represent
Pauline Hanson's One Nation.
Saturday 21st March 1998
Comments by Scott Balson, Global Web Builders
Just two months ago Pauline Hanson introduced
the media to her first four state candidates. Since then under the guidance
of the Queensland Electoral Committee headed by Tom King over 40 candidates
have been selected to
represent
Pauline Hanson's One Nation.
Last night we saw the fruits of that work with seventeen of the candidates joining Pauline Hanson and about 300 guests at the Police Youth Club in Beenleigh. There were no protesters - the location obviously not attractive to thugs and layabouts.
In fact the media must have got wind that the location would deter their blood-sport interest as only Channel 7 made an appearance - leaving early after a disappointing evening during which not one guest had to be thrown out - despite the meeting being open to all.
When Pauline Hanson arrived the assembled guests rose as one to applaud
her. I had, in the meantime, the
opportunity
to meet many of the candidates who were standing in the state elections.
Unlike the recent Liberty Party bash Pauline did not arrive to the sound of brass bands. She was not surrounded by Au$1,000 a head paying guests. She was surrounded by mainstream Australians - not those who live in a different, mega-rich world pulling the strings of political puppets with a wink here and a nod there.
The meeting was addressed by several people including Cec Clark, seen here
on the right,
Cec had been one of the major organisers of the Beenleigh meeting and a very
active member of One Nation who had helped establish a number of One Nation
branches in the Beenleigh region.
The candidates were each given a few minutes to introduce themselves to the assembly. I was asked to comment on the multilateral agreement on investment (MAI) after News Limited's Courier Mail had carried an article that morning claiming that there was nothing wrong or dangerous with this horrific agreement. Of course it goes without saying that Murdoch would be one of the few big winners if Australia went ahead and signed the MAI.
The candidates were seated on either side of Pauline at the meeting during the evenings proceedings.
There images and the seats they represent can be seen on the Queensland State Election web site.
From their speeches the candidates revealed that they were not political heavyweights. Here we had a number of mums and dads who had, like Pauline Hanson, given up withe the entrenched political system. They had decided to take a stand for Australia's future. These are the real life and blood true Aussies not tainted by the politicking that runs rampant in the major political parties. It was a very relaxed setting free of any signs of political intrigue or infighting - attributes commonly associated with the Australian Labor Party.
The
master of ceremonies at the meeting was an old acquaintance, Alan Doak. Alan
is seen here on the left with Pauline.
Pauline addressed the assembly covering a wide range of issues which included the MAI, the powerlessness of the police to do their job adequately, the unrepresentative political minorities who rode on the coat tails of lobby groups, health funding and issues, the cost of supporting multiculturalism in Australia and the ATSIC issue.
The comment that captured the attention of the media who I did not know were there was the one relating to immigrants and disease resulting in this headline in Sydney's The Sun-Herald this morning:
Immigrants Slur - Hanson: They spread disease.
The article implies that the information Hanson gave on this important issue was racially motivated. Obviously this is not the case.
The paper states:
Immigration policies in the past two decades allowed diseases such as hepatitis and tuberculosis to proliferate in Australia, Independent federal Queensland MP Pauline Hanson said last night.
Ms Hanson was speaking at the official endorsement of 12 members of her One Nation party who will stand as candidates in the next Queensland election, due by September.
The comments that resulted in this headline are recorded below:
"I put it to you rather than discriminate against seriously infected foreigners, our government chose to discriminate against its own citizens and endanger all Australians.
"To add insult to injury they further endangered us by not embarking on a drive for immunisation to protect us, because to do so would have meant disclosing what they had exposed us to.
"That kind of truth is, of course, not politically correct.
"A study of 2,300 Sydney high school children by Melbourne's Monash University has revealed that 27 of the subjects surveyed, were born overseas and carried tuberculosis.
"There are also 300,000 carriers of hepatitis B and 30,000 new infections a year in Australia. This disease is 100 times more contagious than HIV/AIDS.
"Fifteen years ago, hepatitis B and tuberculosis were virtually non-existent
in Australia"
The formalities were over by about 9pm. Pauline being handed a bouquet of flowers by one of the younger members of her audience.