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Friday 5th September 1997
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I will, of course, be there, to report on the event as will Beazley's Bovver Boys in the guise of the Brisbane Anti-Racism Committee (BARC) with allegations that they intend to violently disrupt the meeting.
This claim does not come from One Nation sources but from the Brisbane goon's counterparts the Ipswich Anti-Racism Committee whose spokesman, Peter Arndt, said that they have not ruled out attempts to disrupt the meeting. Arndt wanted to disassociate himself from and violence that may occur. What an interesting turn around from his branch's earlier comments in the Queensland Times.
Arndt said yesterday, "Our committee is aware that certain Brisbane groups who have a policy of disrupting One Nation meetings and harassing its supporters intend to protest at the launch.
"Our committee is not sure that we can get our local supporters to attend the protest against One Nation's extremists and racist views because they are not willing to take the risk of being associated with a demonstration which becomes violent."
Ms Hanson will address tonight's meeting.
The thin veneer that has covered the growing collusion between the Australian media barons and the major political parties is slowing being stripped off thanks the world wide web.
Here is an "insiders" comment on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) 7.30 Report, 2nd September 1997.
The comment, transcribed verbatim, was made by Peter Bowers, Fairfax journalist:
"I think the last thing that made it too hard that Mr Howard realised he couldn't give the Fairfax papers to Mr Packer without incurring the extreme displeasure of Mr Murdoch and when Mr Murdoch gets angry with governments he turns his, his, his, umm... editors loose on the government and I think that was the last thing Mr Howard wanted in the run up to the next federal election."
How prophetic, or should we say obvious that, now that the issue has been put to bed for a while, the News Limited editors have now been given the word to put the heat on little Johnny.
Talking about bed... remember Murdoch's tet-a-tet with Howard while he was laid up not with pneumonia as the news papers reported but actually suffering from a nervous breakdown it now appears. How stressful, how transparent, how undemocratic....
Getting back to those "yes master" baying dogs, here are some extracts from today's Editorial in the News Limited Courier Mail:
The inept attempt by John Howard to reshape media ownership policy deserved to fall...
.. the driving force behind these mooted (media ownership) changes was to allow Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd to buy the Fairfax newspapers while maintaining its stake in the Nine television network."
Here is another interesting allegation but about this time about how News Limited was supposed to have been involved in manipulating an Australian government in the past... interesting because here is another extract from today's Courier Mail "editorial",
"...the only vehicle for greater diversity (in Australian media) is foreign investment".
Extract from the The Opal File - A secret history of Australia and New Zealand:
"Rupert Murdoch, playing his part, uses his newspapers and television network to spread lies and misinformation.
"Whitlam, as well as refusing to waive restrictions on overseas borrowing to finance the aluminium consortium, had plans
to ensure that all corporations were at least 50% Australian-owned. This interfered with the Seven Sisters' plans to build
three oil refineries at Cape Northumberland in South Australia to exploit the Great South Basin discovery."
And little Johnny Howard well his "honest John" reputation has been the big loser here - and his ability as Australia's Prime Minister has also got to be questioned after his interview with Kerry O'Brien last night on the 7.30 Report.
O'Brien tried on several occasions to get Howard to reply to a simple question as to why the pre-election promised public inquiry into media ownership changes had been shelved not long after the March 1996 elections.
What resulted was a shouting match with little Johnny puffing up his little chest in self-righteous indignation with eyes darting all over the place giving away the real reason for the bluster - that little Johnny was mentally looking for somewhere to hide.
He never did get to answer the question did little John... oh well, at least the facade has now been stripped away. Join the crew with lies and deceit Mr Prime Minister.
Which leaves us with the bullying tactics of the Packer/Murdoch media whose power plays are so absolutely transparent to be obvious to even the bigoted halfwits who now think twice before they believe what they read... the big loser here is Australia's democracy.
The big loser here is a fair go for the brave Pauline Hanson's of the world who, in her case, despite vilification by a rabid media, continues to shine as a beacon of hope for democracy for the mainstream population.
Much has been said about Kerry Packer winning at the gambling tables not so much about his losses. Capital Corporation's Crockfords Casino has gained more than Au$21 million from Kerry Packer in the last six months - Packer apparently lost Au$6 million in just one night... The Casino should be happy, because without Packer's windfall they would have been unable to pay their debts over this period.
Making the
news" -
an indepth exposé of media and political collusion at the highest possible levels in Australia.
Political:
More than 100 Left Faction unionists walked out of the ACTU Convention in Brisbane yesterday in protest to speeches by members from the right wing Australian Workers Union (AWU). The unions involved included the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU); the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU); Community and Public Sector Union and Nursing Unions.
Jenny George refused to prevent AWU Queensland secretary Bill Ludwig and their new president Graham Roberts from speaking to the delegates causing the walkout. The left unions were accused of "childish" behaviour by delegates who remained... perhaps they are involved with Left Link... starting to make sense.
The AWU was recently involved in "membership battles" with the AMWU and CFMEU at several factories and mines in Queensland.
Well I'm afraid I just don't get it.
Paul Kelly, a senior journalist of the 'Australian' wrote a piece about the public dislike of the word multiculturalism (Weekend Australian 30-31/8/97). Under the heading 'Rights brings duties', Kelly quoted the the definition of multiculturalism based on the work of the Advisory Council on Multicultural Affairs which reported to the Hawke Government in 1989.
The definition in the document 'championed a right to ethnic and cultural heritage BUT ONLY WITHIN A FRAMEWORK OF LOYALTY AND OBLIGATION TO AUSTRALIAN UNITY.'(capitals added)
Who could object to that? So why is it that when Mrs Hanson criticises multiculturalism she is branded a racist, but when chief political correspondent Paul Kelly, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock, Social Researcher Hugh Mackay, the architect of the policy Jerzy Zubrzycki, etc do the same, they are merely 'analysing' contemporary Australia?
It's the same phenomenon as occurred in John Howard's Longreach speech, when he made exactly the same points about aboriginal demands as Pauline Hanson but the media carefully avoided pointing it out. As my heading says....
Antonia Feitz
BIL's chairman Bob Matthews said yesterday, "We remain very positive about its future value and we intend to remain a shareholder long-term.
"We were not attracted to Fairfax by the quaint notion that the value improvement would arise from any sort of regulatory changes for that industry - and I hope none of you would seriously contemplate that we would spend NZ$577 million on that basis."
The PBL trust set up to control the 15% shareholding in Fairfax will be 45% controlled by Packer's private company, Consolidated Press Holdings, causing BIL Australia's general manager Don Conway to say, "All (the switch to the unit trust has) done is parked it.
"All that has been achieved... is moving the asset from a listed vehicle of PBL to a vehicle which is substantially controlled by the private interests of the Packer family.
"You can take from all this (the delay in changes to media ownership) that we will continue to pursue any avenues open to us to significantly increase our Fairfax shareholding."
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