by Geoff Kay
December 24, 1999
This is part of a series of articles covering the previous year. A year when One Nation went to sleep. I hope to be able show you; issues and opportunities that One Nation let slip by, opportunities for positive publicity and opportunities for building a more inclusive and positive rapport; within the Party and with the public.
Media Watch...
Why everyone wants to be another victim...
The Daily Telegraph APR '99
Michael Duffy
"It's also time we started to think again about multiculturalism and its core implication that all cultures are of equal value. Should a culture that is proud to be "born in blood" really have equal place along side an Australian culture which is so soft it does not even arrest people for smashing property and throwing lumps of concrete at the police".
"The role of those self-appointed moral guardians who encourage people to see themselves as victims needs to be questioned, particularly the highly selective way they apply their judgements. It is disturbing that the many people that abused Pauline Hanson for her supposedly racist attitudes, all those who used violence to prevent her from speaking in public, have been silent in the past week while public demonstrations have been held in our cities supporting genocide".
Between a shock and a hard, hard place...
Sydney Morning Herald APR '99
Margo Kingston
"In Dubbo, One Nation directed voters not to preference anyone, and its 19 % vote brought the Nationals' Richard Mutton to his knees",
"One Nation hopes it's spoiling tactics will see the Nationals eventually agree to swap preferences, and the retired member for Dubbo, MR Gerry Peacocke, recommended just that after the Dubbo debacle. But this would give One Nation a shot at Lower House seats and create intolerable tensions within the Coalition. More broadly it would choke city-based sympathy at a time when the bush is asking Australians to make a rejuvenation of the regions a top priority".
"If One Nation was the big bang for the Nationals' core support base, the "Summit" is the fallout. It comprises a loose alliance of tough, seasoned independent mayors and prominent local identities of substance who eschew One Nation's racism but keep much of its anti-economic rationalist rhetoric".
"We're trying a very different form of politics. One Nation is about division. We're the opposite".
Well there you have it, two differing viewpoints about the same party. Michael's, putting the case for One Nation's concerns, the other, perpetuating the racist/divisive myth. It seems that we now have a "Country Cousin" that is trying to make political ground, at our expense.
The other point in Margo's piece that should not go unchallenged is that we are branded as using; "spoiling tactics" and trying to bring the Nationals "to their knees". But the point is, that both the major parties, (not to mention the rest), have been doing the same thing to One Nation by urging their voters to put them last, at every election. So much for an unbiased press.
Apartheid lives...
The Sunday Telegraph APR '99
Piers Akerman
"In Australia we should look to enshrine the notion of a nation of laws that deal equally with all individuals according to their needs, regardless of race or creed, before we embrace all the tenets of apartheid under the guise of providing "special treatment" for minorities defined ethnically and culturally, not according to the status of their health or economic circumstance".
Well, well, well... considering the ridicule and lack of credence Mr. Akerman tends to heap upon One Nation, this is a turn up for the books. This "INSIGHT", is exactly what One Nation has been saying all along. Perhaps the true meaning of Pauline's "Maiden Speech" has finally sunk in. Better late than never Piers.
TO MY KNOWLEDGE THE ONE NATION EXECUTIVE HAVE NEVER THANKED OR RECOGNISED THE LIKES OF MICHAEL DUFFY OR PIERS AKERMAN FOR BALANCED REPORTING OR FOR FAIRLY PUTTING FORWARD, A POINT OF VIEW. A POINT OF VIEW, IN LINE WITH OURS. WHEN IT COMES TO THE MEDIA, THE EXECUTIVE HAS ALWAYS HAD A CONFRONTATIONAL ATTITUDE. MAYBE, THIS IS DUE TO THE ATTITUDES OF THOSE IN THE EXECUTIVE.
Geoff