PARTIES IGNORE BASIC ISSUES

The major political parties will spend probably in excess of $30million between them in a type of psychological war with sloganising and gimmicks the main ammunition. But it is certain that the parties are not going to discuss the major threats to Australia's future as an independent nation. The Opposition has produced no genuine policy alternatives to those of the Hawke Government. It will claim, correctly, that the real standard of living of the Australian people has been reduced by the Hawke Government's policies. But it will not be saying what it would have done had it been the government.

As yet there is no suggestion that a Peacock Government would pursue a financial policy, which would make it possible for Australians to use their vast natural resources and productive capacity to improve their standard of living. There is no proposal for an effective de-centralisation of power back to the people. Mr. Peacock and his colleagues are going to argue that they are better equipped to "manage" the economy than is the Hawke Government.

If the election is confined mainly to whom is better qualified to "manage" basically the same policies, and a type of presidential contest between Hawke and Peacock, then Hawke must be rated with the best chance of winning. Andrew Peacock can only win by default, and then take Australia further down the disaster road.

Responsible electors will only allocate their votes to those candidates who give a firm undertaking that their first allegiance is to their electors, and who will endeavour at all times to represent the policies of their electors. If no candidate is prepared to do this, electors should attend the polling booth and write on their voting form, "None of the applicants for the task of representing me is acceptable."

We see no reason to change our previously expressed view that the best election result would, in the long term, be the return of the Hawke Government, preferably with a majority of one or two, faced with a Senate in which the balance of power would be held by the smaller parties and independents. The election by default of a Peacock Government can only delay the regrouping and re-generation of all those Australians who still hold to traditional values. But whatever the election result, the real battle for Australia's future will continue after the elections.

THE MANDELA MADNESS

The Mandela myth has been created primarily by the international mass media. Mandela was not sent to prison because he opposed "apartheid", but because he was involved in a planned revolutionary campaign to overthrow the Government of South Africa. He and his fellow Marxist revolutionaries received a fair trial in an open court. If he had been involved in such a campaign in any of the Marxist nations he has admired he would have been shot. Mandela admits that he was well treated in prison and was not subjected to any physical abuse. Mandela has told a BBC interviewer that the African National Congress must continue its armed struggle while the "violence" of apartheid continued and that government installations were legitimate targets for bombing attacks.

Revealing his appalling ignorance, or worse, of South African history, Malcolm Fraser is supporting Mandela, claiming that the African National Congress only resorted to violence after what allegedly happened at Sharpeville with the shooting of "non-violent" black demonstrators. Just prior to the Sharpeville affair the same type of "nonviolent Africans, whipped to hysteria by their leaders, over-ran and brutally massacred the police at another centre. Even while Mandela was talking about "peace", Africans were murdering one another. "Majority rule" in South Africa would be a bloody affair.

BRIEF COMMENTS

Victorian Senator Austin Lewis's comments on Andrew Peacock, John Howard and the state of the Liberal Party, merely confirmed the obvious. But to make comments publicly was a demonstration of the type of stupidity so prevalent among politicians. Senator Lewis was one of the two Liberals who supported Queensland National Senator Boswell in his infamous attack on the League of Rights in 1988.

As far as we know, not one representative of the media interviewing Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie in their Soweto home, asked the smiling lady about her endorsement of the barbaric "necklacing" carried out by ANC supporters against fellow blacks. Perhaps such a question would be regarded as bad taste at a time when the Mandelas are attempting to project an image of sweetness and light. At a time when even it is being openly admitted in the Soviet Union and the Eastern European nations that Socialist economic policies have been a disaster, Nelson Mandela is advocating a Marxist economic programme for South Africa.

Fiji could be back in the news before long. Recent army exercises, following the statement three weeks ago by General Rambuka, that the army still held ultimate power and would intervene if there were any challenge to the proposed new Constitution enshrining indigenous Fijian majority rule, indicate that another coup is possible. As in Malaysia the indigenous people are determined to maintain control of their own country. Fiji is a classic example of the problems of multiracial societies. Australians should take note while they still have time.

Greg Sheridan, in his article in The Weekend Australian, February l7th-l8th, makes many pertinent observations. His article, on page 24, carries the title "Towards the Disunited States". He observes: "Whenever anyone tells you that some historical trend or other is inevitable you should instantly, put your money on just the opposite taking place"… "Teilhard do Chardin, the dottiest of Catholic theologians".... "Any social theory which is determinist, which believes that the social development of man is predetermined by historical forces and therefore predictable, whether it be Marxism or evolution, is bunk...I predict, that within 15 years at most the EC (European Community) will be seen to be a disaster and will fracture, possibly amid great rancour and acrimony.

FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY

The following letters from The Australian, February 14th

"Mr. McKeen (Letters 3/2) seems upset that Mr. Gillies' award had to be approved by the Queen. As a third generation Australian I'm perfectly happy with the way things are and have not the slightest desire to see our country turned into some grotty republic. "This country was founded/settled/colonised, call it what you may, by the British and despite migration in the past 40 years or so, I would say that 70% or so would have forebears from the British Isles. Why turn our back on that just to satisfy a minority of rabid left-wingers?
"Mickey Mouse: As to our present Australia Day awards, as far as I'm concerned they are Mickey Mouse awards from Mickey Mouse people anyway. "As a Roman Catholic I do not feel at all uncomfortable at the fact the Queen is not a Catholic and I fail to see why anyone else should. "His reference to the events of 1975 is mouthing Whitlam's cracked record and his sort cannot or won't see that the Governor General of the time had no alternative but to do what he did. They conveniently forget that the election which followed resulted in a resounding defeat for Mr. Whitlam." B.T. Prior, Dalkeith, W.A.

"The undoubted case for an Australian republic is not helped by Roy McKeen' s inclusion of the Whitlam dismissal as one of his supporting arguments. "An 'unelected Governor-General' represented an unelected sovereign is the people's ultimate protection against an elected Prime Minister no longer able to govern but refusing to play by the rules and resign for purely personal and political reasons of self interest. "The massive endorsement by the electorate of that dismissal at the election called correctly immediately after it illustrated the value of a limited monarchical system. "Where a Head of State remains politically indebted to a Prime Minister who puts personal power before the people's wishes, nothing is left to them but revolution. Witness the European chaos resulting from discredited communism. "Perhaps our own resident monarchy, as a people's shield against our increasingly discredited politicians masquerading as 'leaders' would be an admirable compromise. A.M. Barradell-Smith, Main Ridge, Vic.

"I read Roy McKeen's letter commending Max Gillies for his remark that his Australia Day honour was 'tarnished' by it having been approved by the 'Queen of England'. And advocating an immediate creation of the republic of Australia. "That evening I watched on T.V. the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Auckland and realised what sense of history and tradition Australia would lose if republican supporters like Mr. McKeen and Mr. Gillies had their way.
Heritage: "I watched the young New Zealand 'Scottish' pipe band marching proudly in the tartan kilts of their heritage. I heard a magnificent New Zealand soprano proudly introduced by her well-earned title 'Dame Kiri'. I saw the Head of the Commonwealth with her fine husband and son, carrying out her duties with royal dignity. "Mr. Gillies would apparently prefer Australia's Head of State to be a political appointment of the party in power, as is the case of the present incumbent of Yarralumla." Phil Rankin, Norman Park, Qld.