re: re:schitzy - corruption now admitted on a mass
GZ You would find the majority of Australia's wheat growers are for the single desk. Most still believe that the only way to fight the multinationals is to have Single Desk. And that would have been fine had the AWB not become a publicly listed company and maybe formed a grower co-operative, with growers only making up a small percentage of the board. Wheat growers are good at growing wheat but they have not the skills to run a company of this size. New Zealand's dairy co-operative Fonterra is a great example of how to form a highly profitable and dynamic co-op. But I digress.
The point I wanted to make is that the majority of wheat growers (and I don't want to sound condescending but it is a fact) are not informed and are very vulnerable to propaganda which essentially constantly flows out of the AWB's spin team. Farmers have no idea of what costs are incurred on a per tonne basis for the AWB managing the logistics of transport and sale of wheat into foreign markets. We have to trust their word for it that they are getting the best deal for our wheat. In fact we don't even know what sale prices they achieve for our wheat. The only exception is Eqypt which calls for open tenders and price bids are in the public domain. So if they have been telling porkies in the Iraqi scandal here and it appears blatantly obvious they have been, how are we (wheat growers) to know they are not telling porkies about being able to get the best price for our wheat. The reality may be that they are making sales because they have the cheapest bids. Essentially undercutting the market and a potential reason why the Yankee farmers are sick of competing against the single desk. They've got a nerve to complain with the level of subsidies they give out anyway.
Schnitz! It is actually not the Howard Govt that I would be blaming so much as the bloody Nationals - bunch of spineless agrarian socialists! The Libs have been implementing their National Competition Policy in every sector of the economy but the Nats somehow bargained a blind eye on the over-regulation that is the Australian wheat industry. Nats were too spineless to make a call in the farmers (and the Nation's) best interest because the perceived majority of farmers falsely believe deregulation would spell the end of the industry! Of course the only hope is deregulation and to aid inefficient producers to leave the industry because at the moment the inefficient operators are stopping the efficient boys from taking the industry forward. There is no incentive to invest in agriculture ATM. This is not Russia, this is Australia!
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