In light of the current attention to the great financial advantages for Australian business in outsourcing legal and accountancy work.

This year India will have approximately 175,000 law graduates and there is the potential that a large cell of these could be trained specifically in the statutes of Australian law. This could bring a vast reduction in the cost of legal services by up to 70 or 80%.

In the global market Australian consumers should be able to source the product that makes the most cost competitive sense and this is a great opportunity for our nation’s businesses to cut overheads.

Free flow of information via the internet and video streaming should reduce former barriers that existed to this international service trade taking place. The new world is; if it can be done on a computer it can be done somewhere else.

Likewise, this is also a great opportunity to engage Indian or Chinese accountants conversant with Australian tax law. This should become more readily available as China adopts international accountancy standards.

This may involve the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in both these fields, but our country will have placed this workforce in more internationally competitive fields. Such as plant operators and trades people in remote mining towns.

If you find all this abhorrent how do you think Australian farmers feel having to have dealt with this world view over the last 30 to 40 years? Listening every day to people saying it is an international market.

“Obviously, and seriously, being an accountant I do not want to put those who rely on this stream of income out of a job. However, Australia must ask the question: If this is not ok, if the above proposal in your mind is lunacy, how than is it fair for our rural operators?” Senator Joyce said.

“This is to highlight the fundamentally flawed suggestion that we remove the existing system - just as a talking point for those that want to get rid of the AWB’s single desk,” Senator Joyce said.

“I also wish to express my strong support for my Nationals colleagues converging on Victoria today. I acknowledge world trade is inherently unfair in so many areas and if we don’t protect ourselves from that, then like our accountants and solicitors, we would be on a hiding to nothing,” he said.
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