Thursday 20 November 2014
on Tony Abbott and the FTA with China
One must admit that Tony Abbott is quite effective as a leader of the Liberal Party and he has provided exactly what Australia wanted: a sense that the Government is somewhat unified.
Outside of that substantial achievement, he's mostly an idiot, true. Bad ideologies that harken back to dark times.
So why did he achieve the FTA with China? Why now? The document has been there for years. Most of the hard negotiation work was done by Simon Crean. It's just been sitting there, with Tony waiting for the USA to tell us we were allowed to have a FTA with China. Did they allow it? No.
China was interested in concluding this ten year old plan this year. They stated this earlier in the year in a very public way. As Australia dithered about, still awaiting USA permission, China upped the ante and placed a tariff on Australian coal, completely out of the blue, thus indicating "Sign it now or it all goes away." This is the power of President Xi. So, Australia signed it and it will do us good.
No matter what obscure antediluvian ideology is centred in the heart and mind of Mr Abbott, he knew he had to sign the document, and sign it now, and so he did.
It does impact on Australia-USA relationship in a big, profound, and ongoing way; but that is actually a good thing for us.
Mr Xi leads a China government that is the most unified in the history of China, the strongest, the most powerful and the most future-visioned, the most stable and the most secure. Mr Xi is the most powerful leader China has ever had. It is a good thing to have a deal with him when he suggests that it is time to do so.
Outside of that substantial achievement, he's mostly an idiot, true. Bad ideologies that harken back to dark times.
So why did he achieve the FTA with China? Why now? The document has been there for years. Most of the hard negotiation work was done by Simon Crean. It's just been sitting there, with Tony waiting for the USA to tell us we were allowed to have a FTA with China. Did they allow it? No.
China was interested in concluding this ten year old plan this year. They stated this earlier in the year in a very public way. As Australia dithered about, still awaiting USA permission, China upped the ante and placed a tariff on Australian coal, completely out of the blue, thus indicating "Sign it now or it all goes away." This is the power of President Xi. So, Australia signed it and it will do us good.
No matter what obscure antediluvian ideology is centred in the heart and mind of Mr Abbott, he knew he had to sign the document, and sign it now, and so he did.
It does impact on Australia-USA relationship in a big, profound, and ongoing way; but that is actually a good thing for us.
Mr Xi leads a China government that is the most unified in the history of China, the strongest, the most powerful and the most future-visioned, the most stable and the most secure. Mr Xi is the most powerful leader China has ever had. It is a good thing to have a deal with him when he suggests that it is time to do so.
Australia China Free Trade Agreement
The Free Trade Agreement is a good thing for Australia, somewhat very late in the day in terms of what we needed to do, by about a decade and a half, but still, it's a good thing. Could we have done a much better deal ten years ago? Certainly.
Why didn't we: the self-immolation of the Australian Labor Party had a lot to do with that; especially with the USA demanding that we didn't have an FTA with China until it suited the USA.
At least now we will be entering the 'Asian Century' (i.e. China) only about 15 years behind the economic growth curve; and we will benefit in an enduring way across most businesses and all government funded agencies...education, health, pensions, superannuation etc.
We will also be able to continue dropping bombs on Iraq in an affordable way now. Phew. I guess that is a great relief to all of us, and, mind you, to the Iraqis. Bombing them obviously does them good. It has worked so well in the past. It has worked almost as good as our years of work training the Iraqi army did in the past, giving them all the skills and the modern weapons they needed to go off and join ISIS.
If the FTA had been developed alongside of the Supertax on Mining Companies, as Mr Rudd wanted to do, well, then, we would be set up economically for many decades to come. Unfortunately, through complicity with the Mining Companies, the ALP did itself in, and destroyed that potential for a vibrant secured economic future for all of us.
Still, what we are left with is, at last, a Free Trade Agreement of some kind. Not as good as that well-hammered out by New Zealand with China some years back; but New Zealand could and did do that because it is not governed by the direct dictates of the USA; it is actually a free and independent nation, and benefiting well because of the sensibility and courage of its people.
So, 15 years behind the reality of the Asian Century, we enter it. It is a good thing.
Why didn't we: the self-immolation of the Australian Labor Party had a lot to do with that; especially with the USA demanding that we didn't have an FTA with China until it suited the USA.
At least now we will be entering the 'Asian Century' (i.e. China) only about 15 years behind the economic growth curve; and we will benefit in an enduring way across most businesses and all government funded agencies...education, health, pensions, superannuation etc.
We will also be able to continue dropping bombs on Iraq in an affordable way now. Phew. I guess that is a great relief to all of us, and, mind you, to the Iraqis. Bombing them obviously does them good. It has worked so well in the past. It has worked almost as good as our years of work training the Iraqi army did in the past, giving them all the skills and the modern weapons they needed to go off and join ISIS.
If the FTA had been developed alongside of the Supertax on Mining Companies, as Mr Rudd wanted to do, well, then, we would be set up economically for many decades to come. Unfortunately, through complicity with the Mining Companies, the ALP did itself in, and destroyed that potential for a vibrant secured economic future for all of us.
Still, what we are left with is, at last, a Free Trade Agreement of some kind. Not as good as that well-hammered out by New Zealand with China some years back; but New Zealand could and did do that because it is not governed by the direct dictates of the USA; it is actually a free and independent nation, and benefiting well because of the sensibility and courage of its people.
So, 15 years behind the reality of the Asian Century, we enter it. It is a good thing.
Monday 29 September 2014
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