ASIA PACIFIC TODAY. Australian Agriculture is in Trouble & Biden's Global Reach

We are hearing slogans such as Build Back Better and the Global Reset from national leaders who posture on the world stage and concern themselves with ever greater means of control under the guise of false emergencies and scare campaigns. Vaccine passports are the next great thing..all for our benefit.

With US national debt reaching $28 trillion, $4 trillion more than a year ago, and real domestic emergencies - exploding crime and violence and other social crises and a loss of control on their southern border, you would think the leader of the free world would first look at getting his house in order. However, the corporate tax rate is soon to rise, and the new administration is looking to coordinate with other countries in a scheme for a Global Minimum Tax rate.

In Australia, the focus is not on economic reform. Though we have for now insulated ourselves from the worst effects of Covid19 with strict border controls, there will be a reckoning when our borders open. Although we don’t know when. Australian national debt is over $700 billion and is expected to reach 1 trillion in a few short years.

Government really should be fixing things in their own backyards, such supporting the environment for business and employment growth and removing costly regulation and infrastructure constraints from important sectors of the economy such as agriculture, Mining and Manufacturing. This is not happening quickly enough.

A prosperous agricultural sector is critical to supplying not only Australia’s own food needs, but those of the rest of the world.

In 2020- 2021, the gross value of Agriculture production is estimated at $66 billion. In spite of this staggering figure, most of us appreciate that our farmers have been doing it tough in recent years.

Senator Malcolm Roberts from One Nation, is on a mission to remove the impediments to growth of this critical sector of the economy.

Joe Biden has called for a global minimum tax of 21 per cent as a way to minimise competition from other countries, such as Ireland and minimise domestic economic damage from a large increase in US corporate tax.

Biden seems to be in overreach mode at the moment with his insistence that the rest of the world follow in his footsteps when it comes to Climate and global tax rules.

It would seem when it comes to these global tax rules, Ireland is certainly number one on the hit list.

For the last 20 years Ireland has had a simple message: invest here and you will pay just 12.5% tax on your Irish profits.

Blake Christian, a Partner at Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt joins us to talk about Biden's global reach.

Asia Pacific Today. April 21, 2021