Very simple answer - we are a democracy governed by bureaucracy and councils. In all my discussions over the years at AGM's I hear the similar thing, they talk to different boards for a project and somewhere up the line someone opposes it because of some obscure uneducated reason. Australia is a country that also arrogantly prides itself on water quality. Justifying to tax payers and citizens of a given region that they need to use Phoslock for "bad water" is a PR nightmare. People start questioning why they should spend money when Australia is meant to have high water standards.
The recent project about December last year on Lake Hugo something was caught by our HC posters. We were able to find news articles preceding this that suggested the community had been hassling the council of the Gold Coast for some time about the quality of water. Ie. citizen intervention is what drives this stuff here in Australia.
Our success in China is actually due in part to their Government structure. We've all seen time lapses of buildings being built in China - they don't muck around when something needs to be done. If a new train line needs to be built and 10,000 homes are in the way, the homes are moved immediately and the train line built. In the West this would never sit well, but there its a factor of life and for better or worse they are much more efficient at accomplishing these type of projects. In regards to their water quality - they have a problem and a budget (very substantial) and the will of the people to do something about it. Environmental issues like water quality are at the forefront of western standards for a growing Chinese middle class. If they demand this, the Government will provide.
The projects that we've had in Australia are small. The ones we would like to get have been stalled due to Government bureaucracy. I think the current focus of the company is spot on! Go for where the guaranteed money is. We're not here to waste time. Who knows after bigger scale project success' around the world maybe the Australian market will be more receptive towards projects like Lake Burley Griffin in the ACT. For now though we're killing it doing what we're doing!
GLTAH
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