Recent stories exclusive to (how to) subscribe/rs of the Australian National News of the Day:
The
Hindmarsh Island Bridge farce revealed 31st March
UN
agrees to make our fresh water a "global commodity".... beware farmers -
your fresh water dam WILL cost you! 28th March
Courier
Mail's national affairs reporter Peter Charlton attacks MAI concerns and
breaches ethics guidelines 28th March
The
US Government's global "Cablesplice" project, fact or fantasy? 26th
March
Pauline
Hanson endorses 12 state candidates. 22nd March
News
Limited bucket opposition to the MAI. 21st March
The proposed privatisation of
Telstra 16th March 1998
Queensland State Candidates meet the
people 15th March 1998
One Nation, the First Year
12th March 1998
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Queensland State One Nation candidates to meet in Toowoomba this weekend
I will be in Toowoomba this weekend reporting on One Nation's first state conference. Pictures and stories will be carried in the Queensland election pages.
Alan Jones on Channel 9s Today programme - the Hindmarsh bridge fiasco
Yesterday we reported on the Hindmarsh fiasco. Yesterday the High Court ruled against the case brought by the Aborigines on Hindmarsh.
Here is a transcript of Alan Jones' comments today on Hindmarsh:
Well the High Court has handed down its judgement in this expensive and farcical Hindmarsh Island bridge case and in a decision which will be welcomed by most Australians, the High Court argued that the Commonwealth does have the power to make laws to the detriment of Aboriginal people. Why not?
The Commonwealth in balancing equity and justice often makes laws to the benefit of some Australians and the detriment of others.
The High Court decision confirms a hardening of views right around the country in relation to Aboriginal demands and in relation to Wik. Private polling by Conservative parties in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory confirms that Australians want the government take a tough stand on native title. 71% in a recent survey supported a stricter test on native title claims. 64% want a six year limit on native title claims.
For example, only today we learn that before the Darwin-Alice Springs railway line can even be thought about an agreement has to be reached because 80% of the proposed railway corridor goes through territory under native title claim but then that's not a surprise - land rights currently under native title claim represent 42% of the Northern Territory, land likely to be claimed represents another 48% so that land rights plus native title cover over 90% of the Northern Territory - that's a sixth of Australia.
And the argument is that native title is about hunting and fishing and culture. Well it is time that was exposed as an absolute nonsense. It is time it was said as bluntly as possible that the issue is money
Now that the High Court has dispensed with the costly and often dishonest Hindmarsh Bridge affair and Au$6 million in legal bills perhaps we can get down to imposing some honesty and sanity into the native title debate. Quite frankly it is not about reconciliation. It is about money and blackmail.
Last word to the Aboriginal claimants who say that they are now going to go to the international court over Hindmarsh Bridge... I wonder who will pick up that bill.
Have a look here for the story behind Hindmarsh.
Of course the decision has got the tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee of Australian politics frothing at the mouth with Special Minister for State Nick Minchin saying that he was now "profoundly confident" that the Coalition's ten point plan would pass through the Senate.
"The law of Australia is that there is no restriction on the race power - the High Court has never found that restriction applies," Minchin said.
Only one High Court judge supported the Ngarrindjeri claimants view, Justice Michael Kirby, who found that there were no grounds for Australia to make "racist" laws. Two other judges avoided the race question altogether while three said that the Commonwealth had the power to make discriminatory laws.
After all what is ATSIC - if not discriminatory - what does ATSIC do for non-Aboriginal people in Australia... ATSIC was born through an act of Parliament.,
A Constitutional law expert Tony Blackshield said yesterday that on the question of racist laws three judges had said the Commonwealth could make them two had said that they were not going to give an answer while one had said no, "That means that there is no clear majority view so the constitutional question remains absolutely unsettled."
Let us remember that the seventh High Court judge, Ian Callinan QC, excused himself from ruling on the case because of the perception of bias.
World Trade Organisation (WTO) puts the screws on Indonesia
Yesterday we reported how Suharto had buckled under the blowtorch of the IMF to allow foreign companies to buy Indonesian companies "on the cheap".
Now a dispute panel at the WTO found that Indonesia's national car policy violates international trade rules by discriminating against foreign automobile imports in favour of domestic products. The WTO report found that Indonesia's car policy violated the most-favored- nation provision under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Japan, the EU and U.S. brought the complaint to the WTO. Indonesia adopted its national car policy in 1996, granting complete tariff exemption to Pt Timor Putra Nasional, a company run by the son of Indonesia's President Suharto. The DSB is expected to adopt the ruling in May, although Indonesia previously agreed to dismantle the program as part of its IMF bailout package.
Once the representatives of globalisation get their fingers into a pie they are not about letting go without consuming the whole.
Black, Hispanic Admissions Plunge at 2 Calif. Campuses
Update on Affirmative Action in the US from the Washington Post:
Remember Proposition 209? - the resolution passed against "affirmative action" by the people of California? Well the results of its impact are now starting to impact on universities in that state.
BERKELEY, Calif., March 31—The University of California's two premier campuses reported today that their first undergraduate classes chosen without the use of affirmative action will have an extraordinarily low number of black and Hispanic students.
At the university's Berkeley campus, admissions offers to black and Hispanic students for next fall's freshman class have plunged by more than half to the lowest totals for each group in at least 15 years. Of the 8,000 students who were offered admission, 191 were black, down from 562 last year. A total of 434 Hispanic students were offered admission, down from 1,045 last year.
The admissions trends are similar but not quite as extreme at UCLA. In its next freshman class, the number of black students who are being offered admission has fallen by 43 percent, and by 33 percent for Hispanics.
Africa's NAFTA (Free trade Bill) gets the cold shoulder.
The real reason for Starfleet Commander Bill Clinton's trip to Africa is now becoming clear. Clinton has been pushing for an MAI-like agreement with African countries, and they do not like it as you will below.
South African President Nelson Mandela, meeting with President Clinton in South Africa last week, spoke out against the Africa bill. He expressed the concern shared by other African countries that the bill is a mechanism to open African markets to U.S. interests, offering little in return for African economies. Mr. Mandela also stated that S. Africa would not be bullied by the U.S. into breaking its long-standing ties with Cuba, Libya and Iran.
In related news, Rosa Whitaker, newly-appointed U.S. Trade Representative to Africa, said the role of her position is to help build trade capacity in African countries in order for them to become full participants in the global trading system. "The role is to focus high-level attention on how we increase trade and investment with Africa and to assist Africa's integration into the international trade system. We plan to do that through the World Trade Organization and multilateral initiatives."
The source of MAI?
We have been given documents from the "Department of the Senate" dating back to 18th September 1980. The documents are headed: "The Implications for Australia of Proposals for a new International Economic Order."
We hope to be in a position to put extracts on the Internet tomorrow.
It is a trifle ironic that a Senate Standing Committee was responsible for the proposal as another on "Treaties" is currently investigating the MAI. Quote from the 1980 document:
Quote: "Statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Andrew Peacock MP, conveying the Government's response to the Report of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence on the Implications for Australia of proposals for a New International Economic Order."
Making the
news" -
The case of the fool's in twin cities
Once upon a time there were two cities, in one lived the people of tweedle-dum and in the other lived the people of tweedle-dee. The people of tweedle-dee, sometimes referred to as the Coalition, and the people of tweedle-dum, sometimes referred to as the ALP, enjoyed many special privileges that were not shared with the "fringe dwellers", sometimes known as the independent parties. Unlike the people of the twin cities the fringe dwellers were scorned by the privileged who fund and gain favour with tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. This would surprise many as the fringe dwellers represent the views of the vast majority of the peoples of the land called Australia.
Amongst these privileges were funny little groups known as think tanks. Both tweedle-dum's, the Evatt Foundation, and tweedle-dee's, the Menzies Centre, were required by the system because they allow the city's fathers to justify their stance on issues which have been fed them by the big money that lived off shore.
Today's leader of the tweedle-dee is a small man, John Howard, who puffs himself up to his full 5 ft 6 inches when annoyed. The leader of the tweedle-dum is an imposing man, Kim Beazley, whose girth is such that Parliament had to be built with extra wide doors to allow him to gain entry into its hallowed halls. This leader sways in a frightening and ungainly fashion, like a seal, when his ire is roused.
And so it was that on April fool's day the conversation below took place in a big building known as Parliament which is used by the tweedle-dum and the tweedle-dee to show the minions from all the fringe dweller groups that they do indeed do something - even if it is to fight with each other over issues which have no bearing on the lives of those they are supposed to represent. For most Parliament was seen as a place soaked with lies and corruption one in which the fringe dwellers would do well to be able to wring out any truth at all.
John Howard: "I rang the leader of the opposition and I said, 'Kim, we have it in mind to give Au$100,000 to the Menzies Centre and in the interest of political balance we'll give Au$100,000 to the Evatt Foundation and also get the tax deductibility to the Menzie's Centre because the Evatt Foundation has already got it. I was wondering if you could support the decision' and he (Kim Beazley) said, 'That sounds terrific. I'll take it'."
And so it was that the people from the fringe groups found themselves toiling in the sun to pay for the whims of the twin city fathers. So who are the fools?
Subject: re: divide and rule
Sir
Firstly, we have seen the proof of hired thugs carrying weapons with a very dangerous type of ammunition. These thugs hired as "security" guards to harass the sacked miners, and especially union reps, at the Gordonstone Colliery in Queensland.
Secondly, we have seen the proof of ex and not so ex S.A.S. soldiers hired for the Dubai exercise and the current Melbourne dock crisis.
Now, what I would like to see is Philip Madsen show some sort of proof to back up his statement of yesterday. And I quote:
"(this secretly supported by union leaders who have obviously been bought off by the same money power that has bought off our politicians.)"
While Philip locates his proof, maybe other people can check the history books for a reminder of the Eureka Stockade. Ask yourselves these questions. "Could history be about to repeat itself? Is it possible that at the close of this century we may see workers shot and killed, again with the permission of the Government?"
Think about a little while.
N. Daniel
Another perfect day in paradise.
Have a good one.
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