Both major parties have been doing deals and dabbling in Free Trade Agreements. Craig Emerson (ex-Minister of Trade )was an advocate for such deals. The latest 2 considerations are; The selling of Medibank and Graincorp (Abbott has been reluctant to sell Graincorp, but no doubt the dribblers will blame him if it gets sold).
AWU boss Paul Howes says government should sell Medibank and GrainCorp
* by: AAP
* From: AAP
* 4 hours ago November 17, 2013 11:32AM
Union heavyweight Paul Howes has urged Labor to back the sale of Medibank Private, saying the party must slay sacred cows such as its stance on selling public assets.
The Australian Workers Union boss questioned why federal Labor would oppose the sell-off of the government-owned health insurer, which the Abbott government has set in motion.
"I can't see any logical reason why Labor would oppose the privatisation of Medibank Private,'' he told Sky News on Sunday.
The coalition in October released details of a scoping study into the Medibank sell-off, saying there was no compelling policy reason for the government to own the health insurer.
The Labor opposition has raised concerns that the privatisation will increase premiums and reduce competition in the sector. A good point imo...
But in a call for Labor to slay some of its "ideological totems'', such as a suspicion of privatisation, Mr Howes said Medibank Private "is not a price leader in that market, it's more expensive than many of its competitors, it does not have a monopoly of that market''.
"It doesn't provide any particular social good,'' he said.
The influential union leader claimed Labor would never be electable unless ``we dream big, and think big''. You mean like the NBN, Pink Batts, laptops for every child, Grocerywatch, Fuelwatch, the BER...???
"Unfortunately for Labor is that too often there are ideological totem poles that we cling to that today, in 2013, in a modern, open Australia, are completely irrelevant to improving the lives of working people,'' he said.
"It is important for Labor to reform and to finally slay some of these sacred cows that have blocked us from doing the things that are so sorely needed to make this society more open and more prosperous for all.''
Howes has also backed the sale of GrainCorp, saying if Treasurer Joe Hockey is rolled on the buyout it would create "massive'' sovereign risk for Australia.
He said he is concerned about reports that Prime Minister Tony Abbott doesn't support the bid for GrainCorp, which Mr Hockey will rule on by December 17.
The offer from US food giant Archer Daniels Midland has created deep divisions in the coalition, with the Nationals and some rural Liberals strongly opposed to the sale.
Coalition figures say Mr Abbott is inclined to say no to the purchase of Australia's largest agribusiness, or make conditions so onerous as to make it unviable, The West Australian reported on Friday.
But Mr Howes said that without foreign investment, Australia's agribusiness will "never become the food bowl for Asia that we talk about''. Personally i'm more concerned that it will be able to supply us with food.
"What concerns me is that if the National Party wins in this fight against Joe Hockey over ADM and GrainCorp, is that there will be a massive sovereign risk for our nation in terms of our agribusiness sector,'' he said.
"The coalition, if you remember the last six years, loved talking about sovereign risk.
"Well, allowing Joe Hockey to be rolled by the National Party will be a massive sovereign risk and will have massive ramifications right across the sector.'' Oh dear... ALP... Greens... shut up Mr Howe before both feet get stuck.
Mr Howes said that while a large number of AWU members at GrainCorp were not happy about the takeover, "the long-term gains for regional employment, for agribusiness, for the agricultural sector as a whole is worth that short-term pain''.
"I support it personally, and our union will even though there will be some short-term pain for our members,'' Mr Howes said.
"We need to recognise that the current structural difficulties that are experienced in our agricultural sector will not be changed only by domestic players being involved, and we need that injection of foreign capital.''
