By John Richardson TONY Abbott has survived an attempt to remove him as Australia’s Prime Minister. Do you really think this will bring to an end the political instability that has resulted in four changes in PM since 2007? This really is a rhetorical question because anybody who lives and works in Australia, as I do, […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Dear Mr Abbott, What On Earth Have You Done?
By John Richardson INNOVATION has to be the cornerstone of Australia’s economy from now on because of these two reasons: 1.) The China-led resources boom is over and so Australia can no longer just dig stuff out of the ground and send it to China. 2.) Australia, like all developed countries, has an ageing population. […]
How To Measure Modi’s Success
By John Richardson WINNING an election is one thing and governing is entirely different – as the hopeless Tony Abbott is discovering in Australia (more in a later blog post). We sincerely hope that Narendra Modi proves to be a great deal more competent than Abbott, who has confirmed our fears. Modi’s first budget, which […]
Australia: Nice Work If You Were Able To Get It
By John Richardson BACK in the late 1990s, the blog held a discussion with an Australian petrochemicals industry executive. He described his country’s approach to free trade, or rather the lack of it, as “to put it politely, naïve, and to put is less politely, plain stupid.” He was referring to how Australia had aggressively […]
Come On Mr Abbott, Please
By John Richardson TONY Abbott, in his victory speech on Saturday following the Coalition victory in the Australian Federal Election, renewed his pledge to scrap the carbon tax, stop the boat people and bring the budget back into surplus. Come on Mr Abbott, please. The blog has to admit, in this time of nonsensical sound-bite politics, […]
Crossing The River By Feeling The Stones
Deng Xiaoping By John Richardson ANDREW Mackenzie, in his first speech in Australia as BHP Billiton’s new chief executive, said that global demand for commodities would grow by 75% over the next 15 years, driven by continuing urbanisation in China and the growth of Asia’s middle classes. The blog wishes that it shared Mr […]
Australia Misses China Slowdown, Faces Aus$33bn Writedown
By John Richardson THE blog was amazed over the weekend when it discovered that the country’s governing Labor Party has had to write down Aus$33.3bn in budget revenues in the space of just ten weeks, largely because it failed to forecast the extent of the slowdown in China. Australia, as a major resources exporter is, […]
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