HOWARD GOVERNMENT ON THE SLIDE: The latest and most reliable of the varioua polls - the Morgan Poll - had grave news for the Howard Government, published in The Bulletin, (February 29, 2000). The attending comment said:
Support for the federal government has sunk to its lowest level since it was re-elected in October 1998 with the prime minister forced onto the back foot over the GST and government payouts to retrenched textile workers. …. There is a growing feeling that the next election will be won or lost in the bush, and the latest Bulletin-Morgan Poll adds credence to this. ….Primary support for the Coalition falls to 36% (down 1.5 percentage points) with the Opposition also dropping to 46% (-1) …."
A breakdown of the figures showed the reaction against the Coalition higher outside the capital cities, and biggest in the three smallest States, with only 29 per cent supporting the Coalition in Tasmania.
An accompanying article in The Bulletin by Fred Benchley showed exactly how great the pressure is on the government as a dawning realisation of the dangers of the GST come home in the electorate:
"At the moment, Howard and Costello are suffering the death of a thousand cuts over the GST. From tampons to caravan park rates, the media is overwhelmed with "shock" stories of the GST's implementation. On talkback radio, less than 6% of people have had anything positive to say about it ….. With the Australian Taxation Office mounting a huge business education campaign and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission given the task of scaring business with $10 million fines for profiteering over the GST, the Government this Friday will start rolling out a $49 million education campaign. Initially it will focus on business registration for the new Australian Business Number and business assistance to cope with the new tax. Other TV and print campaigns will sell tax cuts and pension and rent allowance increases to the ''unters''.…. The consumer side, orchestrated by the Ministerial Committee on Government Communications, will spend an estimated $20 million on media advertising and information booklets inserted in newspapers ….."
Herr Goebells couldn't put it better! The Government will spend millions upon millions to propagandise the people into believing that black is white, and that more controls, regulations and surveillance are good for them!
HOWARD'S RESPONSE TO PAUL KELLY: Kelly's article "National Disgrace" (parts of which we quoted in last week's On Target) has obviously got under Prime Minister Howard's skin. While Howard is immune to the feelings of the majority of Australians when it comes to such things as foreign ownership and free trade, it obviously hurts when a journalist who is a fellow globalist launches a few criticisms. John Howard had a quarter-page reply in the following Wwekend Australian, under the heading GLOBAL VISION. With as much charity as possible, it was appalling stuff. He didn't quite parrot the old paternalistic cliché "this hurts me more than it hurts you" - but you could read it between every line. Included in the Prime Minister's remarks were:
"…. It is precisely because the Coalition Government understood the benefits for Australia of globalisation that it pursued a reformist economic agenda after March 1996. If we had not done so, then the forces of globalisation would have ensured that the Asian economic downturn would have severely damaged Australia and left its people poorer and having fewer jobs.
For some time now I have urged proponents of globalisation to be aware of possible dislocating effects.
For example, in my Australia Unlimited speech in May last year (well before the Victorian election) I said: "But governments, business groups and the wider community need to recognise that these processes of globalisation can be disconcerting and unsettling for individuals who are adversely affected by the changes they inevitably cause. Such Australians can feel left behind, resentful and even envious ….. Part of our task is to fully explain the practical benefits of globalisation for Australia …."
What paternalistic - and inaccurate - clap-trap! Those adversely affected by the Keating/Howard globalisation policies comprise more than half the nation, with poverty, bankruptcies and family breakdown increasing all the time.
The latest 'globalisation requirement' - the GST - will eliminate another row of small Australian businesses, just as it did in Canada and New Zealand.
COSTELLO, THE GST AND THE 'BLACK' ECONOMY: The biggest job Prime Minister Howard and his indefatigable Treasurer, Peter Costello now have is to hold together the jittery ranks of the Coalition. Backbenchers are certainly feeling the anti-GST heat from the electorate.
The Australian Financial Review, (8/3/00) said:
"The Federal Treasurer, Mr Peter Costello, yesterday rejected Coalition backbench lobbying for changes to the GST system, warning there would be no more concessions.
Addressing a joint parties meeting, Mr Costello also ruled out an extension of time for registrations under the new tax regime.
He said 'rumours' sweeping business circles that the Government would extend the deadline for registration had no foundation.
The vast majority of businesses have so far not yet registered for the end of May deadline …."
It is not too much to say that it is the duty of every taxpayer who disagrees with the GST to increase the pressure on backbenchers. They must be made aware of their personal responsibility if they keep supporting an unwanted and hated new tax regime. Is their loyalty to their party whips? Or to their constituents?
Such pressure is more than a mere gesture. At this stage, public opposition to the GST is more intense and better organised that was the case in either Canada or New Zealand. It is possible now to turn that opposition into a statement capable of showing the Government at complete odds with the governed.
The Editorial in The Weekend Australian (26-27/2/00) commented:
"The two most important positive aspects of the introduction of the goods and services tax, Peter Costello said yesterday, were income tax cuts and control of the black economy. Strange; we thought the main objective was to simplify a tax system bloated by structural complexity and creaking under the failure of previous reform measures, with the aim of producing stronger and sustainable growth, higher productivity, more jobs and rising living standards…..
There is NO evidence that the GST has reduced the 'black economy' in either Canada or New Zealand; the reverse is the case. The only real answer to the 'black' economy is a return to moderate levels of taxation. Tax evasion, the cash economy and punitive over-taxing all go hand-in-hand.
BAR-SIDE POLITICS: A most interesting development is the decision by hoteliers in Australia to involve themselves in the growing anti-GST campaign. Approve or not, the traditional beer is to Australians what vino is to Italians, and vodka to the Russians. It is a brave backbencher who consciously ignores the pubs in his electorate.
Under the heading PUBS TO LAUNCH ANTI-GST CAMPAIGN, The Australian (7/3/00) reported:
"The cost of a glass of beer will rise by 9 per cent under the GST - not the 1.9 per cent flagged by the Howard Government as an election commitment.
The Australian Hotels Association said it felt betrayed by the GST negotiation process and would launch a national bar-side campaign to have the additional increase overturned.
The revised price, based on industry estimates, exceeds a 7 per cent rise flagged last month by Treasury officials.
President of the association's Western Australian branch Michael Monaghan said it had received a sympathetic hearing from some Liberal party backbenchers and Opposition and Democrat MPs and would now boost its lobbying efforts.
State and territory organisations are also developing material to be distributed via hotels to explain the reasons for the substantial rise in the price of draught beer …."
The new prices will raise an extra $500 million annually, according to Mr Monaghan. But never mind! Some backbenchers, while voting for it, are "sympathetic". They, in turn, will deserve "sympathy" when they lose votes in coming elections.
It's only a matter of time before those collecting hundreds of thousands of names on petitions to Governors, the Governor-General and to Parliament, take the obvious step of inviting Australia's hoteliers to collect extra signatures at every bar in the land!
With apologies to a well-known Australian song, we couldn't resist the following:
"The drinkers were sober, and flat on their backs,
A cent for the grog and a dollar for tax!
The pub was deserted, no sign of good cheer,
And all of it due to the tax on the beer!
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: Answering charges from Labor MP Jann McFarlane that the Immigration department was discriminating against Pakistani tourists in favour of those from the UK, Minister Philip Ruddock gave some pertinent facts:
" …. In the case of Pakistan, the past actions of their countrymen and women have resulted in the inclusion in the risk factor," he said …. Mr Ruddock said 14 per cent of successful Pakistani visa applicants overstayed their time, while only 1.9 per cent of UK tourists did so.
A spokesman for Mr Ruddock said: "The statistics speak for themselves. We refuse entry to 52 per cent of people from Pakistan and 14 per cent of them still overstay …."
Perhaps the Pakistanis would do better by joining Iraqis and Afghanistanis in a quest for a sea-voyage to Australia. At least that will guarantee a mnimum three-year stay, all expenses paid.
KISSINGER AGAIN: We thought Indonesia had enough troubles. President Wahid seems temporarily to have the army under control. He has just been visited by the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, Mr Stanley Roth, who urged him to accelerate banking and financial reforms. Malaysia's Dr Mahathir would probably have sent Roth packing.
Which makes the latest news, released in the Strait Times (Malaysia) on March 2nd, that Henry Kissinger will take up a position as "political adviser", surprising indeed.