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Sunday 28th September 1997
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The thick fog from raging forest fires in Indonesia was the cause behind a major airline disaster involving a Garuda Airbus A300 coming into land at Medan in Sumatra on Friday.
Aboard the plane was a past Australian rally champion, Clive Slater. The irony was that at the time he died in the crash his co-driver Rod van der Straaten was being cremated in Perth. Straaten died on Tuesday.
Corruption in Thailand is at the centre of the dramatic fall in the value of the baht according to a report on SBS last night.
You might recall that Australia threw Au$1.35 billion at the problem as part of a package of US$17 billion gathered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In the SBS report it was revealed that the government bought itself into power last year by paying the equivalent of two Br Stg pounds to each voter who supported them. The estimated cost in buying the election was put at about Au$1.5 billion. The entire government was implemented in the report which found that the move to buy themselves into power was the start of the rot which led to the freefall of the Thai baht leading to the subsequent rescue package put up by the IMF.
Included in that government is none other than powerful Thailand Senator Michae Riladibea (unsure of spelling) who said in a Sixty Minutes interview aimed at demonising Pauline Hanson: "Perhaps we won't send our children there (Australia) because racism is not what we want." He like his ilk in that government have, according to the SBS report got about as much credibility as a ham sandwich found lying in a garbage tip.... yet his comments were the basis of Channel 9's assault on the "racist" Ms Hanson.
We then have reports from Bangkok newspapers saying that racism is rife in Thailand, but in Asia they don't call it that... no they call it "discrimination".... So what are we doing throwing so much money at a government which is so obviously, so blatantly corrupt? Is it so that those with their heads in the trough like Riladibea (who is as a matter of interest an Australian citizen!) can continue to run their corrupt government? Talk about a drop in Asian students well see for yourself... the irony is that our loans to Asian neighbours is probably funding a rise in Asian students to Australia.... with Thai students perhaps having parents using the money that Australia loaned the country through the IMF in the first place... after all Au$10,000 per annum is a big investment - ask the University of Southern Queensland.... big enough to destroy your reputation as a centre for free speech.
Not that our Australian politicians are squeaky clean either...
Channel 9 in Brisbane have reinstated a producer, Chris Ellis, who was recently found guilty of breaking into a single woman's house to get a story for a Channel 9 current affair programme.
Channel 9 subsequently bought the woman's silence.
Finally a prediction that time will judge... news headlines next month: "Kerry Packer dead" - by a massive heart attack.
Making the
news" -
The
KPMG report on Australian Federal politicians seems to be uncovering an aweful
lot of skeletons with reports that some 140 of the power brokers in Australia
have been sent letters of "please explain".
Discrepancies in travel expenses involve both the Liberal and Labor party members who have been given until Friday to come up with some answers.
Next week it is believed that the Labor Party will target another Coalition minister in Parliament - Veteran's Affairs Minister Bruce Scott.
In fact Channel 9's pre-emptive strike on the Coalition has been quite devastating... the Labor Party have been totally saved from any comparative assault. Howard's leadership is now believed to be under threat with Cheshire-cat Costello or Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith waiting in the wings to fight over the spoils if he resigns.
This is quite likely and here I would like to make my second prediction - that Howard will resign with his wife's health being given as the reason. His likely successor will be Peter Costello.
Another beautiful day in paradise.
Have a good one.
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