Wednesday 4th June 1997
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So what makes it right for the Lord Mayor of Brisbane Jim Soorley to do just that - taking his partner Mary Philip with him.
Yes the very same man who compared Hanson to Hitler is embarking on a world trip with his partner (not wife) totally paid for by the rate payers of Brisbane but you won't see that being covered in the media.
He recently won re-election to the mayoral position and is, on the eve of this junket, increasing rates for the people of Brisbane by at least 5%.
His trip - well it starts in Paris then moves on to Barcelona, Prague, Amsterdam, New York, Ottawa, Vancouver, Seattle and San Francisco. The "official reason" to enable him to exchange information and ideas on common problems faced by municipalities throughout the world. Now that is at best "hogwash" because with the Brisbane City Council staff being connected to the Internet all this sort of work could be done far more effectively by email and through the world wide web.
The Council Opposition leader June O'Connell summed up the general feeling in the community by saying that Soorley was "rorting the system".
"While Jetset Jim is grabbing more city taxes from Brisbane residents, he then turns around and spends it on taking Mary (his partner) shopping in Paris - he is acting like the Mal Colston of Brisbane politics," O'Connell said.
Soorley responded by saying that Cr O'Connell had stooped to "the bottom of the barrell in tackiness" by "bringing his partner into it".
It is interesting that in April this year Cr Soorley put forward and passed an amendment in the chamber allowing partners to travel on official business prompting O'Connell to say, "He must have put a lot of thought into this one because not more than two months later he is suddenly taking Mary overseas."
O'Connell also pointed out that Ms Philip wanted the best of both worlds declining to take on the traditional Lady Mayoress role of raising funds and being seen to support charity but climbing on the gravy train when a ratepayer paid world trip was "arranged"...... spot on I reckon.
Pauline Hanson had reason to trap "foot-in-mouth" Downer in Federal Parliament yesterday. When Philip Ruddock the Liberal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs questioned Ms Hanson's on her position on the League of Rights when tabling their newspaper carrying extracts from her maiden speech she responded by saying "I have refused to speak on any platform with them unlike the member for Mayo (Alexander Downer)." Downer was forced to respond by saying that he had not known that he was addressing the League of Rights at the time - then who the heck did he think he was addressing? A women's forum on investing in buttons?"
Ms Hanson's recent speech to the people of Newcastle is now on-line.
Australian entertainer Rolf Harris' 65 year old wife, Alwun, had to be rescued by the police in her Berkshire home when a fridge fell on her in the kitchen.
The British media true to form came up with a novel headline... "Tie me fridge down sport"...
Pauline Hanson's One Nation Official home page.He said that the cash or "black" economy had severely effected the integrity of the tax system in Australia with PAYE workers carrying a sizeable chunk of the revenue lost through "under the counter cash deals".
The Tax Office caused a real stir yesterday when one of the commissioners suggested that it was considering a tax lottery or giving people tax breaks in return for receipts to create a paper trail to find tax cheats. People interviewed following the remark said that it was "un-Australian to dob in someone".
Costello said, "There is a growing perception that the rewards to be gained from engaging in the cash economy outweigh the risks of being caught.
"We will examine options to ensure that our tax system is a system that makes the cash economy and avoidance of that nature much harder to engage in."
Taxpayer association chief Peter McDonald said it was important to educate people saying, "At the end of the day some poor bastard has to pay for it."
Now I wonder how the ATO are doing with their Au$143 million claim against Kerry Packer - I guess the media will never let us know....
Regarding the 'stolen children', twenty years down the track will HREOC (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) be willing to accept responsibility for the current generation of aboriginal children who are suffering massive brain damage because they are actally wear cans of petrol strapped to their faces?
Obviously their communities cannot look after them, but govennments are doing a Pontius Pilate and simply washing their hands of the matter. Why? Because it's politically incorrect to interfere as they're black.
As for the recommended ANNUAL 'sorry day', words fail me. Do these people live on the same planet as the rest of us?
Antonia Feitz
Subject: Worried!
Dear Sir,
I am an ordinary Asian student studying peacefully at an Australian school. I do what I'm told and have never insulted or considered myself better than anyone else. Why then would I deserve to be constantly insulted and have jokes played one me?
The result of Ms Hanson's outrageous comments such as A dominating Asian population by 2006 is exactly what causes me and my fellow asian Students pain and fear, the facts she have stated are completely out of proportion and has no real backing. Please next time Ms Hanson plan on making a speech take her information from a reliable speech rather than misleading information such an the 'OZ BUY GUDIE' which has little or no significance because it was not created from facts. If she has the time call up the ABS and quote her facts to them, because somehow I feel that your figures compared to their will differ quite substantially.
A. Tang
P.S. Ms Hanson seems to only stand for one issue that is returning Australia to a perfect race, is this true? Does she really believe Australia can survive independently and with no exported or imported products? Somehow I think not!!
Somehow I don't think I have to predict the outcome.
Have a great day.
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