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Friday 3rd October 1997
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Yesterday we revealed that Australia is on the crossroads - and right now it looks like we are going to run up the wrong path - that followed by the Canadians.
Today we can tell you that if you employ people beware because the litigation cases that feed the growing army of lawyers is coming here to Australia. In this article transcribed from the Washington Post you will see the tightrope that you are going to walk... irrespective of colour, race or creed.
While on the issue of discrimination, some of us have now heard, despite Australia's media censorship of the pro-Hanson issue about California's Proposition 209.
Well here is a quotable quote from a recent article in the Washington Times about Proposition 209:
"The ultimate irony was the American Civil Liberty Union’s lawsuit to have Proposition 209 ruled unconstitutional because it prohibited racial discrimination."
Yes, you heard right the Civil Libertarians complained because it... prohibited racial discrimination.....
Please support the petition against interference by Kim Beazley and minority groups who are trying to pressurise Howard into putting One Nation last on all "How to Vote" cards.
The support so far has been excellent with a large number of petitioners lodging their angst about the powerplays taking place between the bi-partisan Liberal/Labor parties.
Tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee (Liberal/Labor) were at it again yesterday playing catch me if you can.
Big loser of the day was opposition leader Kim Beazley whose own father summed up the modern day ALP so nicely... this is what he said, "When I first joined the Labor Party (in the 1940s), it was made up of the cream of the working class. When I left it (in the 1970s), it was made up of the scum of the middle class."
Poor old dad he would be disappointed as things have gone from bad to worse. Howard and Costello resumed their attack on Senator Nick Sherry and the Opposum Bay travel allowance fiasco that put about Au$40,000 tax free dollars in his hand.
But the worst part was unethical Labor at its very best presenting the media with a Department of Administration Services (DAS) official definition of capital cities in claiming travel allowance to substantiate Sherry's claim. Somehow the top of the document got cut off.... but the Coalition picked that up and stuck it right back on coming up with this interesting revelation.... Peter Costello, "You are the Edward Scissorhands of Australian politics"... he said to Kim Beazley.
Why, well the piece that they cut off from the DAS document showed that the document referred to car allowance - not travel allowance.... but don't let that phase the ALP leadership they just go back on their word of only one week that any member caught rorting his or her travel allowances would be sacked... because guess what, Senator Sherry is still there!
Howard said, "What you ought to do is require Senator Sherry's resignation and you ought to apologise forthwith to the Australian public for deliberately deceiving them". Of course we all know the ALP - thanks to the Hawke/Keating years of travel rorting is systemic through a lot of the archived records of those senior politicians who now cry "Foul!"
Our "partners" the US are threatening to slam possible trade sanctions on us after they challenged export assistance being given to an Australian car parts manufacturer. The challenge to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Of course, Pauline Hanson is to blame, or so the duplicity of today's Courier Mail report suggests with a sub heading of "Hanson debate hits home" under the main heading of "Sanctions loom as US lodges trade challenge".
Now you are probably interested to know why Hanson got mixed up in all this... well quite simply because her Liberal arch-enemy the mealie-mouthed Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said that the first question he was asked at an international forum in New York was about "Australia's widely reported inward looking tendencies". Of course Hanson was to blame said Downer... excuse the mix up in this story but this revelation is placed slap in the middle of the car parts story implying that Hanson is to blame here as well...
However, if you take the trouble to read the "main story" you discover that the reason why the US are threatening sanctions is because of the export assistance being given... and yes it is the Australian Government who are giving that assistance not Pauline Hanson nor One Nation.
It is expected that the WTO will take about 15 months to make a decision on the complaint by the US. US trade representatives have also referred complaints about exports of cars from South Korea to the US; Japanese trade barriers; Canadian dairy subsidies and European Union support for sales of processed cheese to the WTO.... still trying to work out how Hanson became part of the story.... after all the US has its own Proposition 209 to think about....
There is a new Press Council boss.. his
name is Professor Dennis Pearce.
He was educated in Canberra, was a dean at the Australian National University
and is a former Commonwealth ombudsman who is already speaking out on issues
of interest saying, "The time has come for us to recognise press freedom
in legislative or constitutional form, either by amendment to the Constitution
or the adoption of a Bill of Rights".
Pearce also chairs the Attorney General's copyright law review committee.
His major concerns include:
You have to look no further than the last one to smell a rat... what about
media concentration? What about the appalling lack of
ethics
in journalism today? What about
Australia's Trojan
Horse?
Where did this guy blow in from... and he's in charge of changes to copyright
laws in Australia? God save us!
Here is the "squeaky clean" track record of Victorian
State Premier Jeff Kennett, the man who has ruined more ethical
Victorian journalists reputations than bodies were found in Tienanemen Square
after the massacre...
1992:
November 10th: More than 100,000 people join in 24 hour Statewide strike over
the
Employee
Relations Bill.
1993:
July 9th: Kennett fined Au$100 for selling wine without a licence.
1994:
January 17th: He closes his family business, KNF Advertising, after allegations
that his influence is getting it big government contracts.
1996:
January 3rd: Kennett fined Au$165 for driving 143 kph in a 100kph traffic
zone.
May 16: Controversy over his influence in his wife getting 50,000 Guangdong
Corporation shares. Kennett rejects opposition claims of conflict of interest.
May 29: Kennett throws sand over television crews during a symbolic Japanese
ground breaking ritual.
1997:
April 23: Auditor-General hands down his most damning report uncovering possible
corruption in the awarding of an ambulance contract worth Au$32 million.
April 24: Kennett decides to "review the Auditor General's role" following
publication of the report. Suggesting that an independent organisation could
fulfil the task.
August 23: The Editor of the Melbourne Age, Guthrie,
resigns
under pressure because he refuses to cast Kennett in a squeaky clean
light.
September 22: The former government press secretary Stephen Mayne
blows the whistle
on Kennett's dealings in two floats - Guangdong and Yates.
The old scars of Super League and the Australian Rugby League (ARL) fester
on with the courts latest ruling demanding that Super League players Anthony
Mundine (Brisbane Broncos) and Phil Adamson (Penrith) are bound by loyalty
agreements with the ARL meaning that next year they will have to return to
the old league.
However lawyers for Super League have said that the players will continue
to play for Super League unless the ARL takes the action through the Supreme
Court to have the decision ratified.
Nice to have money isn't it... imagine if we could all afford to bounce our
disputes through the Supreme Court... we would have a bigger outstanding
waiting list than Native Title claims.
Making the
news" -
an indepth exposé of media and political collusion at the highest
possible levels in Australia.
Sport:
Personal trivia, from
the global
office:
The extraordinary photo on the right is of a policeman using a surveyor's rod to measure the distance from the Karana Downs police station to the corner (about 30 yards away). It was taken a few days ago.
He is using a riot control mike and head set to communicate with his partner who is actually making the measurement.
They must have been having a quiet day like the firestation (in background) staff who tend to the gardens... some of the best in our suburb.
Another beautiful day in paradise.
Have a good one.
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