A LIGHT OF HOPE FROM THE NORTH

December 7th, may well go down in the history books as the day when Queensland electors not only took a decisive step to turn back the tide of Canberra centralism, but also the day when Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen's uncompromising anti-Socialist and anti-Communist stand, together with his constructive anti-inflation policy, was endorsed in the most dramatic election result in Australian History. The Queensland elections will also eventually have international implications. Although the media generally, and its team of pro-Socialist commentators, attempted to ignore the Queensland Premier's three-point anti-inflation policy - a tax freeze, a drastic reduction or abolition of Sales Tax, and the use of consumer price discounts - Mr. Bjelke-Petersen outlined it at the beginning of his intensive campaign and returned to it with greater emphasis just prior to the elections.

Building on the initial widespread publicity given to the "Petersen Plan" by the League of Rights, the Save our State Movement conducted what was perhaps the most intensive grass-roots campaign ever conducted in Australian politics, with hundreds of thousands of cleverly-produced brochures being systematically distributed. One of the most telling blows in the anti-Whitlam campaign was an Open Letter to Labor supporters from veteran Labor supporter Jack Harding of Rockhampton, urging them to back the "Petersen Plan". Mr. Harding was the man expelled from the Labor Party because he campaigned through the Rockhampton Anti-Inflation Study Group, for financial policies similar to those advocated by the League of Rights.

Queensland ALP State President, Mr. Bart Lourigan, is quoted in The Australian of December 10th as complaining bitterly about the Whitlam Government's centralist policies: "You can't rule Australia by blanket policies from Canberra. What suits Sydney and Melbourne won't necessarily work in Brisbane or Cairns. I am a Queenslander and I know about Queensland."

Perhaps the most deadly thrust in the Save our State campaign was the brochure which challenged Queensland ALP candidates to deny that at the 1973 Australian Labor Party Federal Conference, held on the Gold Coast, party delegates from all over Australia were asked to endorse the Whitlam Government's proposals for the abolition of the States. The SOS brochure pointed out that Senator Lionel Murphy chaired the legal and constitutional committee which proposed to amend the Party's platform to permit this sweeping new policy, and quoted Mr. Whitlam's support of the amendment: "I am, always have been, and ever will be a firm avowed centralist...I don't see any validity in the State boundaries."

When Premier Bjelke-Petersen announced in the Queensland Parliament on October 23rd that he was going to consult the Queensland electors on December 7th asking them for their support for his policies, Mr. Percy Tucker, the Labor Opposition leader whose reaction to the "Petersen Plan" was to dub it "hyper-inflationary", shouted. "Come out on to the hustings, Joh, and I will slaughter you." Mr. Tucker lost at least 21 out of the 33 seats they held in the last Queensland Parliament.

But the result was an even bigger defeat for Prime Minister Whitlam, that modest man who has proclaimed that he is "the greatest." His colossal ego divorcing him from reality Mr. Whitlam was satisfied that his personal intervention in the Queensland Elections, with a direct challenge to Premier Bjelke -Petersen, whom he described in the most insulting language, would at least ensure that there was no serious slide in the Labor vote. And he made it clear that if Queenslanders insisted upon having a non-Labor Government, they should elect Sir Gordon Chalk the Queensland Premier's Liberal Party coalition leader.

Well, the Queensland electors, including large numbers of Labor electors, gave Mr. Whitlam their answer. They voted overwhelmingly for Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen and his policies. They showed their hostility and contempt for the Whitlam Government. Prime Minister Whitlam took his defeat badly, charging that there are "dark currents of intolerance and extremism at work in Queensland. Queensland electors have been exposed to emotive tactics and inflammatory slogans that would win little attention in other parts of Australia."
We have heard about those "dark currents of intolerance and extremism" before!

Mr. Whitlam should make the best of his coming overseas jaunt, because the Queensland elections have prepared the way for Federal Elections next year. And unless Mr. Whitlam can come up with a constructive answer to the inflation problem, he will be electorally thrashed. But what then? As yet the Liberal-Country team show no sign of adopting the "Petersen Plan" or any similar proposal for reducing financial costs and reversing inflation. Unless such steps are taken, we can predict now what is going to happen under a Liberal-Country Party Coalition; continuing inflation and mounting economic, political and social disintegration.

In this situation the really important significance of the Bjelke-Petersen win on December 7th will emerge. Although surrounded by some poor types of party political hacks, there are some sound and informed men in both the Queensland Liberal and Country parties. And a number of the new National Party Members are League-oriented. The Queensland elections were a personal triumph for Mr. Bjelke-Petersen, placing him in an unassailable position to lead the National-Liberal Party Coalition Government. With a secure base and the knowledge that he is backed by a rapidly growing informed grass-roots movement, he is firmly placed to exert his influence when the Liberal-Country Party Coalition comes to office again at Canberra.

A major battle has been won decisively in Queensland but it must be seen by League supporters all over Australia as an example of what will be required all over Australia before 1975 comes to an end. In the meantime our advice to League supporters is to increase the flow of League literature into the community. This is the activity, which is having a deep and permanent impact - and bringing in a growing stream of new contacts.

SUPPRESSING CARDINAL MINDSZENTY

With between 6 and 7 thousand people attending the Festival Hall, Melbourne, on December 9th, to pay their tribute to Cardinal Mindszenty, the great Hungarian hero, the Melbourne press was forced to take notice. But no reference whatever was made to what the Cardinal had to say about the continuing reality of Communism. The Cardinal knows from his harsh first hand experiences what Communism is. He was imprisoned by the Communist regime, headed by Bela Kuhn, which seized power in Hungary in 1919. He was arrested by the Communists again in 1948.
Drugged and tortured, his "confessions" at the "trial" of 1949 (Wilfred Burchett was one of the carefully selected journalists permitted to attend) led to a sentence of life imprisonment. Released for four days by the Hungarians when they temporarily liberated their nation in 1956 he was then forced to seek refuge in the American Embassy when the Soviet sent troops into Hungary. He left for Rome in September, 1971, when instructed by the Vatican to cease his strong anti-Communist stand.

Cardinal Mindszenty has been warning his audiences that "dialogue" with the Communists will not help the non-Communist world. Unlike the Rockefellers' messenger boy, Dr. Henry Kissinger, the Cardinal does not believe in "detente." He believes in facing the hard truth that unless there are major policy changes in the non-Communist world, it is doomed to surrender completely to International Communism. The media does not like this type of "extremism", and so it suppresses the Cardinal's message to the Australian people.

SOUTHERN AFRICA AT BAY

"South African Prime Minister John Vorster warned today that agreement on South Africa had to be reached because 'the alternative is too ghastly to contemplate." - The Herald Melbourne, December 9th.

While it is true that the collapse of Portugal in Africa has made the task of preserving civilised government more difficult in Southern Africa, it is not the threat of African "nationalism" which produced the recent plea by the South African Prime Minister that his country should be given six months in which to satisfy his critics. Short of complete surrender to its enemies, neither Rhodesia nor South Africa has any chance of making any realistic agreements with the African States to their North.

There is no doubt that the South African Government, itself under mounting international pressure, has also been applying pressure to Rhodesia. This is the only explanation for Mr. Ian Smith freeing from detention Joshua Nkomo and the "Rev" Sithole in order that they could attend a conference in Lusaka, Zambia, also attended by three African Presidents, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Sir Seretse Khama of Botswana.
After a spate of press speculation, and inspired stories about a major "breakthrough" in resolving the Rhodesian question, Mr. Ian Smith bluntly said that the demand for immediate majority rule by Africans was unacceptable. Even Mr. Smith's high standing in Rhodesia would not permit him to accept such a proposal. Rhodesian electors would not tolerate such a blatant sell-out.
Prime Minister Vorster reacted by claiming that the Lusaka talks had been "sabotaged." But how can either Mr. Vorster or Mr. Smith, both well aware of the realities of African "nationalism", have ever thought that they could make any worthwhile agreements with those pledged to destroy them?

In a brilliant analysis of the Southern African situation, given at a Southern African Solidarity Conference in Pretoria on November 29-30, Mr. Ivor Benson pinpointed the central issue when he said that the "super-capitalists", the power men who have backed the Communists everywhere, "know that, with their money they can control every Black leader. The truth is that there is no such thing in all Africa as Black power - in other words, there are no Black leaders whose power is their own, One and all, they are puppets. And there is no such thing as a free and independent Black state in Africa. One and all, they are mere bridgeheads for an invading imperialism of money."

The international power groups working at high pressure to destroy stability in Southern Africa have not the slightest interest in the best interests of the African people. The projected collapse of Southern Africa is a major part of the overall strategy to create the World State. Now, as never before, the European in Southern Africa, along with the genuine spokesmen for the African people, must be encouraged to stand firm against the proposed surrender being suggested by those applying their pressure to the South African and Rhodesian Government. Southern Africans have far more friends internationally than they may realise. They should carefully note that the Whitlam Government, for example, does not speak for the majority of Australians, as witnessed by the Queensland Elections. And they might note that Mr. Whitlam has paid Mr. Bjelke-Petersen the compliment of calling him the Ian Smith of Australia!

BIG SURGE FORWARD IN BASIC FUND APPEAL

BRIEF COMMENTS

It is ominous news that Australian Opposition leader Mr. Bill Snedden has addressed the notorious Council on Foreign Relations on his American visit. Long-time financial angels to the Soviet, and now the Red Chinese, the Rockefellers are bad news. David Rockefeller of the Chase National Bank is the present Chairman of the CFR. An excellent background of the CFR is provided in Gary Allen's None Dare Call It Conspiracy.

A news item from South Vietnam last Monday December 9th, states that Communist forces have opened up a new front in their current offensive in South Vietnam, leaving 6,000 dead and wounded on both sides after three days fierce fighting. It is estimated by observers that about 20,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong regulars are closing in on the provincial city of Tay Ninh.

We seem to recall that Dr. Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing "peace with honour" to Vietnam - early last year.

In spite of North Vietnam's continued aggression, the Whitlam Government is providing substantial economic assistance to the Hanoi Communist Government.