HAVE WE FALLEN OFF THE J-CURVE?

Treasurer Paul Keating, described by Wall Street as the world's best Treasurer, has for some time been talking about something called the J-curve, which allegedly was going to work, bringing great benefits to the Australian people, a result of Treasurer Keating's great expertise in the field of national economic management. It now appears that Australia has fallen off the J-curve, that in fact Australia might well become a "banana republic". Having grabbed the headlines with his dramatic statements last week, Mr. Keating, supported by other senior Cabinet colleagues, announced that the situation required a return to the Summit. The fact that Prime Minister Hawke only heard about the Summit after it had been announced has prompted some commentators to suggest that Mr. Keating is attempting to exploit the present situation to project himself as an alternative leader to Mr. Hawke.

Sir Peter Abeles has lost no time in affirming his faith in Keating, stating, "I don't think there is an economic downslide. We've been going through too strong a growth area. We all have to understand that it's not the Government, ACTU, or the system that makes the economy better for people. People simply have to work harder. I think this Treasurer has done an outstanding job and that his successor would be hard pressed to do better." It would be instructive to hear the views of the tens of thousands of unemployed Australians about the alleged necessity for harder work. Harder work and greater production would make sense if there were genuine shortages in the country. If there are shortages, for example houses, then adequate finance on reasonable terms would soon rectify the problem.

As we consistently predicted, events would overtake Treasurer Keating; they have been mathematically certain under a policy of escalating debt finance. But the reality of the current political situation is that the Federal Opposition offers no genuine alternatives. Opposition leader John Howard and his colleagues have been calling for a "mini-budget" and a policy of "restraint". Ironically, this is basically what Mr. Keating is proposing if he can persuade the Trade Unions to agree! Mr. Howard offers no relief from crippling interest rates or the oppressive tax burden. Mr. Howard's record as Federal Treasurer in the Fraser government offers no encouragement for the future.

No Treasurer can offer any constructive policies under debt finance. It is the policy of debt finance, which forces the nation to seek to solve its internal problems by more exporting. But every developed nation in the world is attempting to do the same thing, which is generating an escalating trade war. To tie Australia's internal economy to foreign markets over which Australia has no control, and which can slump badly, is a policy of madness.

Instead of accepting the growing programme of internationalisation Australia should be aiming at the maximum national economic sovereignty, becoming self-sufficient in every possible way, and using genuine surpluses to pay for imports. Those who have freed their minds from the deadliest superstitions of the Black Magic known as orthodox finance can readily see that there are genuine alternatives available to the current policy of national suicide. The best antidote to the Black Magic of debt finance is The Money Trick, $6.00 posted from all League addresses.

BRIEF COMMENTS

Our worst fears concerning the American air attack on Libya are being realised. There is growing destabilising right throughout the Middle East. The anti-Margaret Thatcher feeling has intensified in Britain, bringing closer the threat of a Socialist government. And terrorist acts continue. Iranian backed terrorists in Lebanon have claimed to have executed more American and French hostages. There has been a type of feverish comment concerning possible war between Syria and Israel. The Iranian backed terrorists operate out of Lebanon with the tacit backing of Syria. But President Reagan has not included Syria in his anti-terrorist rhetoric, which does nothing for his credibility in the Middle East. And all the time the running sore of the Palestinian refugee problem continues to poison not only the Middle East but the rest of the world. Israel's occupation of the West Bank, and the oppression of the Arabs, continues.
If President Reagan wants to strike a blow at the basic cause of terrorism in the Middle East, he will insist that Israel starts to move towards serious negotiations concerning the establishment of an independent Palestinian State. As pointed out by anti-Zionist Jews like Dr. Alfred Lilienthal over many years, it is the failure of successive American administrations to challenge Israeli terrorism, which helps to convince even the most pro-Western of Arabs that Washington is firmly dominated by the Zionist terror machine.

Big Brother is active in the United States. The Federal Treasury is moving towards forcing the banks to report to the Internal Revenue Service on any cash withdrawals in excess of $3,000. This is happening under President Reagan, who is in favour of deregulating airlines and other industries. But the individual cannot be trusted with the freedom to draw his own money from the bank to spend as he thinks fit. We wait with interest to see the same move in Australia, where the "cash economy" continues to haunt the Taxation bureaucrats.

The original concept of taxation was that it was a contribution by the taxpayers towards financing those activities which government should direct, such as defence. The taxation department existed only to act as a public servant collecting the tax. There was even a time in England when a letter from the taxation department was concluded, "I remain your obedient servant." But how different is the situation today when the Commissioner of Taxation has wide discretionary powers. Australia's Commissioner for Taxation, Mr. Trevor Boucher, has taken it upon himself to send letters and booklets to employers concerning the government's "fringe benefits tax" legislation before it has been passed! The Commissioner for Taxation has acted prematurely by asking employers to provide details of their operations to allow the Taxation Office to begin calculating fringe benefits taxes from July 1st. Queensland Liberal Member Mr. Don Cameron concedes that if the fringe benefits tax legislation is seriously amended in the Senate the letters and brochures sent out could be partly obsolete.

Reflecting the totalitarian philosophy of the Victorian Socialist government, Health Minister White has rejected strong Geelong opposition to fluoridation of public water supplies and describes a proposal for a referendum as "technically incompetent, constitutionally incapable and abrogation of Parliament's responsibility." But where does Mr. Geoff Kennett's "freedom of choice" party stand? At the last State Conference it reaffirmed its policy of compulsory fluoridation. It is to the credit of the Victorian National party that at its recent Victorian State conference it reaffirmed its 1977 policy of opposition to compulsory mass medication known as fluoridation.

We must confess that we had never heard of Angry Anderson, lead singer of a rock band known as Rose Tattoo, until we read the report in The Sun, Melbourne, of May 19th, which reports Anderson as having blasted Australia's multicultural policy. In an interview with Playboy magazine, Anderson claimed that multiculturalism had never worked and that it never would. Anderson said he grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg, where there were many migrants and he was called "chink" because he looked Oriental. He said, "My mother is a migrant, she is Mauritian - but I was born here and I'm totally Australian. It'd never occurred to me that I was anything else but Australian". Anderson said he agreed with Professor Blainey's views. Anderson, who appears regularly on Ray Martin's Midday Show on Channel Nine, says that Asians are very race conscious and do not wish to be assimilated. He said that most Australians did not believe that Australia had a race problem, and that they won't recognise it until the melting pot overflows and we all get burned ... We are preparing a meal that's indigestible and it's going to blow up in our faces." Needless to say, all the multiculturalists are deeply upset with Anderson.

SPECIAL MELBOURNE MEETING ON BILL OF RIGHTS

MELBOURNE SUBURBAN NEWSPAPER CHAIN SLAMMING BILL OF RIGHTS

The Melbourne metropolitan area is very well served, indeed, by many suburban newspaper chains. We have always insisted over the years that suburban newspapers are often read more closely than the metropolitan dailies, with large circulations. Many women in the home tend to peruse the local newspaper closely: they are more interested in local conditions - schools, shops, various social services, etc. The Regional Progress chain has had an excellent Editorial against the Bill of Rights. In the issue of May 14th, the editorialist has further comment on the matter under the heading "Bureaucrats Infringe Our Rights". This Editorial is worthy of full reproduction:

"In Rome they used to throw Christians to the lions. In Australia, it seems we throw them to the Equal Opportunity Tribunal. "Thinking Australians have had their worst fears confirmed by the N.S.W. Equal Opportunity Tribunal's decision to award damages against Dr. Peter Tralaggan, a Sydney landlord, and his estate agent, John Spence Real Estate, for refusing to let a unit to a couple living in a de facto relationship. "The decision, succinct harbinger of the dangers of the proposed Bill of Rights and its all powerful Commission, is of grave portent not only for Christians but also for anyone who has an ethic or principle of any kind by which they choose to live. "Australians have, by this decision, been put on notice that their basic right to live by what they believe in can, and will, be taken from them if that belief does not conform to the Commission's unstated beliefs. (emphasis in original).
"The Chairman of the Sydney Diocese Social Committee, Bishop John Reid, asks with great perception; 'What if a person knew that his premises were going to be used for group sex or homosexuality? Does this mean that he or she has to let, knowing the purposes for which the place could be used?' "One could go further with this fantastic premise and ask if the same ruling would apply in the pedophile group wanting to use one's premises to 'love' children. "Do Australians want to live with decisions such as this, made by unelected and often politically appointed bureaucrats prepared to pander to the whims of aggressive, vocal minority groups? "If they don't they must act quickly to protect themselves from the Bill of Rights.
"The Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr. David Penman, said that the decision made a mockery of moves to implement a Bill of Rights, which was supposed, among other things, to ensure the freedom of religion including the right to manifest one's religion in observance and practice. "The State Leader of the West Australian Liberal Party, Mr. Hassell said the decision showed how the proposed Bill of Rights would put at risk the most basic and enduring rights of the nation. He called on people to write to the Australian Democrat senators expressing their concern. "Australia is at what could prove to be the most dangerous cross roads of its entire history; and its people need to decide now how much they value their lifestyle, and how hard they are prepared to fight for it."

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