Yep that’s me too CAVOK I usually buy two bottles of powder and when I’ve used one I reorder or rebuy for exactly the reason you mention the powder has been hit and miss where i’m located in QLD even other stuff like some types of projectiles mainly because they don’t carry much until its ordered then it can take up to 3 weeks to recieve
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Same here. And not just powder. And not just two. lol
Yeah I get extra projectiles and primers as well but not as much as you blokes that go to the ranges I only shoot and fart around setting up rifles some times, but mostly hunting and pest control
Actually it is wrong, I meant to say manufacturing and monetary.growth. Also I probabaly sound like this guy now so I’ll stop.
(context, split from: Bino recommendation)
Everything is made in China. Binos, tools, covid.
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Especially COVID. I am going to make a concerted effort to boycott anything those fu@ker$ manufacture.
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Don’t see why… Sort of like saying, I don’t like the greens, so I am going to boycott some private enterprise, that has nothing to do with them. I think everyone should strive to buy Australian, but in terms of boycotting, meh, I see no reason for that.
I can definitely see a reason not to support Chinese manufacturing. Hopefully this little event has made people see how reliant we have become on China. We manufacture very little here. I buy Aussie made and owned whenever possible, even paying more for the privilege.
Anyway enough of that, I’d rather talk about reloading or something else hunting / shooting related. I generally don’t enter into any threads likes this.
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The reality is there just isn’t that much stuff made here anymore, and a lot of stuff that has “AUSTRALIAN!” sounding marketing phrases like “Australian-designed” or “Australian-owned” still make their items in China.
As for buying components etc, I’m probably going to keep more .22 ammo and shotgun shells around; I’d fired off most of my 12ga ammo at a clay target event the weekend before they shut the ammo sales etc down in QLD so I’ve realised that a box of No. 4 shot and a box of random leftover shells isn’t going to get me through a small game/pest control trip in future.
Not at all having a go at anyone but I get frustrated at people who seem angry at China for producing stuff cheaply. Like, should they have refused their Australian customers in the interests of Australian workers?
The fact the Australian manufacturers shut down is incredibly sad but blame Australian consumers or Australian companies for demanding cheaper products, not China for filling that demand.
If we want to bring back a significant amount of Australian manufacturing, which I agree is something I’d like to see, I’m not sure how to do so. The market has clearly shown a preference for cheap products so you’re either going to have to limit them somehow (tariffs), convince people that cheap shit isn’t as good as they think it is, convince people that more expensive, Australian stuff is a better value proposition than they think it is or find a way to bring down the price of Australian goods (subsidies). All of those things have problems and are far easier said than done.
In my opinion, it is unfair to stop cheap imports when there is a segment of society who rely on them. If the $5 Kmart t-shirts go away, I’ll be fine, but there are some people who can only afford that $5 t-shirt.
I’m more a fan of government subsidies for businesses that can provide a business case for them and then can continue to justify that business case every X years. For example, let’s say I want to start a company which locally manufactures scopes. I go to the government and explain that if my company succeeds, I’ll be employing 50 people etc etc and here is all my numbers showing how much it’ll cost and how much I can sell the scopes for and here is how much a Chinese company can sell their scope for. The government then subsidises my scope so that it is at least somewhat competitive with the Chinese one. To keep this money, I have to justify why I deserve it every 3 years.
Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.
I think peoples attitudes towards China & buying their products at the moment are based more on Chinas attitudes & tactics towards the rest of the world which are becoming far more obvious right now, and not so much about the products themselves or how we don’t manufacture much anymore.
Just my take on the situation.
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Here’s a situation I found myself in a few years back with a Chinese product , my old 25hp Johnson outboard was getting old in the tooth so I bought a new one , took it for a run and the fuel consumption was over the top ,eventually I lifted the top cover and to my amazement it wasn’t the motor I had looked at because the one I had was showing an Australian made sticker and this one was showing a Made in China sticker ,so being amazed I put both motors together and the Chinese one could not compare with the workmanship of the Australian one to cut a long story short the Chinese motor used 1.5 tanks of fuel to 1 in the Aus made so I went back to using the old motor and used the Chinese one as a spare and lucky I did because it was nothing but trouble and expensive to run. ( just a bit of trivia)
I see your Ted Talk @Nomis, Really, it was more of a TedX and raise you a proper one 
I agree with the principle of what you said though, just not the how, I do have some experience in that area and this is not how it works, regardless…
This is called a business plan and business plans change on a whim. Horrible idea. And “To keep this money, I have to justify why I deserve it every 3 years.” - that’s even worse. So I invest in 50 people, a factory, equipment, etc. And then I am up in the wind, potentially, every 3 years, no thanks.
Like you said, @Nomis - we are used to cheap stuff. By the way, it’s not cheap, but let’s pretend it’s cheap.
Everyone, like those cheap phone plans? That means support has to be outsourced. I want to speak to an Australian, I hear you yell. Well, tough titties, you either speak to an Australian or you get a cheap phone plan, pick one! You like the $5 t-shirts - means it has to be made somewhere with lower quality of life. You like your cheap takeaway on the the weekend? It means some poor bastard has to be working cash in hand with no benefits.
Nice anecdote about the motor and I 100% agree that this would be the case. But this is not the vast majority of what’s made.
Australia will never get its manufacturing back, because we are not willing to pay $80,000 for $25,000 car. Or $20 for some kitchen utensils, that would otherwise cost me $3. It’s the harsh reality. Someone, somewhere has to be stooged for you to get stuff cheaper.
We can all talk shit here about AU made and what not, but actions speak louder than words. How many of you will go and buy free range eggs from a private farm for $10+ a dozen? Nope? You’d rather get it at half that from supermarket endorsed supplier. This is no different.
You want to support local, and by ‘you’ I mean the loud majority who keeps saying that on social media, actions speak louder than words and market responds to demand. If we were really that dead set on supporting Australian made, than people would buy Australian made, people would check labels on the back of their groceries and international companies would soon find it unprofitable to operate here.
Demonstrable example: Starbucks closes 61 shops, cuts 700 jobs
That’s right, @Nomis, I come with slides and charts lol 
It’s that simple. However, that’s the beauty of social media - we posture and preach, but when it comes to the business end, we do the opposite.
The only path forwards for Australia, while maintaining generally high standard of living is through innovation and taking risks (investment). We, as a society have been sucking on the titties of mining for so long, we have forgotten how to innovate and nurture talent. Our taxation laws do not land themselves to healthy start up culture. Every single “Australian success story” is not in fact Australian. The moment they turn profit, they domecile elsewhere, where taxation laws are there to nurture them, not rape them.
Buying this or that, Australian, Chinese, American or Bangladeshi is an irrelevant point. If we want to nurture any industry here, we must welcome risk and that requires changes to taxation laws.
So… Before we start getting our frustrations out on everyone else, let’s take a look in the mirror.
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Wow ok, I never claimed to be an expert or anything, was just putting some thoughts out there.
Anyway, I hope that if anything good comes out of this it might be that Australians at least give some stuff like this a bit more thought.
No, no, this is me vigorously agreeing with you 
Yeah I don’t want to sound like i’m against everything because I buy for what I see as quality not just price all the better if it’s Australian but when buying groceries I try and buy Aussie owned ,but not always possible . with the motors I ended up trading them for a Yamaha 25hp so not Aussie made , I to think we’ll never see our factories return to what they were ,but as I said I try and buy quality and that in itself can be more expensive but I want things to last.
The other thing is sometimes there isn’t an Australian option easily available which is a pain.
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When I’m buying stuff I generally look for Australian/NZ made first, then British/American/Canadian/French/German/Italian/Western Europe, then Eastern Europe, then Taiwan, then Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, then India, then China.
The problem is shipping from a lot of places is astronomical, so as much as I’d love to be able to buy American or Canadian-made products, the postage is frequently more than the item and when you start playing the exchange rate game, you can absolutely see why so many people just go to Kmart instead.
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With some retailers going online, including an upcoming arms auction (https://australianfinearms.bidsonline.com.au/catalogue.aspx?chid=17286&BID=) I’m hoping that more retailers will offer decent online purchasing after this in case it ever happens again.
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This is exactly what I will be doing. It doesn’t have to be Australian made but I will buy from any free nation before I support the gangsters in charge of China.