Anyone who has done economics 101 will have passing knowledge of cost pressures economies of scale supply chains etc.
But getting her comparison of labour costs in Africa as in your face comparison ($2.00 per day) - from the ABC news this morning - I was stunned.

The first thought - was this $2.00 a day before or after miners had been shot, a number killed and then accused of the murder??

Is using African labour costs at $2.00 a day with fresh news of miners being shot to death in a speech good advice??

I reckon the foot in mouth analogy has 'plummed' to a new level.

AP

"Who advises G.Reinhart one wonders??"

Wouldn't be her personal trainer

BTW - is there any truth to the rumours that in the past vaGina has refused to parovide for tea/coffee facilities on her sites?

^^^^^

Hoorrrrray - Kiting you are my hero (except presumably you kite).

Second thread on 'what I heard the media tell me Gina said and I am outraged' - except at least AquaPlow isn't inciting a lynch mob.

You all know David Flanagan said alomost exactly the same about 5 days ago ? Not one thread on here about how David Flanagan is an ugly bastard who deserves to be strung up from the closest lamp post.

Oh - thats right, nobody of heard of him, (Atlas Iron chairman) so it doesn't get sensationalised in the news for the eastern states population.

The point Gina, Mr Flanagan, Twiggy, the CEO of Qantas and many many other non-front bench ALP ministers is :

Australia is riding on the back of the resource boom in iron ore, coal and LNG
The costs of developing and extracting these resources has ballooned in Australia, due to many factors including red and green tape, taxes and wage demands
The benefit of investing in Australia as a stable, safe and secure location is now out weighed by the additional expense and it is now more economical to invest in Africa and other places, even with their downsides (which include things like long shipping times to markets, instability, low skilled workforce etc. etc.)
Without some reduction in red tape, productivity, wage rises etc. Australia will not compete and so will no longer ride on the back of iron ore, coal and LNG, and these industries will go the same was as Australian manufacturing.
Developing nations are working hard to address their issues, why isn't Australia doing the same ?

Not one of them are saying wages should be $2 per day for a Queensland coal miner.

But a rich person being down on a poor person grabs more headlines than the real issue.

And Gina's point seemed to be that that very fact about what makes headlines in Australia backs up the argument for the failure to actually do anything to address the issues at hand.

Roy Hill Mine is investing $10 billion into the Australian economy for construction alone. It costs the Aussie tax payer nothing. It will take 2 years to build.

The NBN is investing $40 billion into the Australian economy. It is costing the Aussie tax payer $40 billion. It will take 12 years to build.

Why is the NBN construction so vaunted by Wayne Swan as the saviour of the recession but anything Gina does is shouted down under parlimentary priviledge ??


I don't think I like the lady, or how she lives her life. But that doesn't mean I have to attribute things she never said to her, or have some sort of pathological hatred based on my own predudices and warped perceptions of the world.

getfunky said...

"Who advises G.Reinhart one wonders??"

Wouldn't be her personal trainer

BTW - is there any truth to the rumours that in the past vaGina has refused to parovide for tea/coffee facilities on her sites?

I heard that was true

I also heard she also eats puppies from the orphange for tea and flies a Cabrinha.

Assemble the lynch mob, string the bitch up

(Unfortunately I still cannot join this lynch mob as my union rep says the mob has not been provided with 7 different styles of pitch fork)

One of her advisers was a guy called Rayney.

dusta said...

Carantoc said...
string the bitch up

probably need more than string, steel cable maybe ?

The irony in that is the steel would be made from Rio iron ore in a German steel mill, as Roy Hill ore is such low quality, and the chinese mills make such bad steel, the cable would probably snap.

Carantoc said...

The fall is a whole range of issues as pointed out.

Including the fact that Aussies paid $150,000 per year to drive a truck are given 6 months holiday and they still complain if the free coffee is not the exact brand of their own preference.

Labour costs are a big one, and in my opinion, have been driven there by shortage, poaching and regularly shifting roles for a few more percent on top of the salaries.

Miners encouraged this, with an "expand at all costs" mentality.

Complaining about life on site goes with the territory... People may only work six months of the year, but they are also away for all of that six months. No quick blast on the board when it's windy after work, no time with the kids, no after work social sporting practice (for those that know Flight of the Concords) etc etc. $150K pa for driving a truck... I wouldn't do it for that!

worrier said...

Im still not convinced we are falling

You only need to look to the growing list of postponed expansion plans and the falling iron ore spot price... what is the spot price now - somewhere between $85 and $90 a tonne? This all sounds very iron ore centric, but coal already fell significantly last year!

The Government talks of three stages to the boom; a price boom, an investment boom and a production boom. I think they are missing an important link here. The industry is extremely cost conscious at the moment. Some, not all, of that the investment has already been delayed. And importantly, the list of delayed expenditure is growing daily. BHP Billiton and FMG have announced that expansion (AKA investment) plans have been shelved/delayed, and BHP Billiton also announced the same for the Olympic Dam expansion. The surprise that the latter had on everyone in the federal and SA governments is a complete mystery to me!

There is one good point in there, the production boom. It is possible that the understanding of the requirements for higher production and the planning that goes along with that, are not yet in place. This means work... believe it or not, mining is not "dig and ship" as many have come to believe. It is actually bloody difficult, and involves loads and loads of planning, long-term, short-term or five year plans, two year plans, quarterly plans, daily etc etc. One small catch on the production boom, the investment needs to continue to fund the expansion to provide the work that goes along with the high production!

HEH - TONTO - U listening -- slow the horse & carriage down
Read the title.

Sure I could paint roses or drop _rap about an individual to what point?
Play the ball not the player - much more constructive.

The point is who advises her?? -
She went into battle with FAIRFAX - and came out smelling of???
She goes into battle on an Family trust and comes out smelling of???
She can change public policy (think labour laws).
She can/has moulded the direction (were relevant) of state policy.
She can head up a company capable of using less than a hand full of fingers when telling the ATO to back off (not much company reporting).

The point I make - is - why be so simplistically _____? - it does not add up to a good look.

Mrs Reinhart has a unique position in Australia where public opinion (frequently fickle) has at times such easy and rapid transition to -
an outcome -
(think cattle export ban to Indonesia - really a Homer moment DOOOH),
or opinion -
(think Gillard stabbing Rudd in the back (I think he self-imploded)).
She will likely always be championing something which will improve her lot (thru' business).

I have no problem with someone being rich or extremely rich. The proviso is that they spend hopefully constructively. At a point (long past in Mrs Reinhart's case) it is not the money but the power and the status.

Does the speech court power and status ?

Nah - poor advice IMO

AP (lunch break over)

Kiting said...

Gillard made the link implying Miss Whale believes $2 a day reasonable in Australia. Miss Whale made no such link, she was simply letting it be known that Africa is presenting a much cheaper option to extract resources, due to a number of factors including; taxes, red tape AND wage pressures (ie unions selfish and unaustralia behaviour of late).

This is a good point.

evlPanda said...

Some of the pay packets I've seen mentioned are frankly ludicrous.

It's supply and demand Panda.

Can you define ludicrous How much is it worth to you to be at home with your family, friends, bbq, boards etc FIFO is not all champagne and chocolate. Shifts are often 12 hours, some nights, some days, it's hot, dusty, noisy, dirty etc etc. and if not these, it's repetitive and probably quite boring! You can't take drugs, you can't drink too much, you can't have a criminal record... and most of all, despite the strong culture and control measures, it has a little more risk to personal safety...

... upon further consideration I don't think I'd work in a mine for any less than a lot either.

I'd be happy to be paid $2 a day if my accommodation cost me ten cents a day, my food cost me twenty cents a day, my recreation cost me fifty cents a day and my taxes cost me thirty cents a day.

However we live in 2012 Australia.

The $150 000 dump truck diver mentioned way up at the top of the thread. Go to Perth airport early morning and watch the Rocky crew getting on the plane to Gina's mines in their fluro gear.
Probably generaliising but the tatts the 17 yo bogan wife in the tracky's and ugg boots with the new kid hangin off the tit. most definitly scream Rocky to me. Sorry to offend but just seems ironic to me with Gina employing the very crew she moans about.
W

There seems to be a rather large chunk of stereotyping occurring in your post originating from Pinoy

The truth is that Gina's mining business is not creating anything new ( besides pollution).The staff that get dig out lay there for a million of years and once is finished - is all gone.
Don't need to be Marxist to understand that underground resources and minerals in this country need to feed all population at reasonably fair rate.
So far distribution of that benefits is already screwed -so high wages at least partly compensate and allow to transfer wealth to other sectors.
There is big difference in enterprise ie Bill Gates created producing wealth from nothing material, or manufacturing magnates like Ford that add value in the process, even farmers where activity is sustainable...
Gina should feel lucky that at this social development stage people are still so naive to tolerate her...

Macroscien said...

The truth is that Gina's mining business is not creating anything new ( besides pollution).The staff that get dig out lay there for a million of years and once is finished - is all gone.
Don't need to be Marxist to understand that underground resources and minerals in this country need to feed all population at reasonably fair rate.
So far distribution of that benefits is already screwed -so high wages at least partly compensate and allow to transfer wealth to other sectors.
There is big difference in enterprise ie Bill Gates created producing wealth from nothing material, or manufacturing magnates like Ford that add value in the process, even farmers where activity is sustainable...
Gina should feel lucky that at this social development stage people are still so naive to tolerate her...

Well any time you want to join Greece or Spain or Italy or any of the other countries on the bones of their collective bums, just vote for the government that has a track record of kicking mining companies in the gonads until they decide not to spend anything on exploration and further development.
I'm sure they have a secret plan to replace all that income over the next 7 years when a large percentage of the present mines are mined out.
But then maybe not.