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WHY do we Australians allow our products to go offshore?
A great many generic medicines are now produced overseas, often in countries such as India.
In 2008, Heinz (later Kraft Heinz) bought Golden Circle, which canned beetroot for multiple brands from product grown on local farms.
Shortly after, the beetroot canning section was closed, devastating farmers who had supplied the beetroot for decades.
Now the beetroot is canned in New Zealand from local and imported products. Who knows where it is grown?
In 2002, Kraft (later Mondelez) bought popular Australian biscuit lines such as Premium and In a Biscuit, moving production to China in 2006.
In 2017, Vegemite and its peanut paste factory were sold to Australian-owned Bega Cheese, which is now investing millions to revive the destroyed local peanut industry to source all its peanuts here.
Now Mondelez has restarted production of Kraft peanut paste in competition, but with under 10 per cent local ingredients.
American Campbell Soup bought Arnott’s in 1997.
Now they are selling. Can we hope Bega will buy it? IAN TIMMINS, MERMAID BEACH
THE Canterbury Bulldogs just cannot behave themselves!
Yet again the club is immersed in controversy and condemnation after its Mad Monday antics.
I read recently that an outback farmer works 10 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year.
His last family holiday was 12 years ago. Now that’s hard work.
Our footballers get it soft by comparison yet need a day to recover from a tough season. Give me a break, guys.
The NRL must read Canterbury the riot act. KEN JOHNSTON, ROCHEDALE SOUTH
PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk should be congratulated for backing a cross-party parliamentary inquiry into end-of-life care, including voluntary assisted dying law reform.
It is hoped the inquiry can start as soon as possible to ensure we offer a choice to the terminally ill who find themselves suffering with no prospect of relief as they approach the end of their life.
Queenslanders must now be on guard against the myths and fictions that will be spread by the small and unrepresentative number of people who oppose this longoverdue law reform.
Those who want to deny the terminally ill the option of voluntary assisted dying will claim palliative care is sufficient, even though it is not a case of “one or the other”.
Victoria and jurisdictions around the globe have proved it is possible to deliver law reforms that provide for a workable and regulated framework for voluntary assisted dying.
Now it is Queensland’s turn to examine similar reforms to address this significant social issue that has wide and deep community support.
Professional market research recently commissioned and released by the Clem Jones Trust and Dying With Dignity Queensland shows support for voluntary assisted dying at close to 80 per cent. DAVID MUIR, CHAIRMAN, THE CLEM JONES TRUST