Why should Bathurst miss out on trade with China?
IT’S rather sad to see fear and loathing coming out in John Bell’s recent letter (“Consider the implications of a Chinese relationship”, Saturday, June 17) bluntly opposing economic links with China. Make no mistake: China is a growing global economic powerhouse, and millions of dollars of trade already occur between our two nations every single day.
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So why should Bathurst miss out on new trade? Why should Bathurst miss out on economic growth from this trade? Why should Bathurst miss out on solid local jobs, expanding markets, and bankable revenue growth? Why should Bathurst hobble itself economically?
Of course Bathurst businesses and workers alike should not miss out, but that’s exactly what will happen if we don’t actively lay the foundations for our city’s future prosperity today, in as many ways as possible, whether it’s a second racing circuit or increasing exports.
Two powerful growth examples are tourism and education. In May 2016, The Herald Sun reported that Chinese tourism to Australia is projected to be worth $140,000,000,000 by 2025. Yes, that’s a $140 billion boost to our Aussie economy in under a decade.
According to an Australian Government report conducted by Deloitte Access Economics, international education was worth $19.7 billion to Australia in 2015, with China by far the biggest market at over 25pc share, which was double the next biggest market.
To put it another way, exporting Aussie education created 130,700 full time equivalent employees in 2014-15, accounting for 1.3pc of Australia’s total employment.
Add tourism to this, plus every other sector trading with China - e.g. forestry, mining, etc - and you get a pretty clear picture of the mammoth value of Australian trade with China.
In terms of national security, should Foreign Minister Julie Bishop ever issue a public or private warning against trade with any particular nation, it should of course be heeded appropriately. John Bell appears to be sweating on such contact, but don’t expect a call from Canberra any time soon.
Both education and tourism are just two industries in our local Bathurst economy that appeal to Chinese markets, and we should not be scare-mongered out of putting Bathurst on the world trade stage, particularly given the rest of Australia has been doing it for years, and will do much, much more in future.
Jess Jennings, The Lagoon
Let’s call an amnesty and settle refugees among us
I WOULD like to remind your readers that we have just completed Refugee Week. I hope many of you saw the display of refugee success stories portrayed at the library. It was encouraging to know so many of those persecuted, especially boat people, are making a success of their life.
Tragically, Kevin Rudd decided on July 19 four years ago that no more asylum seekers arriving here by boat would ever be allowed to settle in Australia. As a consequence, we still have accredited refugees languishing in Manus and Nauru islands with the unsatisfactory possibilities of going to America or settling in Papua New Guinea when Manus is closed down. This uncertain future is medically adversely well-documented.
If our border protection in stopping the boats is so successful, our Refugee Support Group would call upon Peter Dutton and his government to call an amnesty and settle those in detention centres among us. Our hard-hearted policy is most un-Australian.
I wonder what your readers think?
Canon John Clarkson, Bathurst
Before the prospective citizens get tested ...
PRIOR to the university level English test for citizenship being instigated, the politicians should have to sit for it first.
