MORE UNITED NATIONS INTRUSION

by Jeremy Lee
Relegated to the back pages by the Hawke/Keating debacle, another manifestation of international treaties intruding into Australia's domestic affairs is being played out - this time over voting arrangements. The Australian, June 7, 1991, reported: "An extraordinary row has broken out between Queensland's Electoral and Administrative Review Commission and the Commonwealth's Human Rights Commissioner over the electoral weighting of the State's most distant electorates. The E.A.R.C. has described an intervention by the Commissioner, Mr. Brian Burdekin, as "an impermissible intrusion into Queensland affairs" and says his particular criticisms "are either unfounded or misconceived". Mr. Burdekin had described the E.A.R.C's. scheme as "inconsistent with Australia's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights..." The dispute concerns recommendations by the E.A.R.C. that five electorates, each larger than 100,000 sq. km may have fewer electors than required in the remainder of the State. The E.A.R.C. has pointed out that its recommendations comply with provisions of the Australian Constitution. That, apparently, is not good enough for Mr. Burdekin, an unelected official who believes he has the power to call State Governments to account if they don't meet the requirements of the U.N. Queensland's Premier, Wayne Goss, appears to be neither fish nor fowl on this issue. He appointed the E.A.R.C. in the first place. The article concluded: "... A spokesman for Mr. Goss said that while the Premier believed the Government should abide by the E.A.R.C's. recommendation, 'the Government will revise its commitment in the context of future elections'." Once again, the Constitution and the Australian people are being betrayed by servile politicians and petty, unelected officials.

GORBACHEV PLAYING FOR HIGH STAKES
President Gorbachev has now been invited to attend, for the first time, the mid-July meeting of the G.7 - the annual economic summit of the industrialised nations. He is after an aid-package, which makes the post-World War II Marshall Plan look like peanuts. The Financial Review (June 7th, 1991) said: ".... Estimates being produced by the I.M.F. and World Bank specify the Soviets need in a five year reform programme as much as $US250 billion. After inflation, that would be four times the size of the Marshall Plan the U.S. initiated to reconstruct Western Europe after World War II ..." There is, apparently, only one requirement for the granting of such an aid package - the Kremlin's strict obedience to the dictates of the world's financial masters.

BANKRUPTCIES SNOWBALLING IN THE U.S.
In the Great Depression period, 1930-39, there were 614,938 bankruptcies in the United States. In the period 1980-89 there were 4,583,391 bankruptcies. In 1990 alone there were 725,484 - more in 12 months than in the ten years of the Great Depression!

SWISS CITIZENS INSTRUCT GOVERNMENT
There will probably be much head shaking and dismay in Europe over the latest decision by the Swiss people - and probably over the fact that they have a mechanism to say what they want. The Financial Review (June 4th, 1991) reported: "Voters in Switzerland, the only country whose people decide on taxes, on Sunday rejected a government proposed financial reform package that would have brought the fiscal system in line with the rest of Western Europe. Early returns from a national referendum showed that majorities in more than half the 26 cantons, or states, voted against the proposed constitutional amendment.
The vote had been widely considered the first important popular test of Switzerland's stance on European integration. The Federal Government says that membership in the European Community is the leading long-term option for neutral Switzerland if present talks on a looser relationship collapse. Under the Swiss system of direct democracy, the people would also have the final say on whether the strictly federal country should join the E.C. The main feature of the rejected financial reform had been a new attempt - after two previous failures at the polls - to introduce the value-added tax that is applied throughout the 12-nation E.C. All four government parties, the trade unions and the Swiss Bankers Association had backed the proposal…"
If Switzerland were to join the European Community it would lose its sovereignty just as surely as Britain will, if the people in the U.K. are not given a direct say before December 31st, 1992. The Value-added Tax rejected by the Swiss is almost the same proposal as the General Services Tax proposed by the Federal Opposition under John Hewson in Australia. Little wonder there is a great deal of duck shoving amongst Liberals and Nationals on the question of Citizens' Initiated Referendum. What power seeker wants his ability to tax circumscribed in any way?

IT PAYS TO OBEY
Egypt's compliance with George Bush's New World Order designs in the Middle East has paid off handsomely. The Guardian Weekly (June 2nd, 1991) reported: "The Paris Club of Western creditors has agreed to write off $US10 billion of the $20.2 billion owed to club members in what is seen as an American backed plan to compensate Cairo for its contribution to the allied war effort against Iraq. The Paris Club write off, added to the $7 billion military debt dropped by the U.S. and the $7 billion forgiven by Gulf States earlier this year, has reduced by 50 percent Egypt's debt which stood at an estimated $50 billion before the conflict." Included in the 'largesse' to Egypt is a considerable sum owing for Australian wheat. In moments of respite from squabbling with his erstwhile Treasurer Paul Keating, Prime Minister Bob Hawke has agreed to make Australia's taxpayers foot the bill, instead of the Egyptians. It is doubtful if this will deter Australia from extending Egypt further credit for wheat. The same 'largesse' - with suitable strings attached - is being dangled before Gorbachev. The Financial Review (June 4th, 1991) reported: "The Bush Administration plans to announce over the next few weeks a package of economic measures to help the Soviet Union if the latest Soviet economic reform plan is revised along lines the U.S. has suggested...." The carrots, according to the report are: "… status as one of the U.S's. most favoured trading partners, and formal ties to the U.S. dominated International Monetary Fund and the World Bank ..." The United States would bump up technical assistance to Moscow for converting its defence plants to civilian use, for vastly improving Soviet oil drilling and for straightening out the tangled Soviet food distribution."

END OF COMPULSORY VOTING?
Senator Warwick Parer, the Federal Opposition spokesman on Administrative Services, has announced that the Liberal Party, on its return to Government, will abolish compulsory voting in Federal elections, first introduced in 1924. The South Australian Liberal Party has stated that it is in favour of the abolition of compulsory voting in S.A. State elections. So it looks as though, once the "reform" starts, there will be difficulty in stopping it. There could be some difficulty in N.S.W. and Victoria; Mr. Hawke has remarked that all State Governments, excepting N.S.W. and Victoria, have the power to make voting voluntary. Mr. Hawke thinks that it is "the Australian tradition" to have compulsory voting. It wasn't the Australian tradition before 1924, and there have been criticisms ever since concerning the way it was snuck through the Parliament. The argumentation can go on till the cows come home.
The Democrats are sticking with compulsory voting, so there could be trouble having the appropriate "reform" legislation pass through the Senate, in due course. What is the attitude of the Nationals? The League of Rights favours voluntary voting. We don't at all like compulsion over the individual as a principle. We also favour the argument that compulsory voting forces a more irresponsible vote.
Mr. Peter Smark, in his column in The Age (Melbourne), May 24th, had some penetrating things to say on this issue. Yes, we are well aware, as are most voters themselves, that one is not actually forced to vote, at the polling booth at election time. One is forced to attend and have one's name ruled out, on pain of the risk of a fine. One can write anything one likes on the ballot papers, and some people do! But the majority do "vote". Many political party chieftains claim that some voters are angered by being forced to the polling booths, and vent their anger on the major political parties by voting for the independents. There is some evidence for this: not that we are against the election of good independents who help to lessen the influence of the big Party machines. Competition in the Senate, we believe, has helped to make that House a real force to derail much contentious legislation. In the present volatile electorate in Australia, we agree that many Labor political gurus will favour the abolition of compulsory voting, in spite of Mr. Hawke's remark about some "Australian tradition"...

BANKERS FORGE NEW WORLD ORDER

by David Thompson
The International Monetary Conference held its annual meeting in Osaka, Japan, last week, bringing together top executives from 101 of the world's leading banks. The following comment was leaked from a closed door session, and reported by United Press International (The Australian, 4/6/91) "The press for funds to create a new world order means the world must look to Asia for capital, the United States Ambassador to Japan, Michael Armacost said…" This report noted that in the 1980s, the U.S. went from being the world's largest lender to its biggest borrower, while Japan rose to become the leading global creditor. The U.S. is anticipated to remain a net borrower for years to come, and the conference was told that the pool of savings in Japan, Taiwan, and other East Asian countries would be relied upon to reconstruct Eastern Europe, the Gulf, and rehabilitate the Soviet Union. That is, finance the transition to a New World Order. However, Mr. Armacost warned, the Asians, particularly Japan, were nervous about the apparent formation of regional trading blocs which could exclude them. These blocs are now openly discussed, and include an Asian bloc for Australia. It is clear that no "pool of savings" from any part of the world can 'reconstruct' the globe. The bankers at this conference have it in their power to issue the credits to do the job, and will no doubt do so. Any nation that begins to use its own sovereign banking powers to make itself independent of such banking groups becomes a threat to this New World Order!

AUSTRALIA'S CORPORATE CONSPIRACY
The astonishing revelations about the 1988 meeting at which Mr. Hawke promised the Prime Ministership to Paul Keating leaves many questions yet to be answered. Called the "Kirribilli Conspiracy" this meeting has enormous implications for the future conduct of Australian politics. Many Australians were aghast at this 'horse trading' of the Prime Ministership, but those involved are still unapologetic, and merely regard it as 'par for the course'. The background of the Kirribilli participants must be recalled. Apart from Hawke and Keating, Sir Peter Abeles and Bill Kelty (A.C.T.U. Secretary) were present. Have we forgotten that Kelty is a Member of the Board of the Reserve Bank? So is Sir Peter Ables! Abeles is also on the Economic Planning Advisory Council. So is Kelty! Kelty is a Board Member of Qantas, while Abeles and Murdoch control Ansett. As has been pointed out, rather lamely by the Opposition, this left Hawke and Keating vulnerable during the pilots' strike the year after the Kirribilli "deal". It is impossible to accept that Abeles and even Kelty did not have Hawke over a barrel while this strike was on. The R.A.A.F. was called in. The Government gave Ansett (Abeles) millions of dollars in compensation, while the Murdoch press savaged the pilots and their leaders. And the wage cutting accord, Kelty's industrial weapon, survived intact. Big unions, big business and big government, with the secret deals in the background, imposed their will, regardless of the interests of "small" Australians.

DICTATORSHIP OF FINANCE
Alex Mitchell, in The Sun-Herald (9/6/91) called it "corporatism" defined as: "A political system which rests on the direct involvement in government decision making institutions of a limited number of corporations or groups which are functionally necessary for the stability and growth of the economy. ... Other less flattering definitions say corporatism seeks to hide the "dictatorship of finance capital" by presenting the appearance of "class partnership" and a "harmony of interests" within the corporate framework..." The dictatorship of finance capital becomes more and more thinly disguised as "consensus" as the Hawke Government staggers on. The real governors of Australia begin to come into the open.

In Brief

MOMENT OF CHANCE? from The Australian, June 7th
"It was interesting to read the quotation of David Ben-Gurion in the letter of E. Briskman (4/6) relating to the continuing impasse in the Jewish-Arab situation. "I too would like to quote Ben-Gurion in comment which is pertinent to the situation. It appears in the book The Jewish Paradox by Nahum Goldman, one time president of the World Jewish Council and World Zionist organisation. It related to comments by Ben-Gurion in a conversation with Goldman in 1956. "Ben-Gurion of course had been Prime Minister of the first Israeli Government in 1949. "'I don't understand your optimism, Ben-Gurion said. 'Why should the Arabs make peace? If I were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, its true, but 2000 years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only can see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that? They may perhaps forget in one or two generations time, but for the moment there is no chance "His answer was, of course, what we have seen: that Israel should maintain a strong and powerful army. "However, it is appropriate that we should also note his comment: 'For the moment there is no chance'. Thirty-five years have passed, a whole generation, since those remarks. Have we now a 'moment of chance' or does another generation of Jews and Arabs have to face a 'life' in the present climate?" (Gerald S. Tumman, Croydon, Vic.)

LABOR HIJACKED SPIRIT OF CENTRE from Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton) May 13th
If the people of Barcaldine are feeling a little perplexed after Heritage Week, it is perhaps no wonder. It is now patently clear we have been stung by a political machine and our tourist attraction turned into a Labor Party shrine. "Suspicions were confirmed when Premier Goss, in his opening address at the Shearers' Strike re-enactment, left us in no doubt as to whom had taken charge. It was a Labor Party rally. Labor had come to town by every available route to raise the Eureka flag and celebrate its centenary. Our tourist venture had been filched by a political party, and one that arrogantly thinks it has a monopoly on the ideals of freedom and social justice. Prime Minister Hawke continued in the same vein at the opening ceremony the next day. "We think the people of Barcaldine and the West, and indeed the whole country, would unanimously support the ideals fought for by the shearers in 1891. They do not, we suspect, support the hijacking of these ideals for the exclusive use of a single political party. The Labor Party is not the sole custodian of all high moral principles. "The A.L.P. has politicised the Australian Workers' Heritage Centre hereby jeopardising support from a large proportion of the population. This is not only divisive politically, but economically unsound when trying to attract patrons to the centre. It is ironic that Mr. Goss, Mr. Hawke and the A.L.P. have not heeded the call of the 1891 strikers, 'united we stand, divided we fall'." (Denice & Ian Campbell, P.O. Box 201, Barcaldine, Qld.)

AIMS OF AMNESTY from The Australian (June 6th)
"Justice Kirby's support for Amnesty International's efforts (The Australian, 31/5) to free prisoners of conscience is to be commended but he has opened a can of worms by also suggesting that Amnesty should redirect its efforts and now help people to find freedom through self-determination and even separation from the oppressing majority! This is a vastly different aim from that which initiated Amnesty! "As one who has written many letters to governments about prisoners of conscience, I always valued the unity of purpose we writers had. People of quite differing views, such as Justice Kirby's humanism and my Christian faith, could work together. Now the good justice is advocating a magic, man made, cure-all, for oppression (self determination) which will divide Amnesty and free few prisoners! "Many Christians are involved in Amnesty but one wonders just who is converting whom in this organisation?" (Geoffrey Warrington, Toowoomba, Qld.)