PRIME MINISTER HAWKE TOUGH DECISIONS"

Suitably attired in his shirt sleeves, Prime Minister Hawke, last week told Australians "As a nation we now have to do some tough and challenging things together."

The mental poverty of his political opponents way be judged by their general view that while the Hawke "toughness" was to be welcomed, it did not go far enough. This means that a Liberal National Coalition would depress the general standard of living in Australia even lower than what the Hawke Government is seeking to achieve. Business leaders generally, along with the numerous political commentators, endorse the "tough" theme, the only difference of opinion between them being where should taxation be levied. Manufacturers generally support the Keating-Howard theme of heavier consumption taxes, while retailers naturally dislike the suggestion that they should be forced to collect even more taxation than they are collecting, in an unpaid capacity, now.

Those who have had the strength to wade through the flood of drivel written about the Hawke address cannot help noting that it has apparently failed to impress foreign investors. According to most of the financial "experts", Mr. Hawke should be making it easier for foreign investors to invest in Australia.

It is an old truism that a problem correctly stated is already half solved. What are the major economic problems facing Australia today? Let us start with those Australians living below what is termed the poverty line. Their problem is how to obtain sufficient nutritious food, clothing, housing and the other basic requirements for civilised life. Can the Australian free enterprise system readily provide these requirements? The answer is YES. Why should the production and distribution of basic requirements, all provided by Australians using Australian resources, depend upon the whims of foreign financiers?

As a result of the financial restrictions imposed at last week's Premiers' conferences, the State Governments state they will have to cut back on public works projects, such as the building of major highways. What is the problem? A sudden shortage of building materials, lack of equipment, or shortage of manpower? Not one State Premier, including Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, asked this simple, sensible question as they were being brutally told what they had to do at the Premiers' Conference.

During the welter of talk about the necessity for "restraint" the nearest Prime Minister Hawke got to accepting his own medicine for national survival, was that he and his colleagues would have to wait just a little longer before obtaining their next wage and allowance increase. But he quickly went on to say that Australians would have to pay top salaries if they wanted politicians of talent to look after their affairs. Judged by results the generally unpaid Municipal Councillors representing Australians have a far better record of responsible service than their highly paid counterparts in the Federal Parliament.

The debt figures alone prove that the basic problem threatening Australians is that they are desperately short of adequate purchasing power to buy what they can produce in abundance. Australians collectively now owe nearly $90 billion. In 1976 bank credit card debts amounted to just over $149 million. Ten years later this debt has soared to nearly $3,000 million. Australians are being increasingly forced to mortgage the future in order to obtain what they have produced today. All industrialised nations, including Japan, use deficit financing in an attempt to sustain their economies. The manner in which these deficits are created is a gigantic fraud, pawning the individuals heritage of real credit to the debt merchants, who in essence not only claim that the heritage belongs to them, but rub salt into a deepening wound by them charging high interest rates on the debts.

The close nexus between Big Finance and revolutionary socialism has been long established, and no one should be surprised that Fabian Socialist Bob Hawke is imposing a programme, which will impose still greater burdens on struggling primary producers and small businessmen. It will intensify the process of centralising power. What remains to be seen is whether the Hawke-Keating treatment stirs sufficient Australians into support for a constructive alternative, starting with a major reduction in interest rates. Such a policy requires, of course, that Australia cease to rely upon foreign capital - investments or loans - to finance its internal economy.

ANTI SOUTH AFRICAN FRENZY

An element of reporting on the South African situation, which is so biased and selective as to be politically motivated, is obvious in the whipped up frenzy against South Africa. A number of facts need emphasising.
Firstly, huge caches of Soviet arms have been located by South African authorities.
Secondly, in the urban-guerilla fighting portrayed night after night on television, the main combatants have been black against black. A.N.C. (which means communist) claims say conservative blacks are supported by the Government. No evidence exists to support this claim, which is uncritically accepted as "gospel" by the western media. Unexplained is the fact that, as in so many African countries in the past, moderate Africans, who are the majority, have been the targets of revolutionaries. The "necklacing" portrayed in South Africa - surely one of the most bestial of acts - has been aimed at intimidating any African who co-operates in any way with the authorities. The same tactics were used in Kenya, Rhodesia, Malaya and Vietnam. They come straight from Communist textbooks.
The recent detention of revolutionary leaders in South Africa was based on evidence of Communist planning for revolution. The Weekend Australian (June 14-15, 1986) reported:
"... It was a Communist Party document released by the Government that finally brought a declaration of emergency. The Government said the document emanated from the politburo of the South African Communist Party (SACP) that it claims is the real influence within the ranks of the black organisation, the African National Congress (ANC). The document, assuming it is authentic goes a long way towards backing the claim that the ANC is in fact a SACP front, and draws analogies between the situation in South Africa and what happened in Vietnam.

A highly placed Government source said last night: "Our view is that this country's very existence is under threat. We could not allow the revolution to take off. Monday was going to be 'D-Day for the subversives. We had to put a stop to their plans By refusing to report, countenance or even investigate the truth behind such reports - and the evidence goes right back to the trial of the much lauded Nelson Mandela - the media in the West is now aiding and abetting an advanced Communist revolutionary strategy, not only against whites, but against millions of Africans who have rallied behind non-Communist leaders such as Chief Buthelezi, who themselves cannot get fair coverage in the West. The Communist backed "necklacers" are leading the West into the insane sanctions now being urged by Malcolm Fraser.

QUESTIONS ON WALDHEIM