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21 May 2025
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As always, Firstlinks readers were eager to share their views on important policy issues facing Australia. We have compiled this document of all comments but to give a quicker look at opinions, a selection of comments is included below.
Thanks to almost 1,000 respondents, the survey is now closed.
Leisa Bell is Assistant Editor at Firstlinks. This article and these opinions are general in nature and do not consider the circumstances of any investor.
Terry. Australia has one big problem, it fails to utilise any product properly, preferring to have holes in the ground rather than a manufacturing base. The excuse was always the cost of the Australian work force compared to that of third world countries. The reality should be evident to anyone, build more fully automated manufacturing units and utilise all aspects of the ore we remove from our ground, so that Australia can truly benefit from its rich resources. Gas is not in infinite abundance;by exporting the bulk of our supply, not only have we left the ordinary Australian with excessively high prices, but we will provide future Australians with the need to import back from one of our biggest users, China, who have enormous supplies of their own which they are reluctant to touch until the rest of the world has run out. Wool is another industry that collapsed. Why export the raw fleece, when we could clean, spin and weave to export a wide variety of cloths, blankets, carpets and lanolin products. An entire pharmaceutical industry needs to be set up to counteract the risk we encountered with covid where many products were actually made in the worst affected Chinese city, Wohan. It is not more immigration that is required, it is for today's people to properly utilise Australia's wealth of resources.
Because our sovereign risk is very low we should make resources companies pay more tax that will add to a Sovereign Fund to compensate Australia for it's depleting resources.
Given that our economy & society depend on a healthy natural environment it’s interesting that there’s no mention of the need for Australia to embark upon a massive ecological restoration programme.
It is my hope that the best thing Australian's can do about the natural environment is to educate their children on its fundamental importance and teach them to love and respect it. Volunteer work in nature conservation and care would also be of benefit. I am not sure massive ecological restoration programs with lots of government money thrown at it is the answer. The Barrier Reef could be an exception here, but if climate change is the main cause of its problems, then that's where the money needs to be allocated.
There seems to be a common theme of govts (of both persuasions) throwing more money at problems such as high cost of housing (via access to super) or child care via larger subsidies (ludicrously to those earning up to $500k !!). Time after time this just adds fuel to the fire as it just increases demand while doing nothing about supply. So prices rise all over again. When govts subsidise up to 90% of the cost of childcare where is the pricing feedback mechanism? (a $100 increase is just $10 to the family, the govt picks up the other $90). And no polly will ever dare to say we need to think about how much we spend on childcare, they won't last 5 seconds. Just how can childcare be more costly than a private school?? At least it looks like the current treasurer is starting to say the money jar is staying on the shelf. Can they stay the course closer to the next election?
The person who said ""Blows my mind that we are subsidising people earning $500k per year. There is no-one sitting around at home with their kids thinking "if only the government paid $10k more of my childcare fees I'd get a $500k job". "" They were right on the money !! There is no reason whatsoever to spend taxpayers money on the wealthy !!
The economic system is dynamic and complex. As an engineer, I spent a lot of time studying physical dynamic systems, ones with internal momentum and energy storage. They evolve over time in complex ways. When their path needs correcting, some kind of feedback system is required to prevent instability and violent swings away from the desired path. Time is usually of the essence as you must apply opposing forces of the right amount at the correct time to minimise disturbance. Too late makes it worse. Now consider the Reserve bank as the institution to apply such forces to the economy. The feedback is minimal and late. The institution puts off decisions and then over corrects to cause violent oscillations in unexpected places. Not our job if house prices sky rocket, not our problem if people lose lifetime savings. What is needed instead of academic pontifications and wet fingers in the sky is market feedback to correct interest rates incrementally, gently and timely, not on every blue Tuesday at 2:30pm. I appeal to the deep thinkers in the readership to suggest how market mechanisms could be used to replace the Reserve Bank and avoid the wild economic swings that are caused by their very existence.
Mining super tax is ridiculous and shows a kindergarten level of understanding of commodities - Large miners have a pipeline of projects and finite capital (especially with greenies trying to cut projects off) - if Australia makes things less profitable then they deploy their cash to other jurisdictions.
That is possible, but, the miners have to decide what levels of risk they are willing to take to make a profit. Some will prefer lower profits in low risk country.
To Aro. No, Brett is correct. Redeployment is already happening because of "green tape", "red tape", employee legislation, difficulty with native title negotiations, the compliance expense and constant ongoing changes to rules and regulations and the demands by pressure groups on the boards of companies regarding ESG issues , etc They are all taking their toll! And nobody prefers lower profits! You can't begin a project without the necessary financial backing.
risk profile of projects include sovereign risk - a large part of that is countries moving goalposts - once considered a minnow despot regime type risk, if oz does this the majors drop us and we sit on unrealised royalties and (normal) taxes for our economy
Over 800 responses and thousands of comments is great feedback. Readers of Firstlinks hold strong opinions on gas, taxes, inflation, child care and cost-of-living concessions, and now the Governor is buying in.
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