COMMENT: Spitting chips over multinational's threat on imports

Have you heard anything as absurd as Australia importing potatoes?

It's one of those facts that turns out not to be so new; we've been doing it for years.

Frozen potatoes need to be imported, we are told, to fill gaps in the market.

We love our spuds, and in spite of the huge volumes produced right here on the Coast and throughout the country, we seemingly need more.

That's understandable, but what isn't is the idea that we should accept imports being used as a threat to screw over our farmers.

Unfortunately, farmers being screwed over is not anything new, either.

Multinational companies like the US-based Simplot don't care about our rural communities; it's just business.

We are a country where successive governments have extolled the virtues of free trade and a global marketplace.