we are all australian, Yes?

.... So why when our farmers are struggling at the farm gate because of publicly listed huge supermarket companies constantly undercut our hard working fresh produce farmers...

........ as we approach our legendary day of Anzac, we are treating what they stood & fell for, as just so much trash. then we go to the dawn service or the march, what to Honor them???

& no doubt most will travel to their Anzac Day celebrations/tributes,,, in foreign made fully Imported vehicles.

We need another world war to wake us all up again, that charity 1st,,,, begins at home, then we share our generosity around AFTER we've met our Needs. forget the wants...

Its all about needs first. & then be generous to the hilt.

what have we all become, as we move further away in years & in values; from those diggers fighting in the mud, blood & guts of the battlefields. for what?

as the world become more divided along many different lines, religion, ethnicity, politically, left:right, etc..... terrorism, anarchy in 3rd world nations,

we are now buying in packed frozen foods from countries which want to undercut our own locally produced foods, & as our farmers are strangled by cheap & suspect Asian produce, by any means they can.... including it seems the health of the people consuming their dirty food products. All whilst our farmers are forced Re finance reasons, to sell their farms to some from those very same Asian nations.

whats to say the terrorists won't seize on this, & think this is how we can send maybe plague? or other toxins? they can send some deadly spores in the post.

Whats to say terrorists won't try to do something with packaged food products exported to inside our borders?

Hepatitis 'A', what else could they send in frozen foods?

I really have to take issue with this "charity begins at home" comment. Charity should begin where it is most needed. yes we should be caring for our underprivileged and under-serviced indigenous communities, but equally we should be caring for others in parts of the world that have no hope of caring for themselves, or when there are disasters that strike even affluent communities down. For example, the Pakistan flooding (I had absolutely no hesitation in contributing to aid their recovery) or the tsunami that struck north Honshu in Japan (we had garage sales and contributed to an NGO in Japan to assist in relocation and rebuilding).

You make comment about the world becoming divided along various lines... well, sharing and providing charity is one way of healing some of the rifts (obviously not all). One of the big reasons for the divisions we see these days, is the lack of diplomacy and little attempt to understand cultural differences by major world powers who are only interested in preserving their interests in resources (oil etc). America's war on terrorism is the perfect example... it made the world a more dangerous place (in my opinion) as it created a whole new generation of martyrs.

As for terrorists tainting frozen foods... you are saying that they couldn't do it if the foods were produced and packaged here? I agree that our farmers are treated shabbily, but I would be blaming corporations who are looking to maximise profits and reduce expenses at all costs, for that. This is NOT just a matter of Asian countries undercutting our farmers, it is also a matter of our own local corporations getting more and more greedy - would you be complaining if the shoe was on the other foot and it was our farmers/suppliers who were undercutting the producers in Asian countries and reaping the rewards? Somehow I think not.

To raise the spectre of terrorism as a reason to produce locally doesn't work. And to use the emotive argument of the "diggers" dying for our freedom no longer applies either. Yes we should never forget them or what they stood for, or what they did for our forefathers (and by extension, us), but we also have to recognise that times have changed, as has our position in this world. If we were to dwell on the past, I would not have my two wonderful sons as I would never have met my (now ex) wife who was from Japan.

I really have to take issue with this "charity begins at home" comment. Charity should begin where it is most needed. yes we should be caring for our underprivileged and under-serviced indigenous communities, but equally we should be caring for others in parts of the world that have no hope of caring for themselves, or when there are disasters that strike even affluent communities down. For example, the Pakistan flooding (I had absolutely no hesitation in contributing to aid their recovery) or the tsunami that struck north Honshu in Japan (we had garage sales and contributed to an NGO in Japan to assist in relocation and rebuilding).

You make comment about the world becoming divided along various lines... well, sharing and providing charity is one way of healing some of the rifts (obviously not all). One of the big reasons for the divisions we see these days, is the lack of diplomacy and little attempt to understand cultural differences by major world powers who are only interested in preserving their interests in resources (oil etc). America's war on terrorism is the perfect example... it made the world a more dangerous place (in my opinion) as it created a whole new generation of martyrs.

As for terrorists tainting frozen foods... you are saying that they couldn't do it if the foods were produced and packaged here? I agree that our farmers are treated shabbily, but I would be blaming corporations who are looking to maximise profits and reduce expenses at all costs, for that. This is NOT just a matter of Asian countries undercutting our farmers, it is also a matter of our own local corporations getting more and more greedy - would you be complaining if the shoe was on the other foot and it was our farmers/suppliers who were undercutting the producers in Asian countries and reaping the rewards? Somehow I think not.

To raise the spectre of terrorism as a reason to produce locally doesn't work. And to use the emotive argument of the "diggers" dying for our freedom no longer applies either. Yes we should never forget them or what they stood for, or what they did for our forefathers (and by extension, us), but we also have to recognise that times have changed, as has our position in this world. If we were to dwell on the past, I would not have my two wonderful sons as I would never have met my (now ex) wife who was from Japan.

I think you misunderstand my comments, using those words (i understand a religious tone)... my thoughts are that we have forgotten about looking out for one another within Australia. In these heady days of affluence, we have forgotten about what we stood for from the days of the Eureka stand, WW1, the great depression, WW2, all helped to set us as to what we believed in, & aided our becoming Egalitarian, As well as the Celtic parts in us all.

now we have left all those values in our competative race with one another to show we are smarter richer, better than one another, & in that race we seem to want prestigious emblems on the bonnets of our cars & on it seems on our baby bonnets.

where is this all ending, when we have had what we NEED here at home, made by our fellow Australians.

Lets all just shut the place up & sell the farm.

I think you misunderstand my comments, using those words (i understand a religious tone)... my thoughts are that we have forgotten about looking out for one another within Australia. In these heady days of affluence, we have forgotten about what we stood for from the days of the Eureka stand, WW1, the great depression, WW2, all helped to set us as to what we believed in, & aided our becoming Egalitarian, As well as the Celtic parts in us all.

now we have left all those values in our competative race with one another to show we are smarter richer, better than one another, & in that race we seem to want prestigious emblems on the bonnets of our cars & on it seems on our baby bonnets.

where is this all ending, when we have had what we NEED here at home, made by our fellow Australians.

Lets all just shut the place up & sell the farm.

Well, I agree that we have lost a lot of our traditional values and that as a country we have become greedy and obsessed with our own personal status. One thing though, what do you mean when you say "I understand a religious tone"?

Well, I agree that we have lost a lot of our traditional values and that as a country we have become greedy and obsessed with our own personal status. One thing though, what do you mean when you say "I understand a religious tone"?

religion uses the term 'charity begins at home'.

to me charity is born of generosity. so when we feel we have a choice of an Imported car or a home built car it isn't a case of sheer NEED, but rather of want. so generosity goes out the window when some spend enormous amounts of money in a Mercedes or a Toyota land-cruiser or AMG./Porsche/or other 4WD

they don't really care about locals wellbeing in the quest for so-called prestige??????

........, As well as the Celtic parts in us all.

celtic in us all? really? surely you mean anglo-saxon in many of us? the celtic blood would be very thin.

I think he means stop buying from Coles and Safeway or Bunnings/Masters Woolies, Walmart etc if you can help it.

They are destroying Australian agriculture in favour of inferior product.

They are killing other small business and homogenising the market.

I agree with Dee if that is his point.

As far as Anzac biscuits go, I remember having them with coffee one Anzac day when my Turkish neighbour came over.

As he went to grab one off a plate I told him he was not allowed to have one as they were for Australians only.

He took one anyway and explained "Why not, we won!"

Which I thought was a bloody good answer.

celtic in us all? really? surely you mean anglo-saxon in many of us? the celtic blood would be very thin.

celtic spirit, can't you feel it?

I think he means stop buying from Coles and Safeway or Bunnings/Masters Woolies, Walmart etc if you can help it.

They are destroying Australian agriculture in favour of inferior product.

They are killing other small business and homogenising the market.

I agree with Dee if that is his point.

As far as Anzac biscuits go, I remember having them with coffee one Anzac day when my Turkish neighbour came over.

As he went to grab one off a plate I told him he was not allowed to have one as they were for Australians only.

He took one anyway and explained "Why not, we won!"

Which I thought was a bloody good answer.

your right Bif, but much wider than that.. not just the farmers alone biut all our home grown industries, the cars 7 all the sub industries supplying parts & machinery parts to keep things running.

I installed a kitchen for a power steering company owner years back. what a nice fella & he invited n,me to come down if I needed some help with my car. he stepped aside from running the company in the turn of the century. the company supplied Ford & Holden, amongst others, & the company did research & development for Fords when requested to sort out their design issues along the way.

the company went belly up under the sons time, because of cheap imports from china... a true quality making company that looked after his employees with great care & it goes down because of cheap Asian wages & conditions & them holding their $Dollar down in value as they strangle western companies of breath.

& we all sit back in comfy chairs watching the evening TV ZNews in comfort whilst all this is been going on.

Too many with Mercedes & Toyota emblems sitting in the driveway,,,, hyundai, jeep, etc, etc. where has the caring gone for fellow countrymen, for a few pieces of silver?

.

Too many with Mercedes & Toyota emblems sitting in the driveway,,,, hyundai, jeep, etc, etc. where has the caring gone for fellow countrymen, for a few pieces of silver?

Yeah I'm not one of them, and besides, the BMW looks much better in my driveway!

It's got to the stage where we have to educate ourselves and others to make more conscious decisions as consumers. I note in the news that #BoycottBali seems to be having an effect on Indonesian tourism. So we have the capacity to be proactive about some issues, we just need to be more active on more fronts.

Matthew Evans did a great series recently called What's The Catch. He showed some of the appalling practices in our local and imported seafood industry. And one the major problem seems to be that we put money before ourselves and the longevity of our planet. Business owners claim that changing our labeling standards will be cost prohibitive, leading to resistance from our politicians make intelligent decisions.

So the onus now rests with us to effect change.

SumOfUs are doing some great work in this regard.

as the world become more divided along many different lines, religion, ethnicity, politically, left:right, etc..... terrorism, anarchy in 3rd world nations,

we are now buying in packed frozen foods from countries which want to undercut our own locally produced foods, & as our farmers are strangled by cheap & suspect Asian produce, by any means they can.... including it seems the health of the people consuming their dirty food products. All whilst our farmers are forced Re finance reasons, to sell their farms to some from those very same Asian nations.

whats to say the terrorists won't seize on this, & think this is how we can send maybe plague? or other toxins? they can send some deadly spores in the post.

Whats to say terrorists won't try to do something with packaged food products exported to inside our borders?

Hepatitis 'A', what else could they send in frozen foods?

bump