THE MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

"The Prime Minister is on the way home from his magical mystery tour, still tight lipped about what happened in his talks with world leaders." The Sun-Herald (Sydney) February 10th. Well, what HAS happened?

The statement above, irreverently made by the Sydney Sun-Herald is a question mark to a great number of Australians. We cannot think otherwise that President Carter and Mr. Fraser are gaining as much political mileage as they can out of a situation they can't really do much about at their level of political thinking. Our opinion is that the Afghanistan crisis has virtually guaranteed President Jimmy Carter a second term of Presidential office, whereas his chances were not formerly good, with the Establishment obviously backing Senator Kennedy. We shall have some more to say about this below.

One point has been made obvious by President Carter's firm reaction against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - the American people will respond warmly and favourably to strong leadership: the people of the West are starved for it. Similarly, any chance that the Federal A.L.P. had of gaining office at the end of this year, and we think it definitely did have a good show, has now receded. It might still have a show: Harold Wilson said that a week is a long time in politics.

The Australian people have responded to firm leadership as have the American people: but where do we go from there? Mr. Fraser and his Ministers will have to do more than call for a ban on the Olympic Games, which would certainly have a damaging effect inside the Soviet, but most probably the ban won't take place as too many interests in the West are geared to the Games. Big Money is involved, and the athletes want to compete.
As regards Germany and France, their economies are now geared to massive trade with the Communist Eastern bloc of nations: they are "hooked" on trade with the Soviet and her satellites - so Mr. Fraser won't get far there.

Britain is choking in the Common Market, and will be dragged along. China may well see an opportunity here for even more favourable trade negotiations with the West if Western Nations do impose some sort of trade bans with the Soviet, and will order up big on goods and services she can't supply to herself, to be financed by the suppliers. This is already happening, and is likely to keep happening, but now with knobs on!

If there is no effective action against the Soviet this time, then the West will have suffered yet another reverse, and Western leaders like President Carter and Mr. Malcolm Fraser seen to be just jibbering poseurs. Electors will soon get sick and tired of leaders flying here and there; having conferences all over the place; striking poses. If they don't come up with action - they'll be swept away like so many before them.

THE CHAPPAQUIDDICK KID

THE CHIPPOCRATS GEAR UP

"The Australian Democrats will use their Senate numbers to try to stop Governments breaking election promises." The Age (Melbourne) February 11th

Senator Don Chipp may well be right when he claims that his Party could gain the balance of power in the Senate after the next Federal elections: we agree that this could happen. We agree with his view that the hold of major political parties over their senators should be broken to make the Senate a true House of Review. But we wonder whether Senator Don Chipp really thought this when he was a Liberal Party Minister: circumstances alter cases.

We don't doubt that he is right enough when he observes that... "every backbencher wants to be a Minister and therefore they toe the party line at all costs." One Government Minister went further, and stated that every backbencher sees himself as a potential Prime Minister. Surely such ego can't dwell in every backbencher's breast!

We are interested in his idea that..."no Ministers be appointed from the Senate": Senator Chipp's idea being, of course, to free Senators from Party pressure. But would it? Senators, although nominally appointed by their State Governments, still have to come up through the party structure, and "misbehavior" in the Senate along party lines could still militate against them when up for re-election on the Senate ticket. But there seems little doubt that Senator Chipp's idea could be a move in the right direction.

We must have "five bob each way" on this one, as Senator Chipp himself has had so many times before on various issues. The point is that a particular Senator may have the right type of ability for a particular portfolio - not possessed by any frontbenchers in the Lower House. At the same time, we cannot see the major parties passing this type of legislation: the Senators are not going to vote themselves out of Ministerial perks, or the right to have them. Again, we wonder if Senator Chipp would have come up with this idea were he still a Liberal Party Minister? He now has Buckley's chance of any sort of portfolio: they don't go to non-Government senators. Readers may recall the Fable by Aesop about the fox that lost its tail!

THE SACK RACE

"The vast gulf between the practices of...small business and the procedures of Government and great bureaucracies is not fully understood or appreciated in Australia." John Gilmour in Business Age (Melbourne) February 9th.

John Gilmour has a racy punchy style with his financial journalism, and by means of this he gets his points across very effectively. His main thrust is that the termination of the services of employees ("the sack", "the boot", "the chopper") who are useless is necessary to maintain viability in, particularly small businesses; they just cannot be carried. We know that the large American commercial houses are ruthless in removing inefficient workers, and inefficient executives especially.
A common American attitude in their business world is that a worker is only as good as the executive above him encourages him to be. If an executive is a "passenger", particularly a senior executive, then the Americans will readily give him a "golden handshake" to get rid of him. John Gilmour thinks that the bureaucrats in Government departments should also feel the fear of dismissal to keep them efficient. If this ever came about we would no doubt find that Australia could manage with one third the number of public servants we have now. Then, what about the unemployment? A cynic we know describes public servants (perhaps cruelly) as "refugees from the economy".

LEAGUE LAUNCHES BOLD NATIONAL OFFENSIVE

BOOKS

Short Papers on Money by the Marquess of Tavistock, who was active in monetary reform proposals during the years prior to World War 2. He was greatly influenced by the proposals of C.H. Douglas. Price $1.35 posted.

Poverty Amidst Plenty, by the Earl of Tankerville, who was fully aware of the defect in the West's monetary system and spent much of his time in lecturing to audiences in Britain, and abroad to shed light on a "forbidden" area. Price: 85 cents, posted.
There is an introduction to both books by L. Denis Byrne, himself an expert in these matters.

Southhampton Chamber of Commerce (Report of the Economic Crisis C/tee.): This Report exposes the glaring faults in the monetary and pricing system of orthodox finance. Price: $1.00 posted.