THE HEWSON FACTOR

If the Liberals and National Party manage the incredible feat of losing the next Federal elections, Dr. John Hewson is the one who should accept the most responsibility. Ever since he acted as an economic adviser to Treasurer John Howard, of the Fraser Government, John Hewson has attempted to present himself as some type of economic know all. He has followed the International Monetary Fund line religiously concerning the necessity for a consumption tax along the lines adopted in New Zealand by a Labor Government.

The most astonishing aspect of the debates on the consumption tax concept, with the National Party now (admittedly with some reservations) falling into line, is that no one has apparently thought to ask Dr. Hewson can he name any country which, having adopted this type of tax, is any better off than other countries. Where is the model at which Australians can look?

Rather than admit that this type of tax has been a major disaster in New Zealand, Dr. Hewson has the effrontery to go to New Zealand and advise the embattled Bolger Government, which would be swept out of office if another election were held now, that they should not heed the mounting protests, but show firm leadership. This was the attitude of Treasurer Paul Keating, as he imposed depression conditions on the Australian people, ushering high interest rates as one of the tools of destruction. His theme was that the pain was doing good, that after the pain would come the gain.

Now during the time that Paul Keating was administering the pain, we closely studied Dr. Hewson's statements to try to ascertain what constructive alternative policies he would adopt to overcome the depression conditions. It is easy for Dr. Hewson and his National Party colleagues to draw attention to, for example, the frightening increase in unemployment, with all its attendant human and social costs. But can anyone point to one alternative policy put forward by Dr. Hewson to end what is a national disgrace? All he has talked about is "micro-economic reform" and long term "restructuring".

We are well aware that many young Australians, having completely lost hope in the future, have exploited the Welfare system. But the overwhelming majority of the unemployed desperately want to be employed in some meaningful manner. The Coalition suggestion that unemployment benefits should be withdrawn from anyone unemployed for nine months is not only inhuman, but provides a desperate Hawke Government with a weapon with which to beat the Opposition Parties.

As high interest rates were a major factor in creating the depression, it is elementary that any alleviation of depression conditions requires a reduction in interest rates. The latest reduction was the result of the Government's realisation that the economy was in a much worse state than realised. Those gaining the small relief resulting from the Reserve Bank's decision are not likely to be impressed with the performance of John Hewson on this question.
Our own view is that even the further drop in interest rates will not of itself prevent depression conditions from worsening. Dr. Hewson has, until now, advocated a much tighter financial policy and no cut in interest rates in pursuance of his stated objective of lowering the inflation rate even further. This means that he is prepared to live with even higher unemployment.

Prime Minister Hawke is technically right when he says there was no "political interference" as alleged by Dr. Hewson in the reduction in interest rates, that the decision was made on the recommendation of the Bank Board. But is not one of Mr. Hawke's closest friends, Sir Peter Abeles, still a member of the Bank Board? Dr. Hewson's view is that the Reserve Bank should be completely independent, thus indicating that he is a bankers' man.

Monetary policy for the Australian people should be determined by the elected representatives of the Australian people who should direct the Reserve Bank on the results they want, removing those who cannot or will not produce those results. Dr. Hewson's reaction to the latest interest cut is that of a man trying to hedge his bets. His attack on the Governor of the Reserve Bank appeared to be designed to shift attention away from the important question of whether or not Dr. Hewson and the Opposition Parties supported the latest reduction in interest rates. Only when strongly pressed was it reluctantly conceded that it wanted interest rates lowered.

Dr. Hewson stands condemned of engaging in what can only be termed double talk. And in the meantime continues to say that in good time he will release the details of his consumption tax proposals. This taxation proposal is being advanced under the guise of meeting the general demand for tax reform. The truth is that people want a substantial reduction in TOTAL TAXATION.

Is Dr. Hewson prepared to give a firm guarantee that TOTAL TAXATION will be reduced by the introduction of a consumption tax? And can he point to any country, which has achieved that objective after adopting a consumption tax? We suggest that as many people as possible ask these questions of not only Dr. Hewson, but all Liberal and National Party candidates. We await with breathless anticipation the answers!

FRANK ADMISSION OF ZIONIST TERROR TACTICS

Honouring the establishment of the terrorist Stern Gang of which he had been the leader, Zionist Israel Prime Minister Mr. Yitzhak Shamir has not only frankly admitted that the Stern Gang engaged in terrorist attack and assassinations, but claimed that the Stern Gang was morally just to do what it did. Shamir was speaking on a radio programme.

The Stern Gang was responsible for the cold-blooded killing of the British Minister of State for the Middle East in 1944 and for a similar assassination in 1948, when the United Nations Peace Mediator, Count Bernadotte, of Sweden, was killed. The late Sir Raphael Cilento has related how he had originally been scheduled to be in the car in which Count Bernadotte was killed.

Shamir said that he was proud of the Stern Gang's terrorist record. He had played a leading role in the 1948 massacre of 120 Palestinian civilians, including women and children, at the village of Deir Yassin. The bodies of those slaughtered were pushed down a well and this bloody deed widely publicised to force the Palestinians to flee from their homes in terror. Fear of further massacres was a major factor in causing the Palestinians to flee from the invading Zionist forces in 1948.

Shamir has revealed why it is impossible to have meaningful negotiations with Zionist leaders. He says, "We believed in what we did, discussed and wrote. Therefore it was correct." In defending the use of terror, Shamir says, "From the moral point of view there is no difference between personal terror and collective terror. Here and there blood is spilled, here and there people are killed. One must look and judge it from the point of view of the utility of that means."

Shamir has always said that he will not enter into talks with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, which he describes as a terrorist group. When asked if the Palestinians were also justified in using terror to advance their cause, Shamir bluntly said, "Their goal is not just." That comment summarises the Zionist philosophy of the "one way street".
He has insisted that Israel will never hand back to the Palestinians the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, taken during the 1967 war.

Shamir and fellow Zionists ignore all U.N. resolutions asking that they leave. There is no suggestion of Shamir being treated the same as was Saddam Hussein who declined to accept a U.N. resolution. The Middle East is going to continue to be a major crisis area while the Zionists refuse to consider any justice for the Palestinians, whose homes they took from them by force and terror.

BRIEF COMMENT

We note, with interest, that the One Worlder's loyal votary, Lord Carrington, is up to his eyeballs in "negotiations" at The Hague (Holland) with the purpose of "saving" Yugoslavia. Lord Carrington is the Chairman of this Conference: he is a former British Foreign Secretary, and Secretary General of N.A.T.O. He was a key figure in the Lancaster House (1979) Conference in London, which sold out Rhodesia to Comrade Mugabe. He insisted that "the kith and kin argument" (loyalty to Rhodesia's quarter of a million Anglo-Saxon-Kelts) was not to be even considered. What a charmer! He and Lord Soames (the temporary Governor of Rhodesia, during the few months of direct rule from London, pending the sell out) both came from a background of International Merchant Banking (Lord Soames is dead). Now Lord Carrington is a key figure in the sell out of Yugoslavia to the New World Order. Why? What's it all about? The very last action the New World Order crowd wants is the break up of Federations into nationalities, now occurring in Russia and Yugoslavia. Gorbachev, the New World Order's "man" in Russia, is slaving away to hold the N.W.O. "line".

ANGER AT LARGE from The Australian (August 26th)
"The recent massacre in a Sydney shopping centre brought the predictable response of demands for the removal of guns from public hands. It seems to me strange that even gun lobbyists rarely quote United Nations research that showed removal of guns produces negative results, a finding well supported by world experience. "Although it may well be true that when a person goes crazy he will grab a handy gun, I think we might also ask what this person will do if there is no gun handy. "Are we to believe he would just sit back and relax?" (Alan Gourley, Sydney)

TAXES, from The Australian (August 26th)
"Is John Kerin relying on prayer to carry us through the depression? His Budget, to say the least, is a non-event: no more than shifting the tax burden from those who complain, to the most needy; with a charge to visit a doctor, and a superannuation package. And let us be clear, these are taxes." (G.C. Bradley, Bowraville, N.S.W.)

INFLATION/UNEMPLOYMENT: We noted, in the Herald-Sun (Melbourne, August 19th), that Mr. Hawke observed ... "Australia's inflation rate could fall below 2% this year." We don't believe, ourselves, that it will fall that low. Indeed, if that much vaunted "recovery" comes, then inflation will increase above the present figure, approximately 3.5%. Further, should the inflation rate fall to 2.00%, then we confidently predict that the unemployment rate would climb to something like 12%-15%! The Inflation/Unemployment seesaw is working away.

VIRTUE IN THE SWISS MODEL from The Australian, September 5th
"It has very truly been said that the social and economic state of a country is inversely proportional to the power of its Politicians. We have observed over many years the disastrous conditions in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world under socialism where, like sewage, the worst elements float to the top and smother the population. "We can look, however, to Switzerland and observe the incredible success of a small country that so wisely gives its politicians minimal power. It may generally not be known in this country that the majority of people in Switzerland don't even know the name of their president who changes on a yearly basis and who travels to work on a bicycle. Other politicians and public servants travel round the country by train in second class. The reason for this is the Swiss don't have a third class.
"The other day on the Ray Martin Show we were informed that the official governmental car pool in Canberra costs taxpayers more than $50 million a year. We also know how our so-called leaders travel the world in personal jets dispensing unasked for advice to all and sundry. We have not been informed how much those jets cost us. "When we consider the state of this country and the state of Switzerland there must be a lesson somewhere to be learned." (Robert D. Smith, Burwood, N.S.W.)

GUNS AND PEOPLE from The Australian, September 5th
"Those who maintain that it is guns which kill people and not people who kill people need to explain the Swiss situation. In Switzerland it is compulsory for every male between the ages of 20 and 50 to own and maintain at home a self-loading rifle. "Until a few years ago the standard weapon was a semi-automatic, but in recent years this has been upgraded to a fully automatic. In addition adequate ammunition must be kept at home. And yet Switzerland has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. "It has been maintained that if someone wants to commit murder with a gun and can find no gun he is then less likely to go ahead with his plan to kill. Perhaps, but there are other ways, even to kill a lot of people at one time. I have no intention of spelling these out, but the erudite terrorist is well aware of them. "Also, we should not forget the existence of a reliable murder/suicide weapon which a large majority of the population has at hand all the time, i.e. the motor car. "It has been claimed that a fair proportion of fatal car crashes are precisely this type of event, yet they never enter the murder statistics. "Perhaps we should ponder the words of the English poet, John Milton, who wrote 300 years ago: 'They are not skilful considerers of the human soul, who think to banish sin by banishing the means to sin'." (Jocelyn Maxwell, Wollstonecraft, N.S.W.)

IN BRIEF from The Australian, September 9th
"The official figures suggest unemployment is around 10%. In truth the figure is close to 14% and around two million Australians are working below their productive capacity. Still the migrants pour in. Could those who have supported Australia's massive migrant intake on the basis that it somehow helps the unemployment situation please explain when the policy is likely to start working?" (Bruce Weatherlake, Nambour, Qld.)