 per cent. Analysts agree this figure is attainable and some economists are predicting a greater expansion ...."
CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST:
Another global talkfest has just concluded in Bangkok - this time a United Nations Trade And Development (UNCTAD) conference attended by 160 nations. It featured a desperate demand by Third World Nations for unlimited access to markets in the developed world, in order to earn enough money to pay their (unpayable) debts.
But the Trilateral powers - the US, Europe and Japan - who have strutted the world talking about the virtues of free trade don't like it when it includes them. The thought of anger in their domestic economies if even more cheap Third World goods appear on their shelves has shocked them. So the Third World countries gained none of their requests. It will all have to wait until the next WTO conference..
FUEL PRICE-HIKES:
The painful increases in the price of petrol, which threaten to reach $1 a litre by mid-year, are, we are told, due to the "world increase in the price of oil".
The Australian Financial Review (22/2/00) made this point:
" ....Australia is more or less self-sufficient in oil. But for the most part, the generally high-quality oil produced here is exported and we import lower-value crude. This deregulated market works in the interest of all the players and will continue to do so as long as Australia remains self-sufficient.
The player with the biggest financial stake is the Commonwealth Government. Should a company discover oil, it is allowed to sell the oil on the world market. But after allowing for production costs and a reasonable return, a substantial part of the difference between production costs and the world price flows to the Commonwealth as part of the rent resource tax (RRT).
Thus, as the world oil price rises, the big winner is the Treasury. The cost is borne by the motorist at the pump who, via the refiners, uses OPEC oil bought at the world price......
Maybe the Treasurer, Peter Costello, could give some of the windfall back to the motorist by lowering fuel excise, which stands at 45 cents a litre. This would have the additional advantage of eliminating the inflationary effects of rising oil prices at a time when inflation is already here ..."
BENDIGO BANK:
Bendigo Bank's half-year-to-December profits grew by 30 per cent. Giving reasons for the success, chairman Richard Guy included its Community Bank project. Bendigo's shares went up accordingly.
Which just goes to show what liars the "gang-of-four" are. They say the closure of bank branches is because of the need for efficiency. How come Bendigo, then, can not only move in when the 'gang-of-four' move out, but make an immediate profit?
The Australian Financial Review (15/2/00) said:
" ....The decision to acquire the IOOF Building Society and expansion of the community banking network to 19 branches were key drivers of the bank's liability business, with total deposits rising 8 per cent to $4.1 billion in the half year ...."