Australians' strong concerns about animal welfare put us at odds with Asian live export markets; but sharing our food production technologies gives us a potential advantage.
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AUSTRALIA IN THE ASIAN CENTURY – A series examining Australia’s role in the rapidly transforming Asian region. Delivered in partnership with the Australian government.
Today, Professor Clive Phillips…
Julia Gillard and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono both acknowledge the importance of a strong relationship between Australia and Indonesia.
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A detailed report launched in Parliament House within hours of the ALP leadership ballot last Monday revealed that, whoever is Prime Minister, the Australian government needs to act decisively and urgently…
Foreign Affairs minister Kevin Rudd with his Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa.
AAP
Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd recently gave a rev-up to Australian businesses about the neglected opportunity that exists on our northern doorstep. He accused Australian firms of harbouring decades…
Our conduct has damaged relations with Indonesia and has serious implications for the environment.
AAP
Indonesia’s decision to cut live cattle imports from Australia is the clearest example yet of the significant and long-lasting damage that June’s export ban did to relations with our nearest neighbour…
Indonesia's Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Julia Gillard both have domestic issues to overcome.
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Indonesia has announced that it will finally join the
ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement in January next year, making it the last of the 12 states involved to formally to implement the agreement…
Gillard made ground with Pacific leaders at the APEC summit, but Australia has much work left to do.
AAP
Australia’s future is clearly linked to the dynamism of North Asia and Indonesia, Vietnam and other economies in the region. Yet many significant challenges confront Australia in realising the promised…
Qantas management have taken a risky approach to end their dispute with unions.
AFP/William West
Qantas planes are set to return to the air today after Fairwork Australia ruled to terminate an industrial dispute that grounded the airline over the weekend.
The extraordinary action on Saturday by…
Despite strong export data, Australia's trade relationship with China isn't as developed as we think.
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AUSTRALIA IN ASIA: In the seventh part of our series, James Laurenceson looks at the challenges in doing business with China.
The headline numbers surrounding Australia’s exports to China make for impressive…
Planting the idea: Opposition Leader Tony Abbott opposes a carbon tax
AAP Image/Julian Smith
The big question about the carbon tax is not whether it’s a good or a bad idea in theory.
The major issue is whether it makes sense for Australia to implement it at a time of great uncertainty, both in…
The benefits of lifting the import ban on bananas outweigh the risks.
Maxey
The ban on importing apples from New Zealand was lifted earlier this month, bringing to an end a restriction established in 1921.
With this long history of protection from imports, it is not unexpected…
The law treats animals as merely "property" – but is this out of step with community expectations?
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Last week’s resounding defeat of two private members bills seeking to end live animal exports demonstrates the myopic vision Australian politicians have for the country’s agricultural industry.
This is…
As a new global financial crisis looms, Australia shouldn't overestimate its dependence on China.
AAP
Amidst the widening global financial turmoil, a strong Chinese economy is certainly one positive for the Australian economy.
But should we believe it is only factor that will save the day? The answer…
Despite the clear benefits, Japan's agricultural sector seems resistent to an FTA with Australia.
AAP
Prime Minister Julia Gillard was one of the first world leaders to visit Japan after the nation was stricken on 3 March by the earthquake-tsunami-radiation triple disaster.
But the Australian government…
Welfare standards adopted as part of the ban being lifted fall short of public expectations.
AAP
When it comes to the live animal export industry, the government’s knee-jerk reactions leave it open to criticism that it dances to whichever group, industry or the animal activists, plays the loudest…
So-called "humane" industry slaughter practices need to be investigated more carefully.
AAP
One of the more welcome results from the furore around Australia’s involvement in live animal exports is that some Australians appear to have started rethinking their food choices.
Last month, The Age…
Livestock may also face mistreatment without leaving Australian shores.
AAP
Throughout the heated debate around live animal exports over the past week, there has been an implicit assumption that the mistreatment of Australian cattle only ever begins after the animals have left…
Before blaming Indonesia, we must reform the way we fund livestock industry research.
AFP Photo/SUTANTA
Now that the Federal Government has finally succumbed to public pressure and suspended live cattle exports to Indonesia, it is worth considering why we were so caught off guard by the shocking revelations…
Indonesian abattoirs should agree to stun cows before they're slaughtered.
AAP
The Federal Government’s move to ban live cattle exports to a handful of Indonesian abattoirs will not, in the long term, end the inhumane slaughtering practices revealed in Monday’s Four Corners report…
China can easily rouse its banks, but awakening its consumers will be tougher.
AAP
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett’s bold claim on Friday that his state was looking “over the horizon” past Canberra to forge stronger links with China capped off a few weeks of strong rhetoric from…
