Ausbuy

2020 Summit

April 24th, 2008

 The 2020 Summit has come and gone and Ausbuy has analysed the results. We realise that the Government has given no undertaking that any of the suggestions will be translated into legislation. This is wise as many of the ideas put forward are contradictory or will cost more than the country can afford. Despite this, the Summit offered an example of democracy in action and as a PR exercise it highlighted long term problems. As we understood, the Government will use some of the suggestions in arriving at a long term strategy. The problems which demand immediate action will be tackled in the normal course of running the country. This effort to plan for the next 12 years highlighted the problems of the three year electoral cycle. 2020 is four elections away and it is very difficult for any government to bind its successors.Many of the ideas which made it through to the final report represented the pleading of special interest groups and ideas which were already out in the public arena. Some were obviously impractical. An example of this is the one of connecting primary teachers to our scientists on the assumption that as well as doing their own jobs they can deal with primary school queries. We also had the normal conflict where big business wants to pay less tax and other interests want to spend more.

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National Foods Seeks Permission To Acquire Dairy Farmers

April 23rd, 2008

Japanese owned National Foods has approached the ACCC for permission to acquire Australian owned co-op Dairy Farmers.

National Foods is owned by beer maker Kirin Brewery and has recently been strengthening their overseas presence. National Foods was Australia’s largest dairy company until being bought, originally by Philippine-owned Miguel Corp who then sold to Kirin last year.

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Foreign Investment In Australia

April 15th, 2008

Recent investments by foreign interests (in some cases government controlled) in companies like BHP and Rio have brought this subject to the fore. I would like to start this article by stating Ausbuy’s position as follows:

Ausbuy does not oppose foreign investment in Australia that meets all or most of the following criteria:

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Directors of Ausbuy

March 5th, 2008

The following were elected as Directors of Ausbuy at the Annual General Meeting held on 4th March 2008 in Sydney.

Mike Gallagher (Executive Director)
Katie Hooker
John Pym
Andrew Ross
Ross Tubnor

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The USA And World Trade

January 17th, 2008

It used to be said that if the US sneezed the rest of the world caught a cold. Australia always resented this subservient relationship and as our trade with China, Korea and Japan took off our media adopted a “hairy chest” approach maintaining that we had such a strong economy that a US recession would not affect us. Now that there is a very real danger of a recession our local pundits are having second thoughts as they become aware of the realities of world trade.

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The Growing Threat of Inflation

January 3rd, 2008

Australians have forgotten what inflation means. The last 10 years have seen rising real wages and relatively stable prices. Each rise in petrol prices or .25% rise in interest rates was greeted by a public outcry. Unemployment was at a 40 year low and spurred on by dropping prices for consumer goods from China. We rushed in to buy the latest trinkets and built ever larger houses for smaller families. The world economy increased to take up spare productive capacity and in many cases prices actually dropped. The effect of this favourable pricing movement was, in the case of Australia, increased by an overvalued exchange rate which made imports cheaper. The subprime lending fiasco has brought this to an end. Credit to finance Australia’s Balance of Payments is no longer easily available and is more expensive.

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A New Patron For Ausbuy

October 23rd, 2007

Ausbuy would like to introduce members to our patron, Professor Wolfgang Fischer. Professor Fischer is Adjunct Professor of Economics in the School of Law, at James Cook University in Townsville. He is also Emeritus Professor of Economics at Bremen University, Germany after holding the position of Professor, Chair in Economics, specialising in Consumer Affairs, and Head of Institute of Labour & Consumer Research, Faculty of Labour Science at the same university.

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Coca Cola Amatil Bid For Golden Circle Falls Over

October 18th, 2007

For whatever reason, this bid is no longer on the table and the ACCC no longer has to make a decision. Once again we would stress that we are not against Coca Cola Amatil, but are against the creation of monopoly power.

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The ACCC Gets It Right - For A Change

October 18th, 2007

Woolworths have been told that they cannot buy K-Mart if Westfarmers want to split up the Coles Group, as this, combined with Woolworths dominance in the supermarket area and their ownership of Big W, would create an anti-competitive situation. They would, however, be allowed to buy Officeworks – a market where they have little current presence.

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Ausbuy’s “Buy Australian” Television Advertising Campaign

October 11th, 2007

Ausbuy has been working with Only Australian Groceries to promote the Ausbuy Guide and the importance of supporting Australian companies through the purchase of Australian products.

To do this we have invested in television advertising, initially only in South East Queensland, although, if this is successful we hope to broadcast the advertisement nationally.

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