Living in OZ..., page-7

Yes , once upon a time there was a sawmill in every second town in Australia which served many purposes including employing locals using local resources and timber for fencing , housing , stimulating local economies as well as sustainably managing vegetation in regional areas.
There was also a dairy industry with a milk / butter factory in every town doing the same thing , employing locals and using local resources for local communities thus helping sustain those communities and the cattle ate the grass and the farmers used their timber for fences and sheds .
It all seemed to change around the time of Keating , with the thinking that we have to import everything and deregulate everything .

Now you cannot cut down a tree without a permit and we have to buy our milled timber from overseas because all the small sawmills have closed and cannot compete and our milk largely comes from NZ because all our small butter factories have closed.

I could go on .........but none of this is funny !