Passed through Mildura today and need groceries. So into Woolies. Needed oranges. Not one Australian grown orange to be had anywhere. Mildura of all places. Sad when in the home of Australian grown citrus you have only USA grown oranges. So we bought a small bag of USA grown/imported oranges. 2 of the 6 oranges in the bag are rotting on the inside. Yeah I realize it's seasonal but road side stalls had some. I guess we will soon be buying our oranges from China. Along with our Apple's. Maybe even four and twenty pies as well. As an aside. You can't bring oranges in from outside the fruit fly zone but in the fruit fly zone you can only buy imported oranges. Am I getting old or is this dumb or what?

Disgusting. I would and do go without in that case.

Disappointing, but here is some balance. We export many oranges to the USA during their off season.
Free trade is a double edged sword, but I suggest the balance is better than the alternative.
Cheers,
Peter

We export everything and there is nothing left for us. We then have to import everything from asia. We used to have a very good tuna fisheries industry. What happened? It has been overfished. So we now have to import from Thailand and indonesia. Its not right that the mega rich companies and individuals are raping Australia of its natural resources and making themselves obscene profits. When are the people of Australia going to realise that these companies and people are selling Australia's assets for which we get paid nothing. Should we fall on our knees and be grateful for the few measly underpaid jobs we get?

MSG, yes we import much of our canned tuna now, but not totally because we have none of our own.

We still have a thriving industry out of Port Lincoln, but fishing for a set quota of fish, that is now at premium value as it is kept in pens, farmed and then sold into the Japanese sushi trade.

I agree though that it is sad to see that sort of thing happening now where prime seafood (tuna, rock lobster etc), cattle and other produce is sold into overseas markets at the sort of high prices they will pay due to demand, leaving Australia to either compete price wise, which is difficult at times, or import inferior product, such as farmed prawns and fish from SE Asia.

By the way, compared to jobs in many parts of our region, NO Australian jobs are low paid. That is part of our problem at times! When we complain about the loss of jobs, particularly in manufacturing, it pays to remember that no one I know of said no to a pay rise when they were pushed for by the workers and the unions. Incidentally, that is not a criticism, just an observation, as I put my hand out happily during my working life, although not in those industries.

Unfortunately, in a competitive world, those things have a major impact, especially when we face competition that has a large population base for workers, easy access to necessary resources for factories, a desire to improve their lifestyle, and a market hungry for consumables. And not just China are doing it, as many countries in the region look to develop. The world changed as our technology developed and shrunk the globe,

I stopped buying US oranges long ago. I honestly never found a US orange that was juicy. They looked good on the outside, but inside they were dry. I now prefer Australian navels.

Navels are a winter crop and Valencia's are a summer crop, all navels currently on shelves in Australia are from the USA.
Valencia's are a softer fruit I believe they are not kept in cold storage as long because they don't keep well.

Seasonal fruit is the only way to get fruit otherwise it still deteriorates in quality and flavour in cold storage. Apple season has just stated and while Modi's and Royal Gala can be fresh at the moment, the rest are last season.

Probably 20 years ago, my wife and I were somewhere in outback Qld (cannot remember either fact), but I was talking to a fellow traveller.

"Nice day etc, Where do you come from?"
Answer: - ' Mildura'
My response: -"That's a lovely place -we both like Mildura. What do you do there?"
Answer: 'I work for AQIS (Australian Quarantine Inspection Service).'
My response: "Do you certify the fruit being exported overseas?"
Answer: 'No, I inspect fruits coming into Australia'

Further discussion revealed that he was one of 15 inspectors based at Mildura inspecting containers of fruit being imported INTO Australia.

I was staggered at this revelation. Since then, I have read the labelling on dried fruit packing and almost invariably it says "Made in Australia from local and imported product", or words to that effect. Probably the local product is the packaging. Where possible, I prefer to buy Australian products, but that is getting harder to do these days. I will never knowingly buy Oranges from the USA, nor dried Apricots from Turkey, yet I am sure that oftent hese products are being sold without disclosing the country where they were grown.

Not only oranges. Take a look at the labels on ice creams. Lollies. The Natural Fruit company lollies are not all but mostly from overseas. But icy poles? The freight alone must be a large cost and they are imported. The world's gone crazy.

Not only oranges. Take a look at the labels on ice creams. Lollies. The Natural Fruit company lollies are not all but mostly from overseas. But icy poles? The freight alone must be a large cost and they are imported. The world's gone crazy.

bgt wrote: The world's gone crazy.

I think the world has gone greedy. Globalisation is a curse.

Australia it seems has been chosen as the food bowl of the world. But we don't get any. We get the rejects. While the richer countries get our food, (and that is only "our" food because it is grown on our land and uses our water. The ownership of the land and water is dubious also) Check out the Greenpeace website on what is going on in the fishing industry. I think we, are down to farmed fish now (salmon and tuna) Farmed fish have questionable health issues also that they can pass onto us.

I think things have gone too far for recovery now and I wonder if Australians will be the starving nation amid acres of food.

I support local businesses as much as I can & post covid lockdowns have been out there helping them get back on their feet.

The imported rubbish can get in the bin.

12 months ago we stopped buying Woolies milk. When they kept the 10cents they said was going to go to the farmers. We buy Paul's milk. But we haven't sent Woolies broke but it is a good feeling!

Yep I go to Coles for milk. Norco for me. Its makes the best froth for my coffee.

The Heaths wrote: By the way, compared to jobs in many parts of our region, NO Australian jobs are low paid. That is part of our problem at times! When we complain about the loss of jobs, particularly in manufacturing.

The Heaths, no you are right Australian wages are quite high compared to overseas labour expectations.

However, it puzzles me why the farmers are crying poor at the thought of not having overseas labour and saying F&V will cost us more if they don't come. They theoretically have to pay them the same as Australian wages.

We could immediately save some carbon or methane (or whatever) if we didn't farm livestock for the overseas markets and only grew them for our use. Likewise the Dairy industry. and think of the water saving. Think how much in carbon emissions we could save.

We could balance the books by insisting on a reasonable return for our minerals and coal. but then again the greedies are making their obscene fortunes out of that and wouldn't allow it.

Massive American farm sudsidies probably account for oranges here. Because of recent Chinese trade bans, people here in WA can buy crays for 20 to 30 bucks, good news for those who like them but fisherman say they need to get 45 each to run the boat, whereas I believe previously they were selling for 200+ for each cray on the Chinese market. Aussie milk farmers always get shafted and big supermarkets are as polished as banks in the PR department. We even had animal activists filming night time raids on farms and taking animals hostage to "save them", funny thing was the guy who kidnapped the calf turned up to court wearing patent leather shoes and a wide leather belt.

ps perhaps someone like Megan Markle could whizz down under in her pollution free jet and sort it all out in 5 seconds, we Aussies must all be dunderheads :)

Hey careful who you call a 'dunderhead'' !! I may take offence or I may take offence for someone else who doesn't yet know they have been offended. Then they could be offended by me taking offence on their behalf.