International:

If you are to believe the "official line" mums and dads in Australia were the big winners yesterday when Telstra floated. Shares purchased for Au$1.95 each rose within minutes to Au$2.60 when the Australian Stock Exchange opened.

The Australian newspaper today had front page of images of two Aussies who made a few dollars from their investment in Telstra shares. A seventeen year old who made Au$432 the moment the stock market opened and a 29 year old Telstra worker who made Au$2,275 from his investment.

Alongside these pictures were some of the big winners and, no, they were not Mums and Dads they were the architects of the Telstra float. George Trumbull CEO of the AMP which made a paper profit of Au$68.65 million the moment the market opened. Another American import Frank Blount made an amount so large that it would not be disclosed.

So who were the big losers from this massive under-valuation of Australia's biggest company... Aussies and why? Because we actually owned the company before one third of it was sold for a song.

Of course Prime Minister John Howard saw the float as a great success saying that "The sale had underlined the fundamental sense of hope and optimism of the Australian people."

Why? Because the government had just sold a major asset off at a bargain basement price to overseas based investors (over 50% of the shares went to institutional investors). Of course the paper profit by mums and dads, when cashed in, will be fully taxable - unlike the massive profits made by the institutional investors.

In effect, Australians are the big losers as another very profitable company (in fact our biggest) will now be owned by overseas interests just like the Commonwealth Bank. And just like the Commonwealth Bank its accountability to the public (who owned it) will no longer play any role. So expect telephone fees and charges to rise without the government to be able to play a hand - like they have in the past. Expect more jobs to be lost. Expect the management of the company to be American based. Expect Australia to fall just a little bit deeper into the hole in which the Coalition and Labor bi-partisan leadership are pushing us.... and finally don't expect the mainstream media to let you know that that is actually what has happened.

In a classic political statement Australian Labor Party heavyweight Gareth Evans (Cheryl Kernot's close friend) said over the weekend in Ipswich that Pauline Hanson is no more extreme in her policies than Liberal leader John Howard. What Evans was referring to of course was Wik and the Coalition's ten point plan which has to be tested in the Senate.

The mainstream Australian public know that Hanson is not extreme but only speaking up for their views. One of which includes the extinguishment of native title.

Despite Prime Minister John Howard's statement a few days ago that the Australian Labor Party had believed that pastoral leases extinguished native title - a view which Packer's henchman Grahame Richardson confirmed - the ALP continue to play dirty politics. Yesterday John Howard demanded Kim Beazley disassociate himself from the "racism" claims.

Beazley responded in Parliament during Question time by saying, "The Prime Minister wants to know what we think its chances of success are in the High Court - we think them nil."

The exchange between the leaders prompted the Speaker Bob Halverson to warn both parties, "This is an important issue... this is an issue which we need to unify the country, not divide it."

Beazley tried to wriggle out of his earlier support for Grahame Richardson's comment that the ALP cabinet had thought that pastoral leases extinguished native title by saying that they all knew that it would have to be tested in the courts (where Wik became the issue).

Howard responded to Beazley by saying, "I take the opportunity of repudiating on behalf of me and all my colleagues the quite unfounded and dishonest racial motives that have been attributed to the Government in this matter."

Welcome to the media inspired world of fantasy and fairy-floss Mr Howard, you know that Pauline Hanson and One Nation have been put through the loop for months on unfounded claims based on the myth that she and the party are racist.

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Good rain overnight in paradise.

Cloudy today with intermittent showers. Nice cool change!

Have a great day.

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