Saturday 2nd November 1996
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On other matters off the planet seems like British scientists headed by Colin Pillinger of the British Open University have found significant amounts of organic material from a meteorite known only as EETA 79001 recovered in Antartica.
Will this be the signal for Star Fleet Commander Bill Clinton to call for a special "post Presidential election" summit on life on Mars....
Alan Bond's son Craig had a win yesterday, with the District Court awarding him nearly Au$100,000 in a civil action he took against a couple who rented his former Brisbane house.
The couple, David and Tracy Weeks, failed to pay rent on Blainsleigh Estate in the Brisbane suburb of Hamilton on the outstanding portion of their lease agreement - which had about six months to run.
Bond sued the couple for Au$60,000 in unpaid rent and for damage to the house. Justice Hugh Botting awarded Bond Au$93,459.70 and the return of Au$10,000 in bond money.
Several economists and the Federal Treasurer Peter Costello called for the Reserve Bank to lower official interest rates at next Tuesday's board meeting. Costello was particularly vocal about the major banks - targeting the margins between the costs of funding the banks' standard variable mortgage rates and the rates that they charge customers.
The Prime Minister John Howard has predicted that attempts to form a political party around the views of Oxley Independent MP Pauline Hanson will fail.
Howard also said that Australia would not sustain any "deep-seated damage" from the race debate sparked by Hanson in her maiden speech two months ago.
In a blunt response to the attacks by Asian newspapers on his leadership Howard said, "This is not the first time that Asian newspapers have attacked an Australian Prime Minister and it won't be the last..."
He also warned that the assumption that any incidents of racial taunts or vilification were the direct result of the Hanson debate were misplaced and strongly criticised the Australian media for its coverage of the race debate.
The following "anti-Hanson" feedback reflects an interesting perspective on the immigration debate. I would only make one comment and that is with respect to the nerve that she has touched with the issues that she has raised, namely that her support is broadly based around Australia, and is not restricted to her home town of Ipswich...
something that I am sure the astute politicians in Australia will have noted, whatever their bluster may be in the public eye!
Subject: Racism and the Member for Oxley
The Member for Oxley, Ms Pauline Hanson, was duly elected by the
voters of the Oxley electorate.
What can be questioned is the readiness of those who voted for her,
to do so. Prior to the election, something of her views must have been
known to her electorate council, or equivalent. If not, the Liberals in
Oxley were 'grasping at political straws' ... they thought that the seat
was solidly Labor and, therefore, they'd stand anyone, just to oppose
the Labor candidate.
It is necessary to understand the demographic and socio-economic
factors as they relate to Ms Hanson's electorate.
Oxley is not a 'rich' area. It is industrial, in that it supports the State
of Queensland's primary manufacturer of cement. The City of Ipswich
is, essentially, founded on coal mining. The predominant labour force
is not considered 'wealthy' by today's standards. And, so goes the
script as it relates to the 'wealth' of the Oxley electorate.
Assumptions about the intelligence of the voters, based on their
socio-economic ranking, should be irrelevant.
I ask this ...
If I reflect on my Mother's politics, they fluctuated between supporting
the Conservatives (probably as a result of her landed-gentry family
background) and the 'Socialists' (probably as a result of her telling
her landed-gentry folks to get stuffed when they interfered in matters
amorous).
If you'll recall, prior to, and in the early years of the Labor
Governments of recent times, greypower were pretty vocal. They DID
achieve some results from their agitation, if only the message that
they were still around, and were the THINKING voters.
The climate has changed and many more Australians hold political
views which have resulted from a REAL attempt to understand,
and to scrutinise the policies of the various parties and independents
standing.
Those who take the time to analyse will alter their vote accordingly.
In TODAY'S economic climate the older voters will resent a
conservative regime out-of-hand and, having formed their views
about the deficiencies of the Labor/Socialist Govts and, not
wishing to directly support a conservative regime, may drift towards
ANYONE with views with which they're comfortable.
Many of these 'older folk' rely on memories of 'the war' and it's
consequences on their family, their community ... their Nation.
My family, i.e. my wife (born at War's end), daughters (nothing to do
with the War) and myself ("nothing to do with" faction) have, for five
years past, hosted students attending our university's Overseas
Students Cultural Exchange Program.
These students, from Japan and the United States of America, have
lived with us as family members, in one case for a period of eleven
months . We remember with affection the things we have learned,
and know we have contributed in a most significant way to their
understanding of Australian culture.
A memory we're hoping will recede is of the comment of just one
member of the 'OLDER' generation', to the effect that, 'the yanks
didn't finish the job', referring to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki
bombings.
I ask, how can you blame a person, 21 years of age in 1996, for
what happened over 50 years ago?
My plea is ... for more of TODAY'S 'generation' to become vocal
about this issue.
More of "TODAY'S" generation should be speaking with our 'OLDIES'
principally because they hold in their hearts, their minds and their
memories, the experiences upon which our existence is founded.
Communication is a two-way street ... wisdom may be a consequence
of age, but analysis is not so restricted.
TODAY'S GENERATION is required to communicate ... particularly
with those in the community who have much to teach them.
When we recognise our teachers, our task is so much easier!
David.Anderson
are the people who ONCE were lumped together under the label
'GREYPOWER' falling behind Ms Hanson in droves.
Another interesting aspect is that of Oxley's socio-economic group.... remember the following feedback?
Perhaps we should consider the possibility that she (Pauline Hanson) is made to look like a rasict, red-necked renegade and an extremist by the media because she represents the views of the working class, and such views are at odds with the interests of a media that wants to cater to a middle class consumer market. In an Australia where there is such a great divide between the haves and the have-nots, the Pauline Hanson issue is a paradigm example of how the concerns of the working class are treated when they are at odds with the interests of the elites. Gee, now I'm starting to sound like a socialist, I'd better stop. The full letter makes very interesting reading when contrasted with the comments raised above...
or compared to the views of two pro-Hanson respondents presented below:
Subject: Pauline Hanson - A New Perspective
Sirs,
On the Icon that Never Was:
If we are to learn anything as a result of the Pauline Hanson Affair
it is *the power and priviledge of open democratic debate*
No matter what side of the issues you stand on, mark this; Pauline
Hanson has a right to say what she feels, and if we deny her that
right, for whatever reason, then in some sense we deny that right to
all. You cannot have your freedoms by halves, unless of course you
happen to be East Timorese, a veterin of Tiennamin Square, or a
member of a naiscent democratic party in one of the holier-than-we
economic blocs au nord. In such instances we make an exception.
Another Icon Retrieved from the Rubbish:
Pauline Hanson is polled as representing at least 60% of the
electorate. How then is it possible, with such wide popular support,
to muster a unanimous motion of near-censure in the HoR? Who are
our elected representatives actually representing? Have these people
no fear of their own constituencies?
Maybe they are not representing the people of Australia at all...
perhaps a higher force is compelling them, one to be feared more than
political death itself?
Perhaps they are really representing the monied interests of Asia.
Before you laugh with your practiced, capochino-hardened sneer, think.
Haven't we recently seen a number of ministers exposed as owning
shares in conflict of their parliamentary responsibilities? One does
not have to be directly tied to another to have a strict conflict of
interest. It is enough to own property which may eventually be bought,
**or to know that one will eventually leave parliament and go into
business with those very same businessmen that one served so well in
the past.**
That is as much a conflict of interest as an honest seat on the board of
a public company. You talk about the mega-rich. What about the mega-
cunning and the mega-conniving, the people who use their political
positions to spring-board themselves into post-political careers of
influence far greater than what is practically obtainable by any other
means?
This has been the (not so unenviable) fate of one R. J. Hawk, if you
look closely enough. He was the one who really spearheaded mult-
culturalism and the influx of Asian migrants. Today, his business
interests in Asia are *extensive*, and his business contacts there are
said to be the very best. It is from looking at his example that the
thought first occurred to me. Examine for yourself.
This gives new meaning to the words of P. J. Keating who said, "Our
future is in Asia." Isn't it amazing how he spends more time in
Indonesia now that he has left parliament than he ever did when he had
a damned good reason to be there as Prime Minister?? It seems too that
this penchant is not confined to any one side of politics.
Our politicians just can't seem to refrain from enjoying the hospitality
of our many Asian friends. Unfortunately, I can't work out what it is
they are doing up there since the balance of trade does not seem to be
improving in proportion to their efforts. Perhaps it is not *our*
balance of trade they are working to improve...
A pattern appears to be forming. We, the people of Australia are *not*
the constituencies these people are actually serving.
Follow the paradigm and predict the behavior. If this particular
political theory is correct, the new parliamentary rules of debate would
be as follows; it would be a stain on one's record of service of some
serious weight to let the comments of someone like Pauline Hanson go
unchallenged. And in that light, it would be no crime at all to
disregard the opinions of an entire nation of nobodies. How would you decide the
issue if you knew that when your political career was over at the age of
45, you were effectively unemployable and you had blotted your copy-book
in the eyes of a group of prospective employers with memories of mythic
proportion?
And if these were the new rules, we would certainly not want anyone
even raising the question of our relations with Asia, macro or micro,
or our development grants (quite sacred), or anything to do with the
many one-way benefits and boons we bestow, in any way shape or form.
Didn't the new (and naive) government learn that the hard way in their
first weeks in office? Labor, now in opposition could have told them.
But to the point; How do you prevent someone asking a question about
something in the only forum in the country where you can say whatever
you like with impunity?
Noise. Lots of noise and false accusations, distortions, hysteria,
the reds-under-the-bed sort of thing that worked so very well to obscure
the truth about communist infiltration that has only now been revealed
in the recently opened KGB archives. Tsk tsk. How many of us fell
for that one eh? Well, it worked then, and it still works today.
Disinformation, and *lots* of it. The more outrageous the better.
But to really give it some punch and credibility, we need the press
to play along, since they are just as likely to pick up the populist
ball and run with it. The ministers have to be seen again and again
making statements against Ms. Hanson. At first the press ate up the
whole thing. They got far down-wind by playing the protagonist, and
now they change tack and begin reporting unsubstantiated stories about
supposed racial-hatred incidents. Again, according to the rules, they
can score goals at both ends of the field. We the paper-purchasing
public are the football.
None of this necessarily requires even so much as a *hint* of
conspiracy. A dirty word that, when all we are really talking about is
mutual, collective, systemic self-interest from people who owe their
very positions to herd instinct and amongst whom Pauline Hanson is a
puzzeling aberation.
Reading between the lines, I can draw only one conclusion - that
what passes for democracy in this country is really only a paternalistic
sham. But we shouldn't be too disheartened, for ours is not the first
parliament to have been bought wholesale by big industry and big
finance, and it won't be the last.
Of course we don't have to accept any of this. We can simply go back
to sleep and pray that people like Ms. Hanson will just go away. No
matter what you think of her, the very fact of her existence is
uncomfortably challenging. By her outspokenness she has flushed out
a veritable river (some would say sewer) of opinion and debate. This
is healthy, believe it or not. Beyond these purgative effects however,
some kind of rational framework is required into which to put all these
observations. Without it, the current round of craven bootlicking and
Asian cow towing is simply inexplicable.
Follow the money.
L. Wright
I, as most other Australians think Pauline is doing a bloody good job.
It's about time the views of the majority were given an airing.
I would say immigration has got to be cut right back.
There must be some sinister forces at work which for some reason wish to
deny 80% of Aussies the right to free speech.
The way Johny Howard and Kim Beastly are carrying on - one would get the
impression that the present inhabitants of Aust. are only caretakers of
this great Country and have to seek the say so of our neighbours to the
north before speaking out on matters of national importance or, run the
risk of their immediate condemnation if we do so.
I would say the words of Pauline has brought out the true racists, THOSE
who oppose her views. You've only got to read the anti-Aust. and racist
views of some of the Hong Kong people on the Internet, who are doing
their best to ostracise Pauline, They and the f....g Aust.Press.
It has just occurred to me "How come 90% of the Aussie Press, express
views which condemn Pauline". Well - it's because the bastards are being
paid from Canberra to try and shut her up. All very sinister!.
As Cecil Rhodes said "every man has his price".
I will bet $100 to a pinch of s*** - That Johny Howard and that Beastly
fellow have a hidden agenda. It makes me want to vomit, watching the TV
performance of these two "Asking our northerly neighbours for permission
for our every move, and their forgiveness for any outspoken views.
Why do you think Little Johny is hell bent on gathering all the firearms
- Well if you don't know - I shouldn't have to spell it out!!.
The trouble with Australia is - " We have never had a bloody war in the
land and as a result are just too complacent and easy going. As long as
we have a Pot of Piss in one hand and a Fag in the other we don't worry.
That used to be the rule for the past 60 years - but, "Times they are a
changing".
Long Live Pauline!!!!!
Brian Kings
There is a certain consisteny in concern appearing about the role of the press in our local thinking and our image abroad because of that role in much of the feedback....
Do you feel that Liberal Politicians reflect the views of the people they represent?
Do you feel that Labor Politicians reflect the views of the people they represent?
Please take a moment to tell me why...
Tina Ratanavaraha immigrated to Australia in 1983 opening her first restaurant the Thai Orchid in Springwod in 1986 after 20 years of hospitality experience in Thailand.
The magnificent restaurant has won several awards including the prestigious American Express Hall of Fame award in 1989...
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