WHO PAYS THE PIPER...?

The New Zealand Prime Minister, Mr. Muldoon, in a report quoted in The Australian (26/8/81) claims that the N.Z. Security Intelligence Service has provided evidence that the anti-Springbok riots have been organised, co-ordinated and financed by the Workers' Communist League. Naturally enough, Muldoon's claim has been attacked as "can kicking" by opponents, but evidence in other countries lends weight to his statement.

The Australian (7/8/81) reported: "The Soviet diplomat expelled by Britain this week was reported to have been acting as KGB paymaster to agitators organising and promoting the recent street riots in British cities ... Evidence compiled by the British Secret Service showed that Victor Lazine regularly flew to Paris where he picked up large sums of money from a man called Kravchenko. It was Kravchenko's job to travel from Moscow to Paris and distribute the funds to Soviet agents from West European capitals, including London. The agents, of whom Lazine was apparently one, then covertly passed the money to left wing extremist organisations... Lazine had been under surveillance by MI-5 for some time and was seen meeting known activists in the riots…"

This lends added weight to the significant statement by W.A. Premier Sir Charles Court last September. Sir Charles said that the propaganda machine that subjected Aboriginal groups to ideological oppression was working inside and outside Australia. The international links of the movement were revealed in a television interview by Gary Foley, a director of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Services. Mr. Foley said that he had been involved in establishing a propaganda network in Europe, with a permanent office in London. It would be extended soon to the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The network was funded by overseas sources, which he would not reveal...

This in turn has been amplified by a report in The Bulletin (21/7/81) which said: "The Church of the Friendly People in Devonshire St., Sydney was the location for Australia's first national liberation conference. It brought together local supporters of the IRA, the PLO, and the anti-South African Pan-Africanist Conference with representatives of Aboriginal land rights organisations.... The conference, in addition to setting up a steering committee for future activities, passed resolutions calling on all Commonwealth Governments to assist Aboriginal land rights claims by boycotting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Melbourne and the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane…"

Gary Foley has been reported in New Zealand, where he has been taking part in the anti-Springbok riots. It would be interesting to know how his fare and expenses were met.

AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS (CHIPPOCRATS) MISSED THE BUS

"The Democrats did not seem to understand the political process. They looked naive, indecisive." - Laurie Oakes, in Sunday Telegraph (August 30th)

Supporters read in last week's On Target our comments to the effect that the Chippocrats were not acting wisely in backing away from the Sales Taxes issue in the 1981 Budget. Malcolm Fraser bluffed them, and they fumbled the ball, badly. Mr. Bill Hayden is quite right, they did "go to water" Mr. Laurie Oakes is quite right too; he said that "they emerged with their credibility badly undermined, and their confidence shot to pieces."

Mr. Neil O'Reilly, of The Sun-Herald (August 30th) says, "The real problem is that they seem to be concerned about a host of trendy, but relatively unimportant issues." "If they want to be regarded as a real force in politics, they will have to accept the fact that they cannot duck the big issues.

Our opinion is that they had a fine opportunity to demonstrate some real political muscle on behalf of the "little fellow", so dear to the heart of Senator Chipp; or so he tells us. But, as is the way in politics, the party came first: political survival is objective number one. The Chippocrats have missed the bus. Malcolm Mackerras said on radio (not reported in any of the print media that we have seen) that the Chippocrats are naive, and can no longer be taken seriously as a political force. We agree with this.

To render the anti-climax more disappointing, Senator Cohn Mason, the Deputy Leader of the Australian Democrats, now flies from reality by claiming that the Chippocrats saved the Australian people from a Constitutional crisis, as occurred in 1975, when the then Governor General, Sir John Kerr, dismissed the Whitlam Government. This is absolute piffle. There was no Constitutional crisis, in 1975, nor is there one now. The Opposition, with the necessary support of the Chippocrats, and Senator Harradine, did not intend to withhold Supply; but to force the Fraser Government to drop the Sales Tax hikes and extensions: and rightly so, in our opinion. These are scandalous.
This "line" that Senator Mason is now taking is pretty pathetic. He must think that the Australian voter came down in the last shower! If the Australian Democrats do not lose electoral support at the next Federal elections, we shall be quite surprised.

QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT SET TO CHALLENGE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ACT

"The Queensland Government has opened the way for a possible High Court challenge to the validity of the Federal Government's Racial Discrimination Act." - The Age (Melbourne) August 26th.

This had to happen, sooner or later. We reported in these pages recently that the late Senator Ivor Greenwood, a former Attorney General of Australia, in 1975 wrote to a League official stating that in his opinion the Racial Discrimination Act was definitely invalid, and would be thrown out if challenged in the High Court. In another letter from the late Senator Ivor Greenwood, which we have before us, he drew attention to an area, which he thought had escaped the attention of "civil liberties" bodies. This, he said, has been the extent "to which coercive powers, to require people to attend before Commissions or Commissioners, to answer questions, to produce documents and so on, has been developed by the Labor Government (1975) as almost a stock-in-trade of legislation."

He continued: "It was in the Law Reform Commission Bill (but removed in the Senate), the Trade Practices Bill, the original Racial Discrimination Bill (but the current Bill ameliorates the position considerably), the Human Rights Bill, and the Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) legislation.'' The Human Rights Bill introduced by the then Senator Lionel Murphy (now a judge of the High Court) was never enacted because the Whitlam Government was thrown out first. The Commissioner for Community Relations, Mr. Al Grassby, does still have the power to call compulsory conferences, and other powers.

The original Racial Discrimination Bill, decriminalised by the Senate in 1975, provided for a fine of $5000, and imprisonment, for breaches of the proposed Act. It was a vicious, punitive, piece of legislation; we believe specifically aimed at bodies like the Australian League of Rights. The position as of now is that the Queensland State Aboriginal Legal Service has caused writs to be served on the State Government of Queensland, allegedly because the former Lands Minister (Mr. Tomkins) refused to transfer leases to Aborigines, simply because they were Aborigines. The Queensland State Aboriginal Legal Service claims that this is a breach of the Act.
Queensland State Crown solicitors state that the Government of Queensland considered the Racial Discrimination Act to be invalid, and would take the matter to the Supreme Court.

The challenge goes on to the High Court from there, if the Queensland Supreme Court rules that the Act is invalid, because the Commissioner for Community Relations, Mr. Al Grassby, would then appeal to the High Court. Mr. Grassby is saying now that the sooner the matter is settled by the High Court, the better. We agree. Mr. Grassby says that "it's back to square one" - if the Act is declared invalid by the High Court. We disagree. At worst, there won't be any difference, at all, in matters of community relations. At best, there will be less friction and vindictiveness, as people are merely angered by having to attend compulsory conferences, apologising, wasting time and money on issues that it is not possible to settle by legislation.
One can't force one person to like another person by passing a law! It becomes a slow, organic process, as with making personal friends. One accepts and likes a person over a period of time, after careful judgment. In our opinion there is no necessity for an Office of Community Relations at all. The sooner it is scrapped, the better.

BRIEF COMMENTS

Mr. Douglas Wilkie, veteran current affairs columnist on The Sun (Melbourne) seems to be unique among his colleagues in defending Sir Mark Oliphant, who was seriously embarrassed by the publication of a letter he wrote, when Governor of South Australia, to the then Premier of that State, Mr. Don Dunstan. Sir Mark is now accused of being a "racist". Mr. Wilkie laments that Sir Mark was not defended by any academics at all from our universities. The letter revolved around the appointment of Sir Douglas Nicholls to the State Governorship. We are satisfied that Sir Douglas was being used to downgrade the Office of Governor, because of this radical break with tradition. It was also, we feel, an indirect tilt at the Monarchy itself. If there is any apologising to be done, it is Mr. Don Dunstan who should apologise to Sir Douglas Nicholls, for using him as a lever to upend tradition.

Our attention was drawn to a photograph in The Australian (Aug. 24th). It was of the new M.P. for Fermanagh & South Tyrone, Northern Ireland. This electorate was held, fleetingly, by hunger striker, Bobby Sands. We were curious about a young man standing behind the new MP: the caption states it is Sean Sands, brother of the late Bobby Sands. Why? He is giving the Communist, clench fist salute!