Stop the Asian Invasion: Chinese Takeover of Australia - Politicians 4 Sale

[Br.IanVonTurpie]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6897495/Chinas-giant-threat-Australia-jobs-go.html

Kimberly-Clark announced it was shutting down its Huggies facility in Ingleburn, New South Wales

The company will move production of nappies and pants over to Asia - resulting in a loss of 220 jobs

Western Australia's steel manufacturing has also shrunk due to outsourcing from Malaysia and China

Tradies fear the next generation will struggle to find jobs and won't be able to inherit highly-specialised skills

Australia's manufacturing makes up less than ten per cent of the country's GDP

Factory workers across Australia fear their jobs could be the next to go overseas following nappy company Huggies' decision to move production offshore.

Parent company Kimberly-Clark Australia announced last week it will be shutting down its Ingleburn mill by the end of July which is expected to result in a loss of 220 jobs.

The company, which also has a facility in South Australia, revealed it is moving to Asia to enable 'faster access to the latest research and engineering advancements in nappies and pants'.   

The move makes Huggies the latest Australian-based manufacturer to take its business offshore in what appears to be a growing trend among companies aiming to lower production costs.   

Electrical engineer Martin Cordina, 43, who works at Powered Innovations in Wetherill Park, NSW, told Daily Mail Australia that the industry's move overseas has affected job security among tradies, budding apprentices, and has even altered the quality of goods.   

'Huggies excuse was due to "research and development," but it's a nappy company. It doesn't matter where the nappy is made, it's the same technology, so it's just an excuse for cheaper manufacturing to make more profit because the labour costs are too high here,' he said.

Mr Cordina, who has worked in the industry for 27 years, has witnessed manufacturing transform into a dying trade, including at the printing company where he completed his apprenticeship - and no longer exists.

The Sydney tradesman fears the next generation will not only struggle to find jobs, but will also not be able to inherit highly-specialised skills

'Not only do we give away the product [overseas] but we give away the knowledge and expertise,' he said.

'It's a worry because we have to think a generation ahead. Not only do we have to think about people now - our friends, our colleagues - but we have to think about our children.

'Are they going to be in a position to have jobs? They can go to university to get an education, but what will they use it for? Besides IT and warehouses, there will be no manufacturing, or very little.

'I think companies need to have some degree of blame because they're the ones wanting to make the same amount of profit, or greater, at the expense of the employees. The Government is also to blame because they're allowing this practice to happen.

Mr Cordina said the issue has influenced how he'll vote in the federal election, but admits he does not think Liberal or Labor are well-suited to tackle the problem. 

'It's very disappointing. I'm upset... I'm angry, because not only are we sacrificing the standard of products but also safety.

'The products that come from overseas are copies, but they're bad copies, so someone's safety can be at risk.'

Huggies' departure is part of the US corporation's 'global restructuring program' and comes four months after it announced it would slash 5,500 jobs globally over the next three years.

Specifics over which facilities would shut were not disclosed, but union reps and workers said the Sydney mill closure 'came out of left field' and that there was 'no indication' it was heading in that direction. 

The corporation said it would continue operations at its Millicent Mill in SA where it currently employs 400 workers.

The move is reminiscent of that of Australian-based Pacific Brands Underwear Group, also known as Bonds, which moved production to China in 2009. 

Bonds' closure led to a loss of 1,850 jobs across New South Wales and Victoria.

Carl Drieman, a machine operator from Sydney, had been making mattress springs at Pacific Brands for 18 years when he was suddenly laid off due to the business decision.

Pacific Brands beds and mattresses are still produced locally but the metal springs are manufactured in China.

'It is a concern. If manufacturing goes offshore then there are less jobs. In our factory there were maybe 15 people, but all the wire we used came from Newcastle so those people were also affected.

'It's disappointing. Fewer manufacturing jobs means a lot more people are competing for jobs and that drives wages down. So even if you do get a job, the pay is not gonna be as good,' he said.

Mr Drieman now works at recycling facility Direct Pallets, where he manufactures mulch and other wood-based products and thanks to the niche market, he believes his job is secure.

[Br.IanVonTurpie]

A Melbourne mum who smashed another shopper's phone during an altercation over baby formula in a shopping centre carpark has escaped conviction

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6957557/Melbourne-mum-explains-smashed-womans-phone-argument-baby-formula.html

Samantha Smith appeared in Dandenong Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, where she pleaded guilty to one charge of wilfully damaging property over the incident last December at Parkmore Shopping Centre in the city's south-east.

The court heard Smith became involved in an altercation with another woman over the bulk-buying of baby formula at Coles at the centre, the Greater Dandenong Leader reported

She became agitated after the woman began filming her before grabbing the woman's arm and smashing her mobile phone on the ground.

Smith left the shopping centre before police arrived but was later identified on CCTV.

She told the court she believed it was wrong shoppers left store shelves bare by bulk buying and sending large quantities of baby formula overseas.

'It annoys me, there are hordes of Asians always down there, speaking to me in Chinese, being rude,' Smith said.

'They are always down at my Coles in big numbers. I've complained to Coles plenty of times, but they don't do anything.'

https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2019/04/18/2569441171474461378/1024x576_MP4_2569441171474461378.mp4

The single mum was placed on a good behaviour bond and ordered to pay $100 to the court.

'You can't take things into your own hands, it is not something you can do,' Magistrate Sharon McRae told Smith.

Baby formula manufacturers have been unable to meet an overwhelming demand for the highly sought-after product since an estimated 54,000 Chinese babies hospitalised due to contaminated formula in 2008. 

Woolworths and Coles currently have a two-tin baby formula limit for customers due to the popularity of 'daigou shoppers', who bulk buy tins of formula to sell for a profit online to China.

It's estimated there are at least 80,000 daigou shoppers in Australia.

https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2018/12/18/1886931854410693392/1024x576_MP4_1886931854410693392.mp4

Some daigou shoppers reportedly make more than $100,000 each year by selling tins three times in the retail price in Australia.

One of the most recent incidents was at a Woolworths in Hurstville in Sydney's south last week, where a group of shoppers were filmed loading the boot of their car with 30 tins of formula.

Could have been smarter about things. She never had to grab the Gook's hand and toss the phone on the ground. She could have made it look like an accident and tap the phone to make it slip out of the Gook's hand. Like she was touching something on her screen?

This is just getting ludicrous! Stop Gooks from locust plaguing our nation!

[Rev.Cambeul]

Baby formula manufacturers have been unable to meet an overwhelming demand for the highly sought-after product since an estimated 54,000 Chinese babies hospitalised due to contaminated formula in 2008. 

Woolworths and Coles currently have a two-tin baby formula limit for customers due to the popularity of 'daigou shoppers', who bulk buy tins of formula to sell for a profit online to China.

It's estimated there are at least 80,000 daigou shoppers in Australia.

Some daigou shoppers reportedly make more than $100,000 each year by selling tins three times in the retail price in Australia.

Organised crime are heavily involved in the Baby Formula smuggling racket ...

Criminal OMCG Sons of Anarchy are involved in smuggling Baby Formula

[Br.IanVonTurpie]

I wonder if the Sons of Anarchy guy is a terrorist putting Ricin and Anthrax into the formula whilst in the store / in the delivery truck to:- fix the Chinks abroad, and give the formula a bad name with the Chink  insect people sending it to their hive?

[Br.IanVonTurpie]

https://www.afr.com/business/muas-ship-shaming-a-sham-20190213-h1b7yz

There are reasons aplenty to be warily amused by the latest hysterical assault on BHP by the now legendary Maritime Union militant from Fremantle, Christy Cain.
On Tuesday Cain's theatrical outrage over BHP's decision to stop providing shipping services for its long-time iron ore customer BlueScope stretched to recommending that Western Australia should cancel the company's Pilbara mining leases.
That is funny, first and foremost because WA Premier Mark McGowan is about as likely to take advice from Cain as I am. Presently the MUA's routinely robust WA state secretary is banned from the Premier's office because of past rhetorical assaults on the government

Not even the fact that McGowan is in fierce and regular contest with BHP over claims that the state has been short changed by $300 million on iron ore royalty payments has tempted the Premier to echo the MUA's outrage over lost ships and jobs.
Instead, as the Premier told The West Australian, he made personal entreaties on behalf of the sailors and Australian crewed ship.

Meanwhile, of course, McGowan's federal colleagues have happily climbed aboard Cain's ship of sympathy and outrage.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten joined the MUA hue and cry in January, accusing BHP of sending ships overseas and "foreign flagging it". In a juvenile rhetorical gesture The Australian Financial Review condemned as class warfare, Shorten added BHP's name to the manifest of Australia's shameful corporates.
"Why does corporate Australia, the big end of town, think that the next quarter's profits are more important than our environment, more important than Australian jobs, and more important than Australian national security?" Shorten complained.

"If a company is seen as trying to subvert from Australian industrial relations laws and cut costs by going to foreign shipping, they shouldn't expect a standing ovation from the Labor Party or for us to be quiet," the shadow treasurer told the Financial Review.
The only problem with any and all of that is that none of it is based in any sort of fact.

Yep, Cain's advice to McGowan and Shorten's advice to the nation is made all the more risible because it is part of an MUA campaign that aims to rehabilitate the withered state of Australian domestic shipping through desperately opportunistic and classically confected claims of bastardry by BHP and BlueScope.
In a post on its Facebook page the MUA recently reported that 80 Australian seafarers had been "sacked by BHP after more than a century of doing the job

"They're being replaced by exploited foreign labour. Working on Australian shores but not paid according to our laws," the MUA reported. "They'll receive between $2-$4 an hour.
"How is this in the interests of our country?
"So much for the Big Australian. BHP are dogging Australian workers at one end and scamming on their tax at the other – $43 billion in revenue last year and they are still trying to screw their workers and cheat the taxpayer.
"F****** greedy pricks," the post concluded pithily.
Well now, we would observe first that this would make those sailors very old salts indeed. But we would also note that those workers did not work for BHP and that they have not been sacked and, as far as we can tell, there are not even 80 of them.

[Br.IanVonTurpie]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6962871/Clive-Palmer-slammed-discovered-Make-Australia-Great-signs-China.html

United Australia Party leader Clive Palmer has been slammed as a hypocrite after it was revealed his 'Make Australia Great' signs are made in China.


The politician's campaign slogan, printed on bright yellow signs throughout the country, was made to advertise his focus on boosting Australia's employment rate and local manufacturing.

But it doesn't seem to be an idea the politician has taken too seriously, with some of his corflutes being created in China

Printed by Dongguan Jianxin Plastic Products Co Ltd. 94 Qingfend East Road, Shijien, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China,' the poster read.

Last month, it was revealed the campaign t-shirts were also made in China and  former actor Bryan Wiseman, who was running for UAP, quit as a result.

'Clive Palmer is the personification of every negative stereotype about politicians all rolled into a single person,' one person said.

'This is so funny when you consider the fear campaign about China Palmer's been sending out over the last few months,' another said.

One person commented: 'Everything about this guy is funny and bizarre, yet he wins votes, saving Aussies from China by printing s**t in China.'

'Like, make Australia great? Just signalling that he is both a racist piece of s**t and hugely unoriginal about it,' another said

A United Australia Party spokesperson told the Courier Mail the party had spent 98.5 per cent of the printing budget in Australia and only 1.5 per cent in China. 

'Time frames also meant printing of corflutes needed to be done overseas,' the spokesman said.

Mr Palmer has also previously attacked the 'communist Chinese government' for stealing Australia's resources in 2014 and described them as 'mongrels' who 'shoot their own people' and 'haven't got a justice system.' 

Mr Palmer has spent more than $27million on newspaper ads, television ads and billboards around the country