Australia Is Such an Overpriced Sh**hole - AAARGH

[downunder]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Agree that in the West we often take our Freedoms for granted, but in the UK seems to be heading towards the case that can say anything you like, as long no one else gets offended. and can put bodies onto the streets as long as they are peaceful (aka ineffectual ).

In the good old days a large number of Peasants marching down the street was something to fear......I do kinda like the French model of manning the barricades


Cynical? me? yeah

Still is something to fear in many areas in particular around med thesedays. (Egypt, Syriah, etc,etc.)

Was an issue with the Peasants in London recently and Thailand also I recall.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

I am no supporter of Monarchies anywhere, and find our own rather embarrasing (in principal and in person). No idea why other countries still want someone else's head of state as there own. Bizarre ..........

Well there is (IMO) one good reason for having a monarchy. It reduces the number of elections required to run a country. I don't mind the voting part but having to put up with the political ads and speeches before each election can be over the top!

[D&D]

Originally Posted by downunder

Still is something to fear in many areas in particular around med thesedays. (Egypt, Syriah, etc,etc.)

Was an issue with the Peasants in London recently and Thailand also I recall.

We are reminded of a comment by an OZ Airport Customs Officer, geeting a visiting relation from the US...responding to the visitor's remark that "It's really nice here, but it's just so far away from everything and everyone..." the Customs Officer said...

"It sure is...and that's the way we like it!"

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Well there is (IMO) one good reason for having a monarchy. It reduces the number of elections required to run a country. I don't mind the voting part but having to put up with the political ads and speeches before each election can be over the top!

I did appreciate that the Aus gov's tend to spring the election on you at short notice. So the election campaigns tended to be a few months of media speculation and denial, then a one month advertising blitz and then it is over. The US on the other hand goes on forever and bores me stupid even though I am hiding away in Sweden and never watch the Chicken Noodle Network.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Price = 18,000k
Shipping = $1,000 each? $2,000k
Duties = worst case 17% of FOB? $3,400
Paperwork time and labor = $500
Profit Margin Before Taxes = 30% $7,170
Sales Price = $31,070
VAT 10% = $3,107
Invoice price = $34,177

Freight is way out in my opinion and is what I was getting at when I said we are gouged on freight.
Here is a lightweight BBQ from a US crowd showing $334 in freight, so I think 300kg of motor will cost considerably more than your $1000.

But my argument is, that they are a Japanese motor that has been sent to the US and "Cumminised"

The version I have is the same Japanese motor and I imagine was sent to Australia and "Cumminised" in one of the many Cummins factories here.
Cummins - South Pacific

that being the case, what possible reason can there be for it being 100% + more expensive other than blatant ripoff?

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by cat man do

that being the case, what possible reason can there be for it being 100% + more expensive other than blatant ripoff?

prices are based on what people are stupid enough to pay. Australian prices have always been high and people are used to grinning and barring with it. Until no one buys locally, the prices will remain high.

Unfortunately distance, unique aussie requirements (i.e. ADR's on cars, Aus/NZ regs for Epirbs and so on), distribution deals and i would imagine a few other factors sometimes make it easier to just pay though the nose.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Freight is way out in my opinion

Hmm, maybe not.
Just did an online quote with this crowd Shipping To AUSTRALIA From USA on a part container

Price seemed more than reasonable considering package size and weight.
I wonder how much customs will ream me for or is the customs brokerage fee it?



Looks like I may be organising a part container of various goodies lickety split.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by cat man do

I wonder how much customs will ream me for

Customs says if made in America from American materials it complies with free trade agreement (Japanese base engine would cancel that out)
So 5% import and 10%gst bringing cost to my door of approx $11500 each.
Thats a saving of $7000 each

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Customs says if made in America from American materials it complies with free trade agreement (Japanese base engine would cancel that out)
So 5% import and 10%gst bringing cost to my door of approx $11500 each.
Thats a saving of $7000 each

Depends now on just how Cumminised they are i guess?

[Wand]

Originally Posted by D&D

214 posts later...could this thread actually be running outta fuel...?!?

I know this is off topic but...I guess the following SMH article means there's hope we'll (D&D&atsea) be real pals is 36 years.

Who would have thought it?
Fraser to deliver the Whitlam oration

AS MALCOLM FRASER sees it, he and Gough Whitlam are old enough that "if we disagree, we disagree". Sure, they didn't always see eye to eye (even though their heights allowed it) but no observer from 30-odd years ago would have foreseen just how cosy two old nemeses can get.

"On larger issues of where Australia stands, I think we have a fairly common view," says Mr Fraser, 81, of himself and Mr Whitlam, 95, the man he ousted from the prime ministership 36 years ago in one of Australia's more bitter and corrosive political battles.

"We want an independent, proud Australia contributing to civility and outcomes in our region, not a puppy dog of the USA.

As for Mr Whitlam, he went on record a decade ago saying he could not remember a 1990s issue "on which Malcolm and I have disagreed". And he is unlikely to disagree with yesterday's Fraser assessment that Mr Whitlam "always was a commanding figure let down by some ministers".

Now, amid the tempest his comments trigger at their every utterance, a rapprochement with Mr Whitlam seems almost complete.

Mr Fraser, the Liberal who oversaw the strategy of denying the Whitlam Labor government its money supply and thereby forcing an early election (in the end, the governor-general John Kerr stepped in and sacked Mr Whitlam), will deliver the next Gough Whitlam Oration next June 6.

The oration does not have a history extending to a tradition, but the inaugural address this year was by the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. It might have been expected that the chosen orators would be of the Labor brand but Eric Sidoti of the Whitlam Institute said the speech is not intended specifically to address the Whitlam legacy but for a prominent individual to speak on a matter of public importance. The choice was made by the institute's board, among them Mr Whitlam's son, Nick, and the ALP veteran John Faulkner.

Mr Sidoti said Mr Whitlam was pleased when told of the Fraser choice. "That's bloody good. Bloody good," he said.

It will not please the critics of Mr Fraser, but it probably will not surprise them either. He is accused of selling out core Liberal values by becoming an entrenched critic of the prime ministership of John Howard, who had served him as treasurer. Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella said Mr Fraser had exposed himself to caricature as a "frothing-at-the-mouth leftie".

Mr Fraser condemned Howard government policies on issues from terrorism to refugees and civil liberties, urged Australia to quit Iraq if the Americans did not engage high-level diplomacy in the Middle East, and quit the Liberal Party after the election of Tony Abbott as leader. The party, he said, had become conservative rather than liberal and its leaders encouraged the new description that Robert Menzies would have found insulting.

Yesterday he said his politics had not shifted but those of the Liberal and Labor camps had "moved leagues to the right".

[lockie]

Originally Posted by At sea

Voted Labour? That sure must have been a long time ago - last time Labor spelled itself Labour was about 1912.

But what you vote is hardly the point. I have absolutely no problem if you vote Coalition, Green, or Pauline for that matter. It's absolutely none of my business and of absolutely no interest to me.

What I object to is your using this cruising forum to take cheap and derogatory slags at the PM by endorsing Joli's stupid post - and then ever so cutely saying: "But let's keep politics out of this". Talk about two-faced.

If you want to discuss politics, go to one of the many political discussion pages, where your simplistic political and economic history tutorial will be well and truly dismantled.

Well said. Silly old me, I too have apparently mistaken this for a sailng forum.

lockie

[Katiusha]

cat man do, regarding your OP:

Sometimes it pays to shop around for longer before committing to a buy - we found outboard engines to be 30% less expensive in South Africa, G7 anchor chain with delivery from Italy to be 40% less expensive than US or Caribbean, US dinghies to be 20% less expensive in... UK [believe it or not].

Also try shopping regarding different delivery options - we've seen quotes for the same origin, same destination economy freight differ by up to $600.

We attempt to bargain whenever we want to buy stuff - it helps knowing various countries' MSRPs, sale prices at reputable dealers, boat show discounts, seasonal sales. Also, regular retail prices are always higher than "boat builders'" [or distributor] prices - have you tried exercising your boat builders' right to lower prices?

The process does take up a lot of time and the delivery is not instantenous, but at the end for us the savings are worth it.

[boatman61]

I know folk who say that about India....
What are ya ... A Bluddi POM......

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Katiusha

cat man do, regarding your OP:

Sometimes it pays to shop around for longer before committing to a buy - we found outboard engines to be 30% less expensive in South Africa, G7 anchor chain with delivery from Italy to be 40% less expensive than US or Caribbean, US dinghies to be 20% less expensive in... UK [believe it or not].

Also try shopping regarding different delivery options - we've seen quotes for the same origin, same destination economy freight differ by up to $600.

We attempt to bargain whenever we want to buy stuff - it helps knowing various countries' MSRPs, sale prices at reputable dealers, boat show discounts, seasonal sales. Also, regular retail prices are always higher than "boat builders'" [or distributor] prices - have you tried exercising your boat builders' right to lower prices?

The process does take up a lot of time and the delivery is not instantenous, but at the end for us the savings are worth it.

Welcome to the global economy! Who saw this coming?

When I was a kid we had a drug store, a hardware store, a grocery store and a gas station nearby. There was no mall, walmart, west marine or nothin'! There was a sears roebuck about 50 miles away but driving 50 miles to go to sears was pretty rare. I mean we took baths got dressed up nice and everything when we was gonna go to sears!

You didn't "shop around." if they had it at the hardware store, the price was the price and it was pretty fair. You knew that it was fair cuz you had a sears catalog to compare to. If they didnt have it, you ordered from sears and waited for the pony express to come next month or so. OK ai exaggerate...

Our choices today are amazing!

[AllezCat]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Welcome to the global economy! Who saw this coming?

When I was a kid we had a drug store, a hardware store, a grocery store and a gas station nearby. There was no mall, walmart, west marine or nothin'! There was a sears roebuck about 50 miles away but driving 50 miles to go to sears was pretty rare. I mean we took baths got dressed up nice and everything when we was gonna go to sears!

You didn't "shop around." if they had it at the hardware store, the price was the price and it was pretty fair. You knew that it was fair cuz you had a sears catalog to compare to. If they didnt have it, you ordered from sears and waited for the pony express to come next month or so. OK ai exaggerate...

Our choices today are amazing!

i take a bath and get dressed up to go to Walmart