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A free lunch for all

"And here's the rub. You don't own the minerals. I don't own the minerals. Governments only sell you the right to mine the resource. A resource we hold in trust for a sovereign people. They own it and they deserve their share."

- Gillard addressing the Minerals Council of Australia's annual dinner.

This will have to go down as one of the most inflammatory, dangerous proclamations ever made by an Australian prime minister. It is a direct attack on the very heart and soul of peaceful society – respect for property rights – and little different to the rhetoric we used to hear coming from the communist leaders of Russia, China, and Cambodia.

It's obvious that the minerals in the ground don't belong to 'all Australians' at all, as Julia and her communist comrades continually assert. Most are in fact un-owned, and the rest are in fact owned by the companies and individuals who became the first owner by exercising ownership rights over them, or who have subsequently purchased them. In just society, ownership does not arise through decree.

In order to defend their strident assertions, Gillard and her supporters must answer some basic questions about how this presumptive ownership came about. Was it through contract and consent, or by declaration? Was it through being the first to exercise ownership rights over resources that were previously un-owned, or taking no action at all? And precisely when does one qualify for joint ownership of this resource - at birth; on becoming a citizen, an adult, or a taxpayer? Surely too, if this notion of ownership was in fact true ownership, shouldn’t we be able to trade our share in the loot when we decide to leave Australia for greener pastures? And what about new immigrants – shouldn’t they be required to pony up for their share in it?

What Gillard is really talking about here is communism – society based not on individuals and private ownership, but on the collective and public ownership of everything, where all decisions about the use of economic resources are made by a powerful, privileged elite who call themselves the government. While the free lunch brigade may have no problems with this, in the end we all suffer, because communism stands for the abolition of property rights, and with it, the abolition of capitalism – the very pillars of prosperity, freedom, and peaceful society.

Originally posted on Menzies House.

Tags: government, justice, politics, property, rights

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Linda Campion on June 2, 2012 at 10:28pm

I take extreme umbrage at the insinuations posted by the initial comments relating to this topic. To equate the Govt with communism is absurd. My uni lecturer told us that 'all minerals are not the citizens', but the Crown's, ie the Queen's, and since I find that more absurd, I can't tolerate her either.

I am hard Labor, and my spin on Julia's comments is that no-one has the right to tell others what to do with the wealth generated by the minerals and that we all should enjoy the benefits which mining them provide. Other stuff posted is irrelevant and offensive. I'm sure if many wanted to go to real communism, we could all throw up our hands in the air. Don't be absurd.

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Permalink Reply by Linda Campion on June 2, 2012 at 10:45pm

No, probably not. Yes I will forget the Queen (not my Queen). So, therefore, can we demand more revenue from the States? And protest against a 25% increase in our water bills to cover a desalination plant which we know won't produce desalinated water for years??? I know how I'm voting next election... God, I wish some people would get a political education...

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Permalink Reply by peter cvek on June 3, 2012 at 10:46am

..The following is a true story... My wife and I once owned a General Store in a little country hamlet in Gippsland, Victoria.. One day a local witch flew in insisting we place a flyer advertising her " psychic healing services" prominently on our window.. I politely refused, but she insisted and persisted in demanding that we had no "right" to refuse, since the window display was " communal" and by some unknown law the " property of the local community".. All I could reply with was that when the time came for her to pay a portion of my Lease, my staff Wages, my Overheads, my personal Wages, my Wife's Wages, my Intellectual Property, my Past Exertions ( which were beyond calculation), my Loan Interest, my Vehicle upkeep, and several other standard and not-so-standard expenses, then I "may" consider allowing her flyer to be displayed on the window... Until them, the window's mine...!!! A lesson perhaps to our National-fly-in Julia GIllard and her abominable communist comrades in arms...

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Permalink Reply by peter cvek on June 3, 2012 at 11:23am

..P.S..... I forgot to list the " window cleaning" as well.....

Peter

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Hutcho on June 3, 2012 at 11:45am

Hi Peter C,

Well said - including the window cleaning.

About this free lunch -

I have just read a basic history of the Gympie Goldfield. It was described as the financial break the floundering colony of Queensland needed. The richness of the field was reflected in the historic buildings in the area.

This is also reflected in other areas, with the historic buildings in Ballarat and Bendigo, the mining industries creating the funds that ripple down through the general population, and helps other industries get off the ground.

When it comes to metals, they have to be mined, they do not "grow on trees".

An entertaining little Youtube - singing in German , but you will get the idea>

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Permalink Reply by Malcolm Fenton on June 3, 2012 at 2:12pm

R.E. McMaster in one of his "Wealth for All" books observed that democracy is inherently unstable and short lived. He stated that it only lasts until one of the parties promises "a free lunch".

This party is then duly elected and communism/militarism takes over (so as to provide a "workers paradise" as well as "a free lunch"). We must be getting rather close to that now.

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Permalink Reply by Dixie Nott on June 3, 2012 at 2:14pm

Thanks for the laugh Greg.

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Permalink Reply by vivienne skeen on June 3, 2012 at 9:05pm

Excellent Greg, you should send that to the papers and Bolt, I have heard the first couple of lines before did you add the rest?

Greg Blackmore said:

"The World according to Cows"

SOCIALISM: You have 2 cows, and you give one to your neighbours.

COMMUNISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks
the other, and then throws the milk away...

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take
harmonica lessons.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the
other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to
analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell three of them to
your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your
brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an
associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax
exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred
via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the
majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your
listed company.. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with
an option on one more. Sell one cow to buy a new president of the United
States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the
release. The public buys your bull.

THE ANDERSEN MODEL: You have two cows. You shred them.

FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike, organize a riot,
and block the roads, because you want three cows.

JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are
one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'cowkimon' and market
it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they
live for 1000 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves. And then invade Poland.

ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where they
are. You decide to have lunch.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have
five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count
them again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows and open another
bottle of vodka.

SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you. You
charge the owners for storing them.

CHINESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity,
and arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. Both are mad.

IRAQI CORPORATION: Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them
that you have none. No one believes you, so they bomb the **** out of you
and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least now you are
part of a Democracy...

AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. The one on the right is looking pretty sexy

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Permalink Reply by Donald Woods on June 5, 2012 at 10:16pm

I've just read all that has been posted above and must support Alex.

Firstly I comment on Linda Campion's rather strident comments which I take are about her attitude and support for Juliar and the ALP rather than something she should be taking 'umbrage' about.

As far as I'm concerned Alex has got it right and Juliar is way off beam.

We purchase 'Freehold' land. Unfortunately what was once truly free to hold is no longer and it's getting worse.

It seems the Law of Trespass has been usurped. Any one or company can now come on land that is held by an individual without their consent, provided they have paid the Govt some sort of royalty in exchange for permission by the Govt to explore for 'minerals' which now includes 'gas'.

Have they not already sold or allowed to be transferred 'title' to the land to one person?

So what about all the minerals that make up that land title? Phosphorus,Nitrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen Sulphur, Zinc, Potassium, Magnesium,Iron,Aluminium,Silicone et al.

I suspect a double standard exists. When all these minerals that we find make up 'soil' in very limited, non concentrated and non valuable forms they can belong to the person who payed 'fee simple' for the land but when they exist in a more concentrated form they become 'property of the state'. The State can then usurp the title holders right to peaceful enjoyment of that land by selling the right to enter to some mining company. So where is the line drawn? When the mining co. decides that it can exploit it commercially? and to hell with the original titleholder!

Herein lies the double standard

I agree with concept of the group 'Lock the Gate'.

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Permalink Reply by Rae Billett on June 11, 2012 at 9:15am

If people want a share of the mining profits, they should get off their dots and go and work in WA or QLD in the industry. Like our ancestors did to make the country what it is now. It is not a free lunch.

I can't believe Gillard has the audacity to stand up there and lecture those people who run companies that are keeping this country's head economically above water....the woman's a fool and the rest of the Party are incompetents.

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Permalink Reply by vivienne skeen on June 11, 2012 at 9:51am

I agree 100%

Rae Billett said:

If people want a share of the mining profits, they should get off their dots and go and work in WA or QLD in the industry. Like our ancestors did to make the country what it is now. It is not a free lunch.

I can't believe Gillard has the audacity to stand up there and lecture those people who run companies that are keeping this country's head economically above water....the woman's a fool and the rest of the Party are incompetents.