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Wednesday 11th September 1996

International:

The self-professed "fish and chip shop lady" from Ipswich is well known for her views on Aboriginal matters.

In the normal tradition of "long lunches and parliamentary bad manners" there were only a handful of MPs in Parliament attending her speech which lasted about 20 minutes. One of the few who was there was West Australian Independent member for Kalgoorlie, Graeme Campbell who warmly congratulated her after she had finished.

Hanson's main points were:

• Repeal of the Family Law Act, a "creation of that disgraceful Senator Lionel Murphy".
• Abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), "a failed discriminatory organisation" and never mind the squeals from the "fat cats, bureaucrats and do-gooders".
• Abolition of the Native Title Tribunal and an end to the Au$40 million that has been spent on Native Title; a sum, she says, which has gone straight into the pockets of lawyers and white consultants.
• Abolition of the Council for Reconciliation, particularly because its members were paid Au$290 daily allowance and Au$320 travelling allowance.
• An immediate end to Asian immigration. "If I can invite who I want into my home, I should also be able to say who I want in my country."
• An end to the Howard Government's "kow-towing" to international markets and bankers.
• A review of Australia's membership and funding of the United Nations, which she described as a kind of "international ATSIC".
• An end to all "international aid" because it is paid to "corrupt governments".
• The abolition of multiculturalism but no criticism of "ethnics" already here, so long as they become good Australian citizens.
• The introduction of compulsory national service for twelve months for everyone leaving Year 12 and/or turning 18.

Finally Mrs Hanson said that she had no time for economists, "they need to get their heads out of the textbooks and get a job in the real world," she said with clapping and verbal agreement being heard around the chamber.

Political:

The Senator, who's support the Coalition were banking on, has said that he will not support the Bill in the upper house unless certain fundamental changes are made.

The key issue is the ownership of Telstra which he believes should remain in Australian hands, saying that preferential shares could be issued without the ownership of Telstra by the government being diluted. There prefential shares could be bought back at a later stage by the Federal Government.

The government hope to raise Au$8 billion from the one-third sale of Telstra... one of their platforms at the March Federal election (archived news then enter early March dates...)

Business:

NAB has called for a redefinition of the role of banks and provision for new structures which would allow holding companies to own banks. Like Westpac, NAB, have called for a review of the six-pillars policy which regulates that the biggest six financial institutions in Australia cannot merge.

Sport:

Armstrong leant the medal to The Australian newspaper for a story they wanted to write - after receiving a request by the paper's editor Malcolm Schmidtke. The medal was sent by courier and received by The Australian. Armstrong went to the Atlanta Games and that's when the fun started.

Armstrong's business manager, his sister Phillipa, asked the editor to return the medal but after a lengthy delay during which the medal was not returned Phillipa had a feeling that something was up and called in the police.

Police confirmed that investigations were continuing in New South Wales and Queensland centered around a courier parcel that went missing between The Australian and Armstrong.

The editor of The Australian said, "From the time the medal went astray we have made strenuous efforts to assist with inquiries to find it. The medal did not go astray while it was in the possession of The Australian and it is clear the responsibility rests solely with the courier service."

Armstrong was devastated on returning to Brisbane and finding out about its loss.

"It took me ten years of hard swimming to win that medal, swimming 400 laps of a pool a day. Now my grandkids are not going to see it and my children won't get to wear it - it's terrible."

Strange twist - Armstrong was offered a five figure sum by Women's Day magazine to write a story about the medal's disappearance - payment to cover his related legal costs. Armstrong allegedly agreed to be interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday on condition that the story would not be published until today... but once again editorial integrity went out the window with the paper publishing the story yesterday.

Now Armstrong is considering legal action against the Sydney Morning Herald... for breaking a promise and effecting his arrangement with Women's Day! What a mess..

Social:

The picture the ABS are painting is of an increasingly technological society. The figure makes it obvious that the electronic age has radically changed the way that families communicate and work.

Almost one in ten household now have a fax machine - two years ago it was just 4%!

A quarter of Australian households now have a mobile phone and answering machine. Just under 4 million Australians aged five and over now use a household computer and indications are that this is just the beginning of a sharp rise.

Of about 4.7 million households without a computer about one-third told the ABS that cost was a factor.

About 262,000 households use the Internet from home and 141,000 use email. This excludes business use.

Personal trivia, from the global office:

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