Thread: $15million boots contract going overseas?

Originally Posted by olbod

PS: to my above post.
I am pleased to find that the T boots are Australian owned and made.
Thats even better.
Go and buy a pair for Sundy best.
Garn.

Where does it say that? From their web site...

AUSTRALIAN OWNED & DESIGNED
QUALITY FOOTWEAR SINCE 1851

T-BOOTS are work boots and riding boots made by Enoch Taylor Pty Ltd. The company was established in 1851 and is one of the oldest footwear manufacturers in the world.

what has tendering and procurement rules got to do with tariffs?

to quote bmkal "Just another opportunity for a cheap and ill informed political shot with little if any basis in fact."

that said, no matter which pack of clowns setup the current regime, why hasn't there been one of them cost benefit analysis things the current crowd have been so keen of extolling the virtues of in regards to just about everything else?

Originally Posted by Tombie

Where does it say that? From their web site...

AUSTRALIAN OWNED & DESIGNED

QUALITY FOOTWEAR SINCE 1851

T-BOOTS are work boots and riding boots made by Enoch Taylor Pty Ltd. The company was established in 1851 and is one of the oldest footwear manufacturers in the world.

Oops.
After your post I went back to the internet and dug a bit further.
The web page that I posted was used untill 2004. Then the company changed their managedment and now manufactured in Suva.
Still a damned good boot tho.
If I ever need to I will continue to buy them.

Originally Posted by p38arover

But did this govt. introduce the purchasing rules or was it a previous govt or even just the department involved?

I think Nugget is probably on the ball , but $15million dollar contacts should not be awarded overseas when a company here has the capability to fulfil it.

Originally Posted by BMKal

Originally Posted by p38arover

But did this govt. introduce the purchasing rules or was it a previous govt or even just the department involved?

Doesn't matter Ron.

Just another opportunity for a cheap and ill informed political shot with little if any basis in fact.

It's all getting pretty boring really.

Actually a lot of this overseas purchasing is actually a consequence of the WTO and free trade agreements.

Unless we can declare that boots are a strategic defence material Governments are prevented from excluding foreign manufacturers from bidding on Government contracts.

In NSW it used to be NSW Government Purchasing Policy that we had to purchase items (like hospital beds) manufactured in NSW and if we couldn't find a NSW manufacturer it had to be an Australian manufacturer and before we could consider a foreign manufacturer we had to get an exemption.

That all went by the board about 15 to 20 years ago with what's now WTO rules.

I might be wrong but from the picture the boot the guy is holding is a "work boot" style of boot. Small peanuts as only a few trades get them. The parade boot contract was recently given to RM Williams, an Aussie Coy but not sure if that many boots could be made in Australia. I hope they are. Remember EVERY soldier is issued a pair of these on enlistment. But has to buy replacements pairs from there. So that keeps costs down a bit. Now the interesting question is the field boots. These are crap! I think we are up to MK VIII already and everyone knows someone with "chicken feet" and has special bought boots. Also I'm lead to believe ( it was in the Army rag) that Danner of the US has a contract to supply of the shelf boots now along side Redback boots.
Boots are a major issue with soldiers. we walk a long way, a lot of the time. I buy my own (Bates) rather than wear ill fitting rubbish. You can't keep giving soldiers crap boots just because they are Australian made. Australian Boot manufactures need to pick up there game.

cheers,

I always liked and bought Bludstone riggers boots

Despite the latest pair having Blundstone -Tasmania - Australia- 1870, on the box, a small label deep inside the boot reveals they are made in Vietnam

What ****s me the most is -
1) they are made offshore
2) usually in countries with a free trade agreement or preferential duty, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh etc
3) they pay slave labour rates in those countries
4) then they still charge the same price they did when they were made here .

The big sporting goods companies are the worst, $9 for a t-shirt that they sell for $179, $10-30 for shoes that they sell for $150 + .