rashore Posted May 19, 2016 #1 Share Posted May 19, 2016 Sorry if this seems stupid.. and yes, I know, don't take memes seriously since they are usually wrong or out of context... But I saw a meme from a person in Australia. And it said "Share if you think Aussie farms should be Australian owned." And that seemed weird, and the only thing I came up with after a very brief google was something about China buying Australian farms... So I figured with all the Aussies here, they might shed some light on this subject for me. What's actually going on there, who's owning the farms? Thanks for the information that folks might be able to share with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Wearer of Hats Posted May 19, 2016 #2 Share Posted May 19, 2016 There have been a number of larger properties (ie roughly the same size as Luxemberg) that have been brought by Chinese farming (or mining) firms. Our government is full of .. Ahem ... people who are fine with this on the grounds it's money in the governments coffers. Basically, we're still in drought. We've been in drought since about 2010, it's not as bad as the last one where we had to effectively ration water in some capital cities, but by the standards of some other countries it'd be called "crippling". In drought the stations suffer. They have to buy feed for livestock. Feed is expensive. They have to buy water. Water is expensive. They have to take out loans to pay for these things. Banks foreclose on a whim. That leaves empty land and property in the hands of receivers who are now making no money at all off it. In steps Chinese/Indian/American firms. They have the capital and don't care about the drought. The banks have foreign ownership laws changed and voila, China now owns parts of Australia larger than some countries. Apparently, the competition is "good for business", according to the government. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hammerclaw Posted May 20, 2016 #3 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Set two Chinese down in a desert and they'll make a fortune selling rocks to each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyche101 Posted May 20, 2016 #4 Share Posted May 20, 2016 I thought it was more outback stuff, the people I know for the Darling Downs don't seem to be selling to foreign investors. This link might shed some light LINK - How much of Australia’s farmland is owned by foreign companies? Foreign investment in agriculture, forestry and fishing Qatar $880m USA $553m Canada $380m Singapore $328m China* $205m Other** $14m Hong Kong $11m Qatar *China excludes SARs and Taiwan. **All other countries not in the top 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Wearer of Hats Posted May 20, 2016 #5 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Also, here's something stupid for you... The price of milk in Australian shops is lower than the cost to produce the milk. The pillocks in Canberra are now having inquests into the milk PRODUCTION industry. Not the shops underpaying the dairy farms, an inquest into how the farms are run. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyche101 Posted May 23, 2016 #6 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Also, here's something stupid for you... The price of milk in Australian shops is lower than the cost to produce the milk. The pillocks in Canberra are now having inquests into the milk PRODUCTION industry. Not the shops underpaying the dairy farms, an inquest into how the farms are run. I hadn't heard that - that is just insane, how much lower that a dollar a litre do they think Farmers can drop to? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Posted May 23, 2016 #7 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Set two Chinese down in a desert and they'll make a fortune selling rocks to each other. Care to elaborate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Wearer of Hats Posted May 23, 2016 #8 Share Posted May 23, 2016 I hadn't heard that - that is just insane, how much lower that a dollar a litre do they think Farmers can drop to? As if farmers get a dollar a litre. I reckon the best they'll see is 10cents a litre, thr Lions share of that dollar will still go to the supermarket. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyche101 Posted May 23, 2016 #9 Share Posted May 23, 2016 As if farmers get a dollar a litre. I reckon the best they'll see is 10cents a litre, thr Lions share of that dollar will still go to the supermarket. Ohh yeah I hear you, sorry I meant as retail value, after transport, treatment packaging etc. It's still less than we were paying 5 years ago. I am sure there are better ways to balance the economy than take it out on the farmers. I buy Norco when possible myself. Locally owned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hammerclaw Posted May 24, 2016 #10 Share Posted May 24, 2016 17 hours ago, Timonthy said: Set two Chinese down in a desert and they'll make a fortune selling rocks to each other. Care to elaborate? In my country Chinese have the reputation of being hard-working industrious and capable of making a good living in poorer circumstances others would eschew. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hammerclaw Posted May 24, 2016 #11 Share Posted May 24, 2016 In my country we pay some farmers not to grow or produce anything so that the ones that do can get prices high enough to support their efforts. I visited a farm in Powell Valley here in East Tennessee once with the owner's niece. He had just bought his teenage kids a new Toyota each for getting good grades. He had several thousand acres--all fallow--because he was being subsidized by the government to not raise milk kine. Talk about an easy living! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hammerclaw Posted May 24, 2016 #12 Share Posted May 24, 2016 Let foreigners buy up all the real estate they want and pour their wealth into your country. After all, they can't take it with them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rashore Posted May 24, 2016 Author #13 Share Posted May 24, 2016 Well this topic is turning out to be more interesting than I intended. Good information folks, It's helped explain the situation to me 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unusual Tournament Posted May 30, 2016 #14 Share Posted May 30, 2016 On 19 May 2016 at 10:12 PM, rashore said: Sorry if this seems stupid.. and yes, I know, don't take memes seriously since they are usually wrong or out of context... But I saw a meme from a person in Australia. And it said "Share if you think Aussie farms should be Australian owned." And that seemed weird, and the only thing I came up with after a very brief google was something about China buying Australian farms... So I figured with all the Aussies here, they might shed some light on this subject for me. What's actually going on there, who's owning the farms? Thanks for the information that folks might be able to share with. ...actually its a form of racism to suggest that the Chinese are buying Australian farms and hence Australia by default and i wouldn't pay much mind to such talk. Its okay for American and Europeans to buy property and start businesses in Australia without batting the eyelids of those very same people that fear Chinese "domination" but somehow, someone with slanted eyes doing the same is considered against Australian interests, go figure. The fact is that foreign property ownership is considered as foreign investment into our economy and as such very much encouraged by all political party's regardless of the colour or complexion of the investor... the hick Australians have started to raise their ugly head unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unusual Tournament Posted May 30, 2016 #15 Share Posted May 30, 2016 On 20 May 2016 at 6:29 AM, Sir Wearer of Hats said: There have been a number of larger properties (ie roughly the same size as Luxemberg) that have been brought by Chinese farming (or mining) firms. Our government is full of .. Ahem ... people who are fine with this on the grounds it's money in the governments coffers. Basically, we're still in drought. We've been in drought since about 2010, it's not as bad as the last one where we had to effectively ration water in some capital cities, but by the standards of some other countries it'd be called "crippling". In drought the stations suffer. They have to buy feed for livestock. Feed is expensive. They have to buy water. Water is expensive. They have to take out loans to pay for these things. Banks foreclose on a whim. That leaves empty land and property in the hands of receivers who are now making no money at all off it. In steps Chinese/Indian/American firms. They have the capital and don't care about the drought. The banks have foreign ownership laws changed and voila, China now owns parts of Australia larger than some countries. Apparently, the competition is "good for business", according to the government. Actually i wonder if those very same people that want to protect Australian farms from the yellow man will also, with the same ethnic fervour defend Australian agriculture from the rising future threat of American synthetic food production. Food for thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Buzzkill Posted May 30, 2016 #16 Share Posted May 30, 2016 20 minutes ago, Leto_loves_melange said: ...actually its a form of racism to suggest that the Chinese are buying Australian farms and hence Australia by default and i wouldn't pay much mind to such talk. Its okay for American and Europeans to buy property and start businesses in Australia without batting the eyelids of those very same people that fear Chinese "domination" but somehow, someone with slanted eyes doing the same is considered against Australian interests, go figure. The fact is that foreign property ownership is considered as foreign investment into our economy and as such very much encouraged by all political party's regardless of the colour or complexion of the investor... the hick Australians have started to raise their ugly head unfortunately. The difference being that Australians can buy farms in Europe and America, but as far as I know, foreigners can't own land in China unless they live there. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unusual Tournament Posted May 30, 2016 #17 Share Posted May 30, 2016 6 minutes ago, Professor Buzzkill said: The difference being that Australians can buy farms in Europe and America, but as far as I know, foreigners can't own land in China unless they live there. Excellent point. Still those that complain about foreign ownership should be pointing their finger at the government for allowing it unreciprocated and not those acting in a lawful way. Reminds me of the Japanese property purchases of the eighties and nineties. Everyone was saying the same thing as they're saying now and I'm positive those very same people will be saying the same about another group of buyers in 20 years time. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Likely Guy Posted May 30, 2016 #18 Share Posted May 30, 2016 This is the kind of thing that should be criminal. In Vancouver, Canada (one of the hottest housing markets in the World) properties are being listed in Shanghai, China first. http://www.timescolonist.com/news/b-c/vancouver-real-estate-advertised-in-shanghai-first-1.2230013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Buzzkill Posted May 30, 2016 #19 Share Posted May 30, 2016 4 minutes ago, Likely Guy said: This is the kind of thing that should be criminal. In Vancouver, Canada (one of the hottest housing markets in the World) properties are being listed in Shanghai, China first. http://www.timescolonist.com/news/b-c/vancouver-real-estate-advertised-in-shanghai-first-1.2230013 Same here in Auckland nz. But I'm not complaining as I'm already on the property ladder. I would be mighty annoyed if i wasn't directly benefiting from it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Likely Guy Posted May 30, 2016 #20 Share Posted May 30, 2016 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Professor Buzzkill said: Same here in Auckland nz. But I'm not complaining as I'm already on the property ladder. I would be mighty annoyed if i wasn't directly benefiting from it That's how most people in Vancouver felt as well, at the time. Now, there are vacant bought up properties and no one can rent (vacancy rate of 1%) let alone afford to buy. Average house price is $1.4 million (over $1 million U.S.) and it takes the average home buyer 16 to 23 years to save for the down payment. Edit: This'll give you an idea. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-real-estate-house-prices-1.3564528 Edited May 30, 2016 by Likely Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rashore Posted May 30, 2016 Author #21 Share Posted May 30, 2016 16 hours ago, Likely Guy said: That's how most people in Vancouver felt as well, at the time. Now, there are vacant bought up properties and no one can rent (vacancy rate of 1%) let alone afford to buy. Average house price is $1.4 million (over $1 million U.S.) and it takes the average home buyer 16 to 23 years to save for the down payment. Edit: This'll give you an idea. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-real-estate-house-prices-1.3564528 Another question.. to address the bolded: Why is it that this is going on? Why can no one rent them? I would assume that it's because the property owners are just holding the places and either refusing to rent out or charging way too high? And in general.. Thanks again folks for being so informative. Sometimes I'm just downright ignorant about whats going on in the rest of the world. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Likely Guy Posted May 31, 2016 #22 Share Posted May 31, 2016 (edited) 5 hours ago, rashore said: Another question.. to address the bolded: Why is it that this is going on? Why can no one rent them? I would assume that it's because the property owners are just holding the places and either refusing to rent out or charging way too high? And in general.. Thanks again folks for being so informative. Sometimes I'm just downright ignorant about whats going on in the rest of the world. The properties are investments for Chinese billionaires and they don't want the hassle of tenants. Vancouver is perennially listed in the top ten most livable cities in the world. I imagine most Chinese cities rank near the bottom. One 15 year old $20 million dollar house was bought to be torn down to have something larger and more extravagant built. Edited May 31, 2016 by Likely Guy because I forgot something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Wearer of Hats Posted May 31, 2016 #23 Share Posted May 31, 2016 On 30 May 2016 at 0:57 PM, Leto_loves_melange said: Excellent point. Still those that complain about foreign ownership should be pointing their finger at the government for allowing it unreciprocated and not those acting in a lawful way. Reminds me of the Japanese property purchases of the eighties and nineties. Everyone was saying the same thing as they're saying now and I'm positive those very same people will be saying the same about another group of buyers in 20 years time. Cheers Didnt Aum Shiro or some other Japanese terrorist organisation/death cult buy property? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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