DougR, the retailing industry stats in Australia have demonstrated that for every 17 jobs that are "created" at a Corporation store like Woolworths, 10 are lost in the existing Community.

Some would suggest that well, at least that is 7 NEW jobs.
Thing is, perhaps not everyone likes being FORCED into a "career" as a check-out chick at Woolies (= a job with a very limited future, according to Foolestroupe's postings!)
Perhaps they preferred to work in small local businesses - perhaps they were even running their own business and preferred to have that control over their working life.
Perhaps these people were farming or growing food or producing goods that Woolworths won't buy, because the Corporation prefer to do all their purchasing from either cheap slave-labour markets in 3rd world countries or else obtain produce from a depot "down south" in either Melbourne or Sydney (Oz is a big country ...)
It has also been shown that with small business, the money tends to stay around the Community, where the families all live and go to school and shop. Once a Corporation has the monopoly, the money disappears out of the district, into Southern shareholders accounts or the CEO's (quite unbelievably large!) salary or overseas - our towns and Communities then start to die.

This is happening all over - Maleny is just one of many.
BUT! We have not given up the fight!


Cheers! R-J