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Tuesday 17th June 1997

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International:

The program covered Ms Hanson’s rise to fame and popularity in Australia and uncovered some of the glaring inequalities in the current political system.

We will include later today the interesting comparison between the letter that Ms Hanson wrote to the Queensland Times just before the 1996 Federal Election - the letter that saw her being disendorsed and scorned by the Liberal party. The man who did the hatchet job - Mr John Howard. Interesting because the ABC were able to show the significant swing in the tune that Mr Howard now sings - practically identical to the comments by Ms Hanson in that letter.

The report was, all in all, a very well balanced report unlike the 60 Minutes effort a few weeks ago.

Liberal Party expediency? - statements Hanson (February 1996) vs Howard (May 1997)

Believe it or not the extracts in blue below are extracts from the letter in the Queensland Times that resulted in Ms Hanson being branded a racist by the media and resulted in her being disendorsed by the Liberal Party. (See attached image of article that appeared in the Singapore Strait Times yesterday. This article perpetuates the myth created by the Australian media following the publication of this letter.) The statements in black are those made by John Howard at Longreach last month. Oh, how the Liberal Party reveal their true colours...

Pauline Hanson letter: "I would be the first to admit that many years ago the Aborigines were treated wrongly but in trying to correct this they have gone to far..."

John Howard at Longreach: "I think that what has happened in this country is that we had a pendulum of Aboriginal affairs that was over here and I think that it has swung too far over in this direction particularly because of the Wik decision and what I am trying to do is to bring it back into the middle and I think that that is where it ought to be."

Pauline Hanson letter: "I don't feel responsible for the treatment of Aboriginal people in the past because I had no say but my concern is for their future."

John Howard at Longreach: "I do not believe in intergenerational guilt when it comes to Aboriginal affairs. I am aware of the history of this country. I am aware of the fact that the indigenous people were here first. I do not exhibit a sense of shame for what our forebears did."

Pauline Hanson letter: "How can we expect this race to help themselves when government showers them with money, facilities and opportunities that only these people can obtain no matter how minute the indigenous blood that flows through their veins and that is what causes racism."

John Howard at Longreach: "I understand the resentment that the rest of Australia feel when social security services are made available to minorities that are not available to them."

On other matters Hanson Queensland State Premier Rob Borbidge said that he was getting tired of being asked about her while on overseas trips. “The impact of Pauline has not got worse, but it really has not let up,” the council head of the Singapore-Australia Business Council said just before Borbidge got up to address the group.

In response to the comment Borbidge said, “At the end of the day, they (the debates about Ms Hanson) can cost jobs and investment across Australia.”

The Torres Strait is in danger of turning into an illegal highway according to Torres Strait leaders. This after 139 illegal Chinese immigrants arrived off the coast in a steel boat.

The Mayor of Torres Shire, Pedro Stephen, said his backyard was being turned into a highway for drugs, criminals and illegal immigrants.

A few weeks ago we reported on the boy who was found comatose in his room at the Hills Language School in Jimboomba. The attack on the 15 year old Asian boy, who is still comatose, resulted in a strange bit of anti-Hanson reporting by Channel Seven at the time with students at the school pointing the finger at Ms Hanson for racist taunts that they experienced. Yesterday the case went to the Brisbane courts with seven Taiwanese boys being accused of beating up the young lad because he had used a mobile phone belonging to someone else - running up thousands of dollars in calls.

Spare a moment for the two British nurses at the centre of the Yvonne Gilford murder saga in Saudi Arabia. Yesterday the Saudi courts rejected their council’s defence that Gilford’s brother Frank had no right to speak for her as he was not mentioned in her will. The Saudi courts have said that as her brother Frank Gilford has the right to decide whether they get executed by the sword if found guilty of murder in the courts. Frank Gilford has confirmed through his lawyer that he wants an eye for an eye.

Political:

A group of Australian church and union leaders have urged Blaire to raise the government’s refusal to apologise to the so-called stolen generation.

The latest Newspoll reveals an interesting swing in the Primary vote with the Democrat party becoming all but irrelevant as the independent parties led by One Nation take a big swag of the votes out there in the electorate.

Party	June 13-15	May 30-June 1
Coalition	44%	43%
ALP	36%	37%
One Nation	7%	7%
Democrats	3%	5%
Greens	2%	1%
Others	8%	7%

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Personal trivia, from the global office:

This morning I am delivering a paper on the future of the Internet and its effect on society. The 7am breakfast presentation is taking place at the Hilton Hotel.

Hope you have a great day.

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