International:

Hanson announces Citizen Policies for One Nation which include a treaty to enable criminals to be evicted from Australia as well as a five year delay before immigrants can become Australian citizens.

Queensland's new penalties to fight juvenile crime breach the United Nations convention on children's rights according to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC).

The ALRC Commissioner Dr Kathryn Cronin said the Act clearly breached the Convention on the Rights of the Child - to which Australia is a signatory.

The ALRC has now brought out a report on children in the legal system, a report which was tabled in Federal Parliament yesterday.

The report calls on the Federal Government to override state legislation in Western Australia and the Northern Territory which have mandatory jail sentences for some juvenile offenders.

In response Queensland's Attorney General, Denver Beanland, said, "Any intervention is a matter for the Federal Government.

"The Juvenile Justice Act is currently under review and anyone with concerns about it is welcome to make a submission."

Australian Labor Party opposition Justice spokesman, Matt Foley, accused Beanland of going "over the top" with the new legislation, "Queenslanders expect firm and effective laws, but they also expect certain basic human rights standards to be met," he said.

Dr Cronin, in defending the ALRC report said, "Most young people who come in contact with the law only do so once or twice, and the younger that contact is made and the tougher the penalty, the more likely they are to continue offending."

So here we have it, the United Nations (who many say have absolutely no say over Australians law or social conditions) pulling all the strings through the politically correct channels in Australia.

It was the ALRC who put up the report claiming the Prime Minister's ten point plan on Wik was flawed.

Ipswich's well know Aboriginal elder, Neville Bonner, said that tribal elders will play a leading role in attempting to break the cycle of crime that is perpetrated by a small number of hardened Aboriginal youth.

He said that Aboriginal youth offenders needed to feel "shamed".

He said that sending them to jail often had the reverse effect with their peers giving them "hero status".

He said that the State Government funded Local Justices Initiative Programme was a solution "for our people, by our people, assisted by our non-indigenous brothers and sisters".

"That in itself is a very important move," Bonner said.

"Over representation (of Aborigines in prisons) was due in part to a lack of community-based initiatives designed to prevent crime or provide alternatives to custodial sentences."

The Jeff Kennett rip-offs continue unabated. The Victorian State Premier was yesterday caught out after it was revealed that his wife, Felicity, was given a taxpayer funded credit card for overseas emergencies and official business - but used it to buy items such as sun glasses in Greece - all paid for by the Victorian tax payer.

Poor old Jeffrey who was forced into the public intimidation of revealing what his wife had spent tax payers money on in a document he tabled in State Parliament.

The Kennett's are on the fast track to joining Keating and Hawke in the millionaire bracket through wheeling and dealing which has little to do with taking care of those who voted them into office.

Political:

Senator John Woodley yesterday said that he feared that the ALP would cave in because of the pressure related to the Queensland state elections which take place next year.

"It is quite likely that this internal tension will result in a very late notice on ALP amendments to the Bill," Woodley said.

Mineral Council president Nick Stump said that it would be "appalling" if the Coalition Government went to a double dissolution election over native title. "This country does not need a division of that sort," he said.

You Say:

Subject: Comments on Australian News of the Day

Dear Editor,

Nice of Richard Clarke to correct you on those facts. Thanks, Richard.

However, just in case Mr. Clarke was trying to make the larger point, that your fears are unfounded, that Telstra is going to remain the 'great Australian company' the PM says it is, then he is the one living in fantasy land and we'd better put him straight.

After all he might be one of the newer thinkers, who believe you can sell assets, yet still have them. Perhaps he hasn't noticed that over 90% of Australia's corporate sector has already been sold to foreign multinationals, and Telstra is absolutely guaranteed to follow, regardless of anything Howard and co. might say. It's not really up to them.

On the other hand he might actually believe the disinformation that Telstra is safely in the hands of 'the mums and dads', a mysterious group that only seems to rate a mention whenever another public asset is sold. He might be new, and isn't aware that Margaret Thatcher used the same 'mums and dads', 'popular capitalism' stunt when she began to sell off UK industry in the early 80s. Perhaps he really believes 'mums and dads' own North Sea Oil.

He might not have realised that mums and dads die, while corporations have perpetual succession; that it only takes a few years before all the shares are in corporate hands anyway, despite the subterfuge.

Perhaps he really believes the rest of Telstra is safely 'Australian' and will remain so, despite the laws of probability. If that's the case, he won't be perturbed in the slightest during the next 12 months when talk begins about selling the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Ridiculous? That's what they said about the Commonwealth Bank, Qantas, the airports, the power grids, the water supplies, the AIDC, the Ghan....and Telstra.

It's the Australian Government we should be selling, Richard. It is no longer working for us.

Graham Strachan.

Business:

BHP continues to be the big loser with its share price dropping another 41 cents to just Au$13.054 - its lowest price since June 1993.

Personal trivia, from the global office:

The rain that has fallen intermittently over the last few days is now clearing and the cloudless sky is once again returning to our lands.

Have a great day.

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