'New management' a let-down so far for this Liberal voter

Whether Huawei would genuinely pose a security risk is not something that can be determined outside of government but it should not be decided lightly (as might be the case with some of the detained refugees). While Australian agriculture is in need of substantial overseas investment to restore much of its rundown infra-structure, the criteria for foreign takeovers and food imports needs revision. If Chinese tariffs on Australian wool (nearly 80% of our wool exports) are not reduced to at least New Zealand's levels, and if trade in services is not substantially liberalised, then an FTA with China would be unbalanced and unjustified.

There is no point in having foreign interests taking over efficient Australian food producers and manufacturers at today's prices when there is little gain to be had by way of new technology, enhanced infra-structure and management systems. Grain Corp, SPC Ardmona, and Warnambool Cheese and Butter (WCB) are cases in point. Grain Corp controls all east coast port handling for grain exports, a very strategic interest. One way or another the US has for decades had its eye on a complete takeover of the Australian grain trade which had almost fallen into its hands since AWB's, and the then government's, own goal not so many years ago. SPC Ardmona and other food producers are competing with Chinese and other foreign imports that are not subject to the same constraints (legal, economic and industrial) as themselves. This is not a case of globalisation at work; it is a corruption of globalisation. WCB is a case where a farmers' cooperative structure has welfare and social benefits far exceeding purely business issues of price. For any of the above to go the way that the economic 'purists' would have it would be a betrayal of a government's larger responsibilities to its citizens.

With car manufacturing this need not lead to an all or nothing outcome. Australia has skills with parts manufacturing, as with aircraft, and that capacity could be better integrated with larger globalised partners.

All in all, the performance to date of the new management is not quite what anyone with genuine liberal-conservative values might have expected from the non-Labor side of politics. There is as yet no coherent dialogue to respond to. Policy is very idiosyncratic and too one-way. Those in charge are reflexive and show a poor grasp of history. But it is still early days. Perhaps some balance may emerge if those being silenced or suppressed are able to assert their values and views before it is too late. We have long been seen as the 'lucky country'. We had thought of ourselves as a fair country. Soon however we may get a reputation for being the 'mean country'.