I`ve had a gut full

[Steve4wdin]

My turn for a rant. I am fed up with the big grocery chains dictacting terms to the suppliers. You know I have a 6 year old daughter. What is she and other kids going to do for employment in the future. They will never be able to afford a house, There will be no manufacturing left in AU,no farming no fuel refining no export. We are going to become one big national warehouse.
I`ve had a gut full.
Who is to blame. The government, woolworths/coles etc or us for buying there "home brand" crap that is manufactured overseas.
I am very interested in the views of other members about this subject. Speak out.
Steve

[Winnie]

Same deal with those self serve checkouts, they are replacing young workers.

[Clunk]

Could be worse..... could be living in the UK or US for that matter. I f you think this country is going to sh@t, just be thankful you live here and not there ......... and its not just the government or large companies to blame, its us as the consumers too

[Steve4wdin]

Saying things could be worse is not an excuse. We are to blame as consumers holly and souly. By au made stuff for all our futures or we will be in the same sh@t as the other countries. Mark my words bullying big companies will be the death of this great country. Be Proub people and support au. Our future depends on us.
Steve

[stevogq]

I here you!! we need to get the word out to boycott the home brand stuff and stick to local produce

[NissanGQ4.2]

Well there all to blame... Government, Big Grocery Chains, but the biggest one 2 blame is the people that buy it.

But in saying that I don't blame em, I usually buy whatever is cheapest.

I don't find much difference between the home made crap overseas to some of the crap we make here.....which is imported from overseas anyway

It all comes down 2 $$$$ and until the world has one currency nothing will change.

[growler2058]

We buy Aussie mite instead of Vegemite (sold out to the seppos eons ago)


Sent from my tapped out thumbs

[mudnut]

I try to buy Australian produce and products and urge the missus to do so too. Yet I drive two japenese made vehicles?? I am just a hippocritical as everybody I suppose. I notice that a local chocolate manufacturer is now importing New Zealand made stuff in their selection boxes. Where will it end?

[BigRAWesty]

Imo were all to blame. Things can only be so cheap.. and if we want cheap things things have to give, like wages, Jobs, quality..
I try and buy outside of the supermarkets in the small owners who buy local produce. Sure I can't afford nice things because of it, and I know I alone am doing f-all in the grand scheme of things, but the quality is so much better..
Next time you do a roast, weigh it raw and cooked.. every 10grams lost, 5 grams of it will be the water that those money sucking supermarkets plump them with.. try it, I dare you..

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[krbrooking]

X2 with westy, I live in whittlesea and they have just finished building a maca's as you come into town. I spoke to the local fish and chips shop which but the way does awesome food and they can already tell the diff and they are pretty much the most popular food joint in town. Not only that my eight year old daughter is already asking to go hang out their, Obviously the answer is no straight up, I have also noticed more hoons doing burnouts at night coming out of there as well.

[Woof]

I always try to buy Australian products when I can.............I refuse to buy meat from any of the big retailers, the first thing I do when I move is to find a family owned butcher and support them, I may pay a bit more but the money is supporting Australians and the quality is brilliant.
As for young people losing jobs due to automatic tellers well that could be a good thing, from what I have seen most of them are just ignorant bludgers who do not give a rats....

[dads tractor]

Next time you do a roast, weigh it raw and cooked.. every 10grams lost, 5 grams of it will be the water that those money sucking supermarkets plump them with.. try it, I dare you..

Westy sorry mate butcher by trade and you will always lose moisture in a roast as the fibres in the meat contract as you cook it .put it down to a urban myth.

[lorrieandjas]

Hmmm - to temper this debate - some things we need to buy from offshore. We all love our Patrols - cant buy them Aussie made. Also - flip this argument on its head - about exports not imports. Not sure where our primary producers would be without exports. Sure - advocate for tariffs to make our products more competitive domestically. But I see the Aldi thread is pretty popular on here..... As is the number of questions about buying cheap fourby products.... Don't get me wrong - agree with buying local product - but there is two sides to the debate.....

Jas

[growler2058]

Next time you do a roast, weigh it raw and cooked.. every 10grams lost, 5 grams of it will be the water that those money sucking supermarkets plump them with.. try it, I dare you..

Westy sorry mate butcher by trade and you will always lose moisture in a roast as the fibres in the meat contract as you cook it .put it down to a urban myth.

There was an article on current affair in the last year or so. Had the hidden cameras catching them injecting certain meats with shiploads of water


Sent from my tapped out thumbs

[BigRAWesty]

Next time you do a roast, weigh it raw and cooked.. every 10grams lost, 5 grams of it will be the water that those money sucking supermarkets plump them with.. try it, I dare you..

Westy sorry mate butcher by trade and you will always lose moisture in a roast as the fibres in the meat contract as you cook it .put it down to a urban myth.

Yea I do realise this but a the supermarket roasts always shrink more. Well here anyway.

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[dads tractor]

growler and westy i stand corrected but my local butcher dishes up some pretty good cuts so i will continue to support him and her

[Lonicus]

We get our meat from a local butcher whose family own and run the local farms that supply the store. While they may be a little more expensive that a supermarket, or one of the franchised shops, their meat is in a whole different league and yet it still costs us less than $5 per head, per meal even using the best quality cuts.

I'd never shopped at Aldi until recently, always put them into the Go Lo, Reject Store etc. category. Then after seeing the thread on here I got the app checked out what they had coming in. Over the last few weeks I've picked up a few things in there that we needed and I was very surprised to see the amount of Aussie made/produced and owned stuff in there, brands you don't see in the big stores. The few things I've picked up had no locally made alternatives and were better quality, and price, than I could find anywhere else.

I'll always buy Aussie made/owned products over anything else, even if it means paying a bit more, but the quality needs to be there to justify our loyalty.

[growler2058]

growler and westy i stand corrected but my local butcher dishes up some pretty good cuts so i will continue to support him and her

It was the big supermarkets being dodgy
We often try to buy from the private butcher as well but now I'm not living in the hills it's a bit harder


Sent from my tapped out thumbs

[Maxhead]

Few years ago I pre ordered a turkey from my local butcher and when I picked it up took it home to discover it was a frozen (defrosted by butcher) steggles turkey you can buy at any supermarket for half the price.
It was Christmas morning when I picked it up so had no choice but to cook it.
Never been Back that dic again

.........on the move

[Steve4wdin]

Sorry guys, I started this rant because I had been to the V8`S yesterday, Had a great day out, came home to be told we are having a stirfry for dinner. Thats fine. Firstly the meat prepackaged from w/w??? Rice importedd??? Sauce for the flavour , made in Malasia from local and inported ingredients??? Vege`s, prepackaged by w/w from local and imported products??? I saw red and didn`t eat dinner.
I work for the largest food manufacturer in AU. We are constantly being bullied by the big chains and screwed down in price to a point where you say "is it all worth it". People AU is our future. Yes we buy imported cars and cloths etc But food? We in this country should be completly self sufficient. I applaud all of you for your opinion.
Steve

[lorrieandjas]

Hi Steve - agree 10000% on the food front. The problem is that most people want things that historically we couldn't get - particularly things out of season. I think a lot of people forget that things like fruit can only be got locally when in-season. But people want them out of season so we import. Look at oranges from the US, apples out of season, etc. Garlic comes from China, Mexico, etc. And they use cyanide to bleach it because people want the outside of their garlic bulb to look white!

On that front I absolutely agree - we waste a lot of food in this world because it sits on docks waiting for buyers due to tariffs, etc - what we should really be doing is eating and producing those things we can. For example - growing rice in Australia is crazy - it is so water-intensive and inefficient to grow it here - but what do we do? We grow it here to export some of it - and THEN import more to make up for local demand.

Not that I'm a raving greenie - however some of the permaculture principles do make a lot of sense - more so on a national scale.

Jas

[BearGUST]

People AU is our future. Yes we buy imported cars and cloths etc But food? We in this country should be completly self sufficient. I applaud all of you for your opinion.
Steve
I am all for buying Australian made. Why are imported clothes and cars OK?

[lorrieandjas]

Hi Bear.... Unfortunately some of the things we want can't be bought Aussie made - because we don't make them. A Patrol is one example.

Jas

[MC97GQ]

The stupid thing is about all this you can still buy Australian made cheaper than some stuff from China,

Went to get new boots for work the other day, a pair of Rossi boots(made in South Australia) were more comfortable and significantly cheaper than the pair of Blundstones(which are now made in China) sitting on the same shelf.

It pays to do your homework because even the recognised brands that we are use to, are having a lend with their pricing structure, so as to reap higher profit margins.

Mark

[BearGUST]

Hi Bear.... Unfortunately some of the things we want can't be bought Aussie made - because we don't make them. A Patrol is one example.

Jas

I know, I wish we did make a decent 4WD in this country!
There is a double standard around though, people will look for Australian made produce but think less about it when they're parting with 10's of thousands of $$$ for a new car (maybe a car to sit next to the Patrol in the garage).
The automotive manufacturing industry is huge - from R&D, suppliers, manufacturers, etc. Those who think we don't need the industry aren't seeing the big picture.
Holden, Ford and Toyota make world class cars in Australia. They won't be in 10 years time if things keep going the same way.

[mudnut]

The stupid thing is about all this you can still buy Australian made cheaper than some stuff from China,

Went to get new boots for work the other day, a pair of Rossi boots(made in South Australia) were more comfortable and significantly cheaper than the pair of Blundstones(which are now made in China) sitting on the same shelf.

It pays to do your homework because even the recognised brands that we are use to, are having a lend with their pricing structure, so as to reap higher profit margins.

Mark

And there's the salt in the wound. The big brands get stuff made overseas and still charge us the high prices for inferior products.

[Steve4wdin]

While we imported oranges from the US, Our oranges were in season. Our poor farmers had to plow perfectly good product into the ground because w/w wouldn`t buy them. I know of a farmer who grew corn. He had a "contract" to supply w/w. A bad season through no fault of his own and w/w sent him to the wall and moved on to the next victim.

[mudnut]

Yes. Its amazing to see what people will do to oneanother for a bit of profit...

[Steve4wdin]

Sorry I feel very strongly about this. Ford is about to stop producing all cars in AU. They may assemble some only. Cars produced in the future will be called "world cars"
Bear, I agree about the car market. It affects all the different suppliers of all the different parts. Families etc As I previously said will our kids have jobs?
Steve

[lorrieandjas]

Just look at the "price wars" that go on with milk and other products. Whilst I don't believe always in Government intervention and believe in a free market (capitalism) there does need to be either some subsidy paid to farmers via the Govt (which result in increased taxes) or a minimum price point set (which will result in higher shelf prices). My preference would be minimum floor prices because then as a consumer you have the choice to incur the higher cost - if its done via the tax system it is not truly user pays - but all pay!

The reason California navels are imported is simply price. There is no price protection in place for local farmers for oranges (as far as I am aware) and with the AUD being strong of late overseas products are more competitive......

[macca]

The stupid thing is about all this you can still buy Australian made cheaper than some stuff from China,

Went to get new boots for work the other day, a pair of Rossi boots(made in South Australia) were more comfortable and significantly cheaper than the pair of Blundstones(which are now made in China) sitting on the same shelf.

It pays to do your homework because even the recognised brands that we are use to, are having a lend with their pricing structure, so as to reap higher profit margins.

Mark

Worn Blunnies for years and my 6 month old ones have the stitching let go on the sides. That has never happened before. Will have a look at them Rossi's.

[MEGOMONSTER]

These sorts of things cannot be changed. It's our lifestyle and we do what all creatures and people have done before us, and that is to ADAPT to our new environment. First we didn't want stuff from Taiwan, Taiwan raised the price of goods, so we went to china, they raised the price of goods, now Bangladesh. Very hard to compete with 2 dollars a day wages, compared with 2 dollars for 2-5 minutes for us.


Never argue with an idiot, cos he'll bring you down to his level, then beat you with experience. Y2K

[mudski]

I am all for buying Australian made. Why are imported clothes and cars OK?

With clothes, your choice of aussie made, 100% aussie made, is nearly zero, and cars you say? Well if there was a 4by as good as a Patrol made locally I'm sure I, and many others, would buy it.
Anyone noticed how small a family chook is now these days? I'm not a big person but I can hog down a nearly whole chook by myself. I went into Coles the other day and asked for a family chook. The girl hand one over to me and I said to her " A chicken, not a quail!" And it was family size too. For $11!!!
Gave it back and went to the Asain charcoal chicken joint next door, got a real, sized chook to $2 more and they even cut it up for me. I know theres supposed to be no more hormones in them but they need to let them grow atleast before they kill them.
Plus we get all our fruit and veg from our local grocer, who gets his produce only from local farms. Coles and Safeway piss me off with their dollar saving add's promoting how good they are to customers and all they are doing is squeezing the wholesalers more of profit. The big chains are losing any coin at all. Yes we do save a little but someone down the line has to suffer.

[NissanGQ4.2]

]As I previously said will our kids have jobs?


Not really Steve, there may be a few but not many, everything in the future will be replaced with computers and robots

[fracster]

How very, very true.The UK is right royally screwed for the forseeable future.
Could be worse..... could be living in the UK or US for that matter. I f you think this country is going to sh@t, just be thankful you live here and not there ......... and its not just the government or large companies to blame, its us as the consumers too

[mudski]

Not really Steve, there may be a few but not many, everything in the future will be replaced with computers and robots

Tell them to get a trade. like a sparkie , builder, plumber etc etc. They will always be needed. Something I missed out on doing and wished I had, being a sparkie. Too old now to get my certifacate for it. Plus I couldn't afford to live on apprentice wages anyhow with a mortgage, two kids and a wife to pay for.

[NissanGQ4.2]

Tell them to get a trade. like a sparkie , builder, plumber etc etc. They will always be needed. Something I missed out on doing and wished I had, being a sparkie. Too old now to get my certifacate for it. Plus I couldn't afford to live on apprentice wages anyhow with a mortgage, two kids and a wife to pay for.

What makes you say they? I beg to differ

[mudski]

Tell me when a robot could dig a hole in the ground under a house, crawl through a roof and lay cabling, install a tap, install gpo, install a solar PV system on a roof, lay bricks down, mix motar, wolf whistle at hot chicks walking by etc etc
Keep begging I say.
They, the tradies will alway be needed.

[BearGUST]

Yeah, there are some things that can't be taken offshore. I'm a motor mechanic by trade, although service intervals are getting further apart there will always be some work.

[NissanGQ4.2]

Tell me when a robot could dig a hole in the ground under a house, crawl through a roof and lay cabling, install a tap, install gpo, install a solar PV system on a roof, lay bricks down, mix motar, wolf whistle at hot chicks walking by etc etc
Keep begging I say.
They, the tradies will alway be needed.

I bet you people making cars back in the good old days said that too when someone said cars will be built by robots one day.

[mudski]

I, you, my kids, my kids kids will be long and gone before any robot will be able to come knocking on your door to come and fit a gpo outlet, or replace a tap in your house. Plus I ain't that old. Prolly not much older than you.

[NissanGQ4.2]

I, you, my kids, my kids kids will be long and gone before any robot will be able to come knocking on your door to come and fit a gpo outlet, or replace a tap in your house. Plus I ain't that old. Prolly not much older than you.

You callingme old *L*

maybe, maybe not, technology advances in leaps and bonds. Don't get me wrong I have 2 kids under 6 and hope that there is jobs there for them in the future, and even if our kids aren't competing with robots or company's going overseas they will be competing with companies employing people from overseas to work here.

[mudski]

You callingme old *L*

maybe, maybe not, technology advances in leaps and bonds. Don't get me wrong I have 2 kids under 6 and hope that there is jobs there for them in the future, and even if our kids aren't competing with robots or company's going overseas they will be competing with companies employing people from overseas to work where.

Thats already happening here alot. In the trades too. Painters and plasterer's around my area barely speak a word of engrish! Funny watching them though after a hard days work, They are covered in dust from asshole to breakfast and they all pile into their family type car, Camry wagon seems to be the choice around here, with all their gear thrown in the back an drive off. Annoying thing about these guys is that they undercut everyone by a mile and make it real hard to a quote to come through and deliver and from what I have seen their quality of workmanship doesn't leave a lot to be desired.

[fracster]

We also got a huge influx of east europeans, Poles, Romanian etc, when the EU expanded.

Most would work for less than the average UK worker, no problem with that as compared to what they earned at home, it was still a good wage. The knock on effect was that a helluva a lot of workers are now on minimum wage and the prospects of things improving are not good. Plus we have a generation, or so it seems, that are intent on living life on benefits, with no interest in finding a career or job. So where the future monies come from to pay these benefits and our pensions, is anybodies guess.

Way I look at it, no matter how bad things are here, I have lived and worked in far worse places, many people still do live in far worse places. At least we don`t get daily rocket attacks yet.

[mudski]

I hear you mate, its happening here too...

[DX grunt]

I live in a small town in the North Eastern Wheatbelt area of WA. Our 'little' town has a population of about 400 people.

We have to collect our mail from the Post Office, because there is no delivery service.
There is a Registered Nurse at the Nursing Post, 2 days a week and the doctor visits town once a week.
If you're lucky he may have the prescription you want, otherwise it's a 40k drive one way, or 75k's the other, to pick up your script.
No bakery. We rely on the local IGA or the cafe (home made rolls)
One butcher
One cafe.
One hotel/motel,
one caravan park
one hair dresser,
2 banks and an agency,
about 3 farm shops,
one cop shop
one garage,
one fuel depot,
one District High School that only goes up to year 10. More than year 10 and you have to go to boarding school or an Agricultural College.
volunteer ambulance and Dept of Fire and Emergency Services officers
nearest hospital 40k's away. Next closest 70k's away. RFDS on request
Govt Utilities workers
Local Government Authority (Shire)
Several light industrial businesses
one transport company
Lots of tourists in wildflower season.

I shop and use local services when I can. The nearest biggest town is about 75k away.

I used to feel guilty about shopping out of town, but now I don't. I only drive out of town about once a month or so and I do take advantage of cheaper prices. I don't know anyone that wouldn't. I can buy diesel up to 10C a litre cheaper sometimes in the city.

I made the decision to shop locally after considering lots of things - including the 150k round trip to the nearest big town. The next biggest town is about 450k return. I've decided to cut my losses by paying a bit more by shopping locally, but in the long run, it's probably cheaper to shop local than pay for 150k's worth of fuel in my daily driver troll.

I basically get out of town for a change of scenery and sanity. lol. Where I am, it's either brown (summer) or green (winter) with the odd crop of yellow canola. You either love it or hate it - in my opinion.

I love the lifestyle of small towns - apart from the BS local politics and gossip that flies around.

Shopping in small towns/communities keeps them alive and vibrant. If you don't shop local, especially in small towns, there's a damn good chance that you'll lose it!

Take care out there.

Rossco

[MC97GQ]

Rossco,

Great post mate I live in similar circumnstances, but we don't have half the things you've got.

Unfortunately, Pubs shut(we still have our little club) General Store shut, luckily we still have our bakery and a local cafe and a few gift shops catering to tourist trade.

The reasons the pub and store shut, is people moved into town and thought they would make a fortune fleecing the locals of their hard earned by selling one item at big profit instead of selling lots of items at small profit. The last lot of people who had the general store wanted to open at 9am and close at 5pm, what customers are you going to pick up with those hours.

The cafe that opened recently have decent prices for locals and great service, the bakery unfortunately just caters to the tourist trade and it is way to expensive to really buy bread or rolls there, so most people head to Cooma(nearest big town) to buy that stuff.

I wish we could shop locally( although I suppose Cooma now is sort of local 35k's away) but it gets harder and harder.

Any way that's my thoughts

Mark

[Winnie]

I support every single shop in my town. Yep, the pub, the bakery and the milk bar.

DIAL-A-TAP

[mudnut]

Our local manufacturers have had a major blow, with wind tower construction being awarded to Korea. I've had a gut full, so I've been smashing the chrismas lights at the top of each page. Feels good to get the anger out.

[Steve4wdin]

Thers a point I think some of you guys are missing. Call me negative but!!! There may be mechanics, builders, elect etc but if people don`t have jobs, there is no money to pay trades. It is a flow on affect. Look at Spain. 25% unemployment. Who whould like be be a tradie over there. People stave or steal.
I too have smashed the Xmas lights, it makes me laugh.

[DX grunt]

I too have smashed the Xmas lights and almost my lappy screen. I'm almost considering withdrawing my forum sponsorship next year!!!!!!

Love you AB, but hate your VB. hahahahaha

How's the family, BTW ? lol

[The BigFella]

Dick Smith,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, its taken me a few years to convince my wife but we now purchase as many Dick Smith products as we can.
Regardless of price difference, thats a hard obstacle to get over however you have to look at it as investing in our kids future.

I have a mate who is a milk producer, he was dictated to by the "big boys" and ended up selling his milk for less then it cost to produce?
Woolworths said he had to "soak it up" as the market was driving down the milk prices?
Yet when his wife bought produce from the supermarket the prices were still on the increase, we all know the cheap milk and bread was only to get us in the door right?
So he decided to make a stand, it almost cost him his farm. What he did was this, he was under contract to the "big boys" to supply milk.
He was restricted by government and not able to supplying or sell his produce to the general public so he parked his little tanker across the front gate blocking entry to the "big boys" and offered his milk to the local community for a donation only!
He was astounded at the result, he now gets what his first grade produce is worth.
He made such a song and dance about what Woolworths were doing to him on TV and news papers they dropped him,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, for the better!
Now he has a smaller market and has helped to establish a small local co-operative of milk producers.
That last sentence sound familiar?
A local Dairy Co-operative, now thats a novel idea!

It is hard to justify the change, however we need to stand upto the "big boys" and treat them like the bullies and thugs they are,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[MQ MAD]

From a manufacturing point
Youll never ever compete when the big players have the power
Wether thats to shaft the grower and lock em in on a price,shaft the workers into rotating shifts to avoid penalty rates,or take the bat and ball and move off shore
Its all good we complain now,but we needed to act years ago, when the $2 shops hit the place and took the market share of others
Places like big commercial chain stores, i wont mention names, who take their accounts that far out the little fella cant afford to deal with them
I had an opportunity to supply to one such major chain store,180 day account , yeah right
They hold the stock on the shelf,i maintain it , all that stuff,do the stock take, basically look after it, then 180 days after its sold i get paid ......
Once the competition is removed the prices go skyward
Funny part is alot of the O/S cheap labour are up in arms over the measly pay they get
No in house manufacturing, then its all off shore, they can command whatever price they want
Its sad that my opposition can manufacture off shore, throw in a container,pay all duties and taxes and land the stuff here cheaper than my raw material cost
Its all profit first and foremost,some people get too gready, even workers want this n that,yet the bottom line is companies dont make money they either close or find cost cutting ways to stay open
Ive had to flick all workers, too much headache , and go bare bones no frills products
People wont pay the big bucks, and cheap perhaps lesser quality wins
10 years ago,i could buy a sheet of steel cheap goin thru an O/S company than buying it direct from BHP here in austarlia,where its made .....
The writing is on the wall, been there for years,while we all buy that cheap O/S products, have a good look around your home tell me whats made here, aussie manufacturing is dying daily
The powers that be are too stoopid to see we need tradies and proper qualified ones, not short shifted text book trained monkeys, but they dont help to push it
Wheres the incentive to work apprentice wages at a few bucks an hour when delivering pizzas yeilds twice if not 3 times the hourly rate
Rant over, time for a scotch from an O/S manufacturer ......

[threedogs]

Never ever heard the term "POLES AND WIRES" now the last 2 months thats all I've heard

[MC97GQ]

Dick Smith,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, its taken me a few years to convince my wife but we now purchase as many Dick Smith products as we can.Regardless of price difference, thats a hard obstacle to get over however you have to look at it as investing in our kids future.

To play Devils advocate,

Dick Smith(the man) made a fortune buying cheap stuff from Taiwan, sold his company to Woolworths and is now trying to compete against them, he has seen the light about aussie made(so he can make more money), spare me!!!

BigFella, do some research and buy from Aussie companies who have been trading for years without the help of the big retailers.

There are plenty of Aussie companies who are still battling away.

Guys, Check out onlyoz.com.au (http://www.onlyoz.com.au) it's worth OUR while.

Mark

[mudski]

Guys, Check out onlyoz.com.au (http://www.onlyoz.com.au) it's worth OUR while.

Mark

Hehe, they better take the bottle of Rosella sauce out of their picture on the home page soon.

[taslucas]

Buy as much produce from local farmers markets. It's usually tastes better, you get to talk to the person that grew it/ made it, it keeps your money in the community.
Always good for homemade relish, sauce, cakes, etc.

Support any side-of-the-road farmers stalls whether it be a bag of spuds, or a bunch of flowers.

Don't shop by price...... I know it's expensive to feed a family but realistically, the money you save by buying import cr@p, usually just gets spent on other luxury items.

Don't shop at those $2 shops. Save up and buy aussie made quality items that are worth owning.

Check out your local area and find and support the small businesses.

[BigRAWesty]

Don't buy willies / Coles milk for $1/L.. buy the $1.50/L milk. More goes to the farmer and you get more milk / L.. not water and additives..

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[Clunk]

Don't buy willies / Coles milk for $1/L.. buy the $1.50/L milk. More goes to the farmer and you get more milk / L.. not water and additives..

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

Why not buy the $2/ltr milk?

I'm not a chemist must surely the milk would separate from water if it was left to stand?

I have to say I buy the 2lts for $2 not from williies or cyles but from IGA, whether that makes a difference or not I'm not sure. I believe they were the ones who started the milk pricing wars to get more people into their stores..... we like others are currently on one wage, so go where the specials are and also internet shopping to try and save some coin to make ends meet. When the missus returns to work, we'll have to carry on doing the same, so we can pay for the kids day care....... it's an unfortunate cycle which has to be done. Now I could sell my house and rent instead of paying a mortgage, which would save some money but then there's your security gone. Having to find a new place to live every 6 - 12 months because the landlord has decided to sell or will not extend the contract for longer, that to me is not a steady upbringing for my kids................ especially when rentals are not so easy to come buy over this way.

Dont get me wrong, I'm all for supporting local produce companies but my family comes first and always will.

[MQ MAD]

Buy as much produce from local farmers markets. It's usually tastes better, you get to talk to the person that grew it/ made it, it keeps your money in the community.
Always good for homemade relish, sauce, cakes, etc.

Support any side-of-the-road farmers stalls whether it be a bag of spuds, or a bunch of flowers.

Don't shop by price...... I know it's expensive to feed a family but realistically, the money you save by buying import cr@p, usually just gets spent on other luxury items.

Don't shop at those $2 shops. Save up and buy aussie made quality items that are worth owning.

Check out your local area and find and support the small businesses.

Most local market sellers dont grow their own , a large majority buy cheap stuff from vegie,fruit wholesalers and resell .......
My family used to do it and some members still do it
Selling on roadside unless you obtain a permit from local council at a stoopid cost you can be fined
Local fruit/veg are a drop in the ocean to what we as consumers buy daily,weekly,fortnightly
As i mentioned look around what you have in your home, less that 5 % is made in australia, we are all guilty

[mudnut]

Another big problem is foriegn ownership. If other countries own our land, then there is a possibility that they will dictate local politics. And we may all end up as tenants in our own country.

[The BigFella]

I agree with placing limits on foreign ownership. Our country has been "selling out" for years now.
And we just sit buy and say "ah well, nothing we can really do",,,,,,,,,
But if we make some noise together we might get heard!

[Clunk]

All very well and good placing limits on foreign ownership but first you need enough Aussie folk who are willing to part with their coin to make an investment and a government who are not always looking to get a nice little kick back from the deal........... Money money money, it's all about the money

Don't stroke it, TAP it!!!!.....