Some Things in Australia Just Ain't Right

Well the week has not ended just yet but already I feel that this is one of the longer weeks, with negotiations with debtors, a late night debate with friends about how to live our lives, an intense discussion about monopoly in the market place and the company I work for coming down hard on employee expenses part of the highlights so far. I’m worn out already but I guess I can count my lucky stars I did not experience a repeat of the disaster I had last week. Read it here if you missed it: http://damien-crankyramblings.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-bad-week-to-complain-about.html

I also received a link to an article written by Alexander Downer, former foreign minister of Australia which I thought was quite brilliant, though I would have preferred for him to say it while he was in high office instead of out of it but the reality of modern politics would have rendered that political suicide. It was titled "Idiot Aussies: Grow Up and Take Responsibility. Read it here: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,,25531441-5006703,00.html. I thought he stated his points plainly and bluntly and that they were valid as far as I was concerned. He basically wrote that while he was the foreign minister of Australia he had to be responsible for Australians travelling abroad and while that was ok if they faced extreme unavoidable circumstances (e.g. the Bali bombings), he questioned why those who travelled and ignored the travel advisory and at the same time being dumb and irresponsible demanded that the Australian government ‘bail them out’? He gave the example of a mother who wanted him to rescue her son who was trapped in the hurricane Katrina disaster while many Americans died in the tragedy. What could he do, he questioned. Fly a helicopter all the way from Australia to America and pick her son up while leaving the Americans behind? I can’t help but agree with Alexander Downer as Australians are famous for expecting the government to do everything for them. Retrenched from your job? Government’s fault! Economic Crisis? Government’s fault, never mind the whole world experiencing the Global economic crisis not seen since the days of the Great Depression. Pensioners not enough money? Government’s fault! Never mind they only had 40 years to save up for their retirement.

Take the recent example of a mom who went to Thailand and was put in prison for stealing a bar mat. While I think that going to prison for stealing a bar mat was harsh, the reality is that it is the law of the country and for the life of me can’t understand why Australians travelling abroad don’t believe that the laws of the foreign country apply to them and they expect the Australian government to rescue them from their stupidity and irresponsibility every time they get into trouble. While the Thai governor went out of his way to apologise (although there was no need to) and pay her fine, instead of saying thank you publicly she had the gall to say that she would not return to Thailand, ever! Our bad Aussie manners overseas never seem to amaze me. You can go back further to Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine all asking the Australian government to do more, although they were found guilty of being drug couriers and are the scum of the earth.

I also had a discussion on the way large Australian companies are slowly monopolising our markets and the Australian government do not seem to want to get serious about curbing this predatory behaviour of our largest companies. In retail we have two mammoth companies like Coles and Woolies who are dominating not only the supermarkets but also the petrol outlets. They will drop their prices, ruin their competition and when they are out of business increase their prices once again. They also come up with their brand of products and deliberately raise the prices of the other brands, making consumers buy their brand and making the other brands slowly fade from the shelves. They will then raise their prices and the consumer once again will have to pay higher prices.

How about those oil companies like Caltex and Shell. When come the long weekend (like the one coming up this weekend), then price will magically go up by twenty cents a litre! And if you can believe them, they put it down to the normal price cycle. But why always a long weekend or a normal weekend and not a week day? Because more people fill up on the weekends than they do on the weekdays. Take for example Caltex is selling petrol at $1.10 a litre and so is Shell. If Caltex raises their price to $1.29 and one day later so too does Shell, this is an unwritten, unspoken complicit price fixing which happens all the time in Australia and should be deemed illegal. I’m not sure about Australia but if this happened in America, the CEO of both companies would be spending time in jail. Here in Australia, there has been a lot of rhetoric by the government and the petrol watchdog but the results so far have been wanting to say the least. What makes me even more incensed is that the government can and should act but are not doing so as they are probably making more money than anyone else on this.

How about the banks? If you wanted to ruffle any feathers amongst Australians, you just mention the money grubbing banks and you almost always get a vile response. Anything from bullies to crooks and I tend to agree. They have gotten so big that they have merged with or bought out all their smaller competitors to the point that we’re left with just four major players in the banking sector. Recently the Reserve Bank dropped interest rates by 0.25% and one bank decided to not pass on any of that to their customers, meaning the 0.25% interest rate drop by the Reserve Bank was to go straight to their bottom lines. The reason for the Reserve Bank to drop interest rates was to stimulate the economy but this bank chose to be greedy and keep it all for themselves. While many companies have felt the full brunt of the recent economic downturn, the banks are still making their customary billions of dollars in profit and they still give us their age old excuse of ‘higher international funding’ to justify not passing on the rate cuts.

Lastly, it was discovered this week that Malcolm Turnbull, the Liberal opposition leader was worth a whopping $175 million dollars. When confronted by the media, he was almost apologetic and shies to admit it and gave a decrepit response like the figures were plucked from the sky and is not accurate. He may be right but if anything the figures were conservative as these were his known assets only. Anyway if this happened in the US people would be asking ‘geez how’d ya do it pal? Let me in on ya secret’. In Australia however, the tall poppy syndrome is still alive and kicking and if you had $175 million, then you’re sure to have screwed someone on the way to amassing this fortune. Being brilliant and hard working would almost never be the first thought on their minds. Malcolm would probably argue that being known for his wealth would make him be perceived as not as in touch with the battlers as needed. Who knows?