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Letters: Moorebank hub, Aussie dollar and money laundering

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Moorebank hub project devoid of objective measurement

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann's utterances ("Cormann confirms infrastructure cash unit, April 6) on the Moorebank "freight hub" will not stand the test of time. It is destined to fail. As a project, and as an example of infrastructure financing.

Why? Because of the absence of objective measurement of key factors in the evaluation of Moorebank as a suitable site. The freight hub is located in the river bound area of East Liverpool that serves as a traffic corridor for the whole expanse of, and still growing, south western region of Sydney. It is a problematic situation of risk and cost.

Why the absence of objective measurement? Because the "why", "what", and "how" were displaced by the "who". The trails of industrial history see Chris Corrigan of Patricks / Kaplan / Qube as loved by the LNP and despised by the labour movement.

Moorebank was Corrigan's initiative. He saw it elevated into Liberal Party policy in 2004. The SIMTA site was sold to private investors in 2003. Labor came into government federally in 2007. Then ninister Anthony Albanese complimented Mr Corrigan by picking up his business plan and creating Labor's own intermodal project as a blunt instrument against Corrigan's interests.

The project has since been devoid of objective measurement. And it will cost all concerned, one way or another.

It is time for Mr Turnbull to call in Mr Corrigan for a yarn.

Michael Byrne

President - East Liverpool Progress Association

Australian dollar must be kept competitive

I am amazed that the various commentators on the current economic situation, the housing bubble and interest rate policies are failing to recognise the "elephant in the room".

it is absolutely essential that if Australia is to maintain growth after the mining investment boom that it keeps the value of the Australian dollar competitive.

It is now obvious that in today's more globalised economy, interest rate differentials between economies strongly affect exchange rates.

The recent recovery in prices has pushed the commodity price index back up to about 138, as high as the level it had fallen to in August 2012. Then the exchange rate against the US dollar was $1.05. Today it is about $0.76. In August 2012, the Australian official interest rate was 3.50 per cent against US 0.13 per cent. Today it is 1.5 per cent against 0.88 per cent.

While the "elephant in the room" might not be obvious from inner Sydney and Melbourne, it is very obvious in the trade exposed economies of regional Australia.

The actions of the Reserve Bank APRA and ASIC in finding "other levers to pull" are to be applauded.


Bill Cummings

Cummings Economics

Artists impression of the Moorebank Intermodal Company freight hub. 

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Cairns, Qld

Giving Baker's delight due fillip

Philip Baker's idea ("Widen the gap and make things tougher for property investors", April 6) for toning down the rampaging housing market without inviting the usual protests from investors, property lobbyists and budget hawks deserves careful consideration. By treating annual property losses as capital instead of revenue, investor demand largely fanned by tax deductions should abate.

There is not much downside, ignoring the ignorable protests from purists addicted to the artificial distinction between capital and revenue. It is yet another accounting fiction after all, with all cashflow being fungible.

Baker does not explain how his idea would work when the property becomes positively-geared and produces profits. Nobody invests for perpetual losses, given that even with tax relief, a net loss must be financed. And with the property boom at its peak, a bust, which triggered the suggestion in the first place, cannot be far behind. Will symmetry be forsaken, as is often the case in tax for protecting the exchequer, by treating profits as currently taxable instead of the mooted 'capital punishment'? Or would they be quarantined against future property-related losses, as with foreign losses?

An idea whose time for discussion is nigh.

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Ramani Venkatramani

Rhodes, NSW

Australia the premier money launderer

Regarding the articles "Torrent of Chinese money feeds property bubble" (March 30) and "70 per cent of Chinese pay cash to buy Australian homes,
sparking money-laundry worry"
(April 3).

In 2017, leading Australian politicians regardless of party seem to be saying "What is good for developers is good for Australia!".
This is further supported by politicians quoted saying that we are making a successful shift to a "service economy".

What is meant by "service economy"? It appears that the major service that Australia provides targets specific organisations to launder money.
No doubt the money is coming from crime syndicates around the world, which have struck it rich meeting the demand for legal and illegal drugs.
In fact, the supply side cannot meet the demand for drugs. These syndicates have silos of drug supplied dirty money and the money needs to be laundered, which is where Australia comes in.

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All reports indicate that there is a torrent of dirty money coming in and not just from China. It is hypothesised that this dirty torrent is filling the coffers of developers, political parties, politicians, and banks. Our laundry cleaning "service based economy" is booming, which is good too for inflating our dollar (minimising our ability to compete in the world economy).

Our government seems to have neither the will nor the resources to shut down the money laundering service. According to the Berlin report "Doors Wide Open - Corruption and Real Estate in Four Key Markets", Australia in fact is leading the way in world-wide money laundering services.

Therefore, it is assumed that when a foreign buyer says property is cheap here, they mean our money laundering service through the property market is cheap. It is dirty money in and clean money out, fast and cheap.

It is assumed that on the "through put" side of the "Input—>Through Put—>Output" model developers are receiving torrents of money
constructing very cheaply made high-rises and a percentage of that received money is no doubt finding its way "under the table" going to political parties and politicians.

There is no incentive to stop this "torrent of money".

Therefore, it seems it is time for everyone to put their money into the property market in any way they can. "Just ride the painted pony and let the spinning wheels spin".

Tom White

Bondi Junction, NSW

Capital gains changes can bite

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The government needs to tread carefully when considering changes to capital gains tax. The likely effect of an increase to normal tax rates would be that investors don't sell.

This leads to a massive fall in revenue to the government and a drying up of listings from investors selling. When former US president Ronald Reagan slashed the rate of CGT, the revenue to the government went up! The reverse can easily happen.

In the longer term the reluctance to sell property, shares or businesses leads to very inefficient uses of capital.

There is a refusal to acknowledge the true situation. If you have low interest rates and flood the economy with liquidity, prices of scarce assets will rise.

Property is the most obvious but art, vintage cars and other collectables have also risen in value in this climate.

John Hill

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Burwood, NSW

Mundine's energy figures are out of date

Warren Mundine ("Australia's needless rush into power poverty", April 5) should have been a little more thorough before relying upon 2015 metrics before claiming he has the answer for lowering energy costs.

Prices for renewables have declined substantially in the past 24 months. Earlier this this year Bloomberg New Energy Finance released more up to date figures on the Levelised Cost of Energy. Their analysis found that the lowest end of estimates for new conventional coal generation were more than double the LCOE for wind and 40 per cent more than large-scale solar. Prices for these renewables are expected to fall even further in the medium term relative to stable prices for coal.

As for the vote of confidence in nuclear, Mr Mundine obviously missed this week's announcement of the bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric Company, one of the worlds largest suppliers of nuclear power. This collapse was primarily due to major cost overruns on a number of its current plant constructions. If nuclear ever got past the environmental and political hurdles in Australia, it would likely face an even tougher time from the banks.

Terry Daly

Kingsford, NSW

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Poultry link to influenza

Researchers at the University of NSW are warning of the increasing danger of deadly influenza pandemics.

The solution should be obvious: to stop raising and eating animals. Chicken and turkey factory farms are so crowded and filthy that they are perfect reservoirs for disease. Tens of thousands of birds are packed in sheds teeming with bacteria and ammonia fumes; many become ill from the unsanitary environment. Laying hens are crammed in battery cages stacked tier upon tier. Faeces from the birds on top fall on those below, providing ideal conditions for diseases like bird flu to spread.

According to the World Health Organisation, people can become infected with bird flu by eating undercooked infected chicken or by eating food prepared on the same cutting board as contaminated chicken or eggs. Even touching the broken eggshells of infected eggs puts consumers at risk.

Even flu vaccination is no guarantee of safety, as 25 per cent of children who died of influenza from 2010 to 2014 had been immunised. The best way to prevent bird flu – and save billions of animals from pain and suffering – is by eating a vegan diet.

Laura Weyman-Jones

PETA Australia

Sydney, NSW

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