Australia is a resource-rich nation. We have been good at exploiting our minerals base and agricultural sector for exports.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
People forget that a huge proportion of our jobs still depend on agricultural production in Australia so of course there are exports. That's easily overlooked.
I believe we have the potential to quadruple Australia's food exports to Asia.
Australia is a remarkable country with incredible technical and physical resources and a capacity to be a world leader in renewables.
I don't see why, if you look at how the Australian culture and psyche is, that we can't be amongst the most generous, from the grassroots up, nations in the world.
For much of the latter part of the 20th century, Australia seemed to be opening up to something large and good. It believed itself a generous country, the land of the 'fair go.'
The evidence is inarguable that Australia is becoming too expensive and too uncompetitive to do export-oriented business. Africans want to work, and its workers are willing to work for less than $2 per day. Such statistics make me worry for this country's future. We are becoming a high-cost and high-risk nation for investment.
Africa's mineral wealth is great; we should co-operate in its development.
The most impactful dollars that Australia can spend are actually what goes to help the poorest.
The Australian people want to help build this country into a great nation. This budget... has not realized the capacity of the Australian people. It has underestimated them. It has let us down.
Most of the well-developed world - Australia, Western Europe - they develop their resources base, they inventory it, they develop it, and they view it as a good source of jobs and revenue. We are a country that for too long has taken affordable energy for granted.