THE DAVID IRVING DRAMA UNFOLDS

Last week provided disturbing evidence of how fast Australia is slipping towards the totalitarian abyss. In spite of the fact that Australia's Intelligence Security Organisation (ASIO) and the Immigration Department had found that there was no reason why British historian David Irving should be denied a temporary visa to visit Australia on a short lecturing tour, Federal Court Judge French ruled that former Federal Minister for Immigration Hand had not acted improperly in refusing Irving's application. We have not as yet seen Mr. Justice French's reasons for his finding, but understand that it reflected the view that the Irving ban was primarily a political decision.

We hope by next week to provide a legal interpretation of the significance of Mr. Justice French's decision. However, we understand from David Irving's Australian representatives that he will be appealing the decision, probably to a full bench of the Federal Court. However, we can report that the announcement by David Irving's Australian representatives, Veritas Publishing Co. Pty. Ltd., that they had made arrangements for the nationwide showing of a special video film in which David Irving speaks to the Australian people, sent shock waves through the ranks of the Zionist totalitarians.

In an advertisement on the front page of The Australian of Thursday, May 13th, it was announced that Irving was using electronic technology to break through the attempt to ban him from speaking to Australians. The venues for meetings in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane were listed. The incredible story of what happened next remains to be told. But we can report that there was a flurry of activity in Canberra with a spokeswoman for the new Federal Attorney General Lavarch being quoted as saying that information was being sought from the Office of Film and Literature Classification on whether any applications had been made for the video to be classified. It was suggested that if the video had been produced in Australia it might breach State laws concerning racial vilification.

We are informed that Zionist pressure was applied to at least two venues in an attempt to prevent the showing of the Irving film. The Sheraton Hotel, Melbourne, which we understand is owned by Hong Kong interests, has reluctantly agreed to the Irving evening going ahead providing the organisers arrange for professional security arrangements. In Adelaide the German Club also indicated extreme Jewish pressure and wished to cancel the arrangements made for the showing of the Irving film. We are informed that alternative arrangements have been made. As we go to press all indications are that all the meetings advertised for this week will go ahead, with some Jewish organisation demonstrations of protest.

Should classification of the Irving film be refused, this would highlight the extent of Zionist pressure on the Federal Government. A series of regional showings of the Irving film will start in Albury, NSW, on Monday of next week, May 24th, at the Carlton Hotel, Dean Street. On Tuesday, May 25th, there will be a showing at the Midland Hotel Convention Centre, Midland Highway, Mooroopna, and on Wednesday, May 26th, at Whittaker Room, Football Club, Show Ground, Traralgon. All video meetings will start at 7.30 p.m. Entrance, fee is $10 per head.

There will be a wide range of David Irving's books on sale. The organisers have announced that they reserve the right to refuse entrance to the lrving film evenings. We await with interest the reaction of the Federal politicians to the challenge by David Irving, who says that the battle to silence him internationally has just started.

IRVING TAPES NOW AVAILABLE

WILL A REPUBLIC GET US 'INTO ASIA'?

by David Thompson
It is not unlikely that those who propose to sever our links with Britain and Europe in order for Australia to become "part of Asia" could seriously over reach themselves. Perhaps even the Prime Minister's minders have picked up a strong current of resentment from the silent, resentful majority on this issue. When interviewed by an American on whether Australia proposed to also sever ties with the North Americans, Mr. Keating appeared to beat a hasty retreat. He was at pains to point out that Australia was a multicultural society, which by historical accident was geographically located in the Asian area. The truth is that Australia is geographically adjacent to Asia. In general terms, the peoples of Asia do not regard Australia as a natural part of their region, because of the cultural differences between us. Australia has a European outlook that is strongly influenced by our Christian heritage.

A REPUBLIC WON'T IMPRESS THEM

The argument that Australia is not acceptable to "Asia" as a colonial satrap of England, and must demonstrate its independence by forming a republic is nonsense. There is little evidence that the Asians believe this. Mr. Jat Sujatmiko, of the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs, who is completing an academic thesis at the Australian National University in Canberra, claims that, at best, the adoption of a republic would be a symbolic gesture. Mr. Sujatmiko rejected Mr. Keating's view that it would make us more acceptable to Asian countries. Most Asians already consider Australia as being independent, he said, in a discussion paper, "Becoming a Republic: Will Australia be More Accepted by Asia". Mr. Sujatmiko said, "The success of Australia's integration with Asia depends on one thing - how far the Asian States welcome the Australian intention." He believes that a Government propaganda campaign is required to educate Australians about Asian customs and beliefs to provide the correct signals to Asians.

THE ASIAN EXPERIENCE OF MONARCHY

The assumption that Asians do not identify with monarchy is also nonsense. Mr. Malcolm Mackellar, in a letter to the newspapers, points out that many of our Asian neighbours are monarchies themselves. Our closest cultural neighbour, New Zealand, shows no signs of throwing off the monarchy. Our nearest geographical neighbour is Papua New Guinea, a constitutional monarchy, sharing the same head of State as Australia and New Zealand. New Guinea's nearest neighbour, with which they share a land border, is Indonesia. While Indonesia is a republic, the spiritual head of Indonesia is the Sultan of Jogjokarta, a monarch with royal ancestry older than that of our own!

The writer points out that Indonesia shares a land border with Malaysia - a constitutional monarchy (in which the royal family takes it in turns as Head of State). Malaysia's southern neighbour is Brunei, which is an absolute monarchy under the Sultan of Brunei, reputed to be the richest man in the world. The Malaysians' northern neighbour is Thailand a constitutional monarchy in which the King intervened to prevent the army slaughtering his subjects only last year. Of course, the dominant economic power in the region, Japan, is also a monarchy - perhaps more ancient than any other. And China itself, often regarded as the heart of Asia, has a heritage of centuries of feudal, dynastic rule.

Monarchy is not a strange concept to the Asians at all. What is strange to Asians is that any people will so denigrate their own heritage for crass commercial reasons. This must be the ultimate "loss of face" and regarded with utter contempt. Last year the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, on a visit to Perth, Professor Wang Cungwu, said, "Australia should not consider itself as a part of Asia, but as an interdependent, indispensible partner in the region's future."

THE CANADIAN POSITION

As in New Zealand, there is virtually no call to abandon the monarchy in Canada. "Republic" is almost a dirty word in Canada, because of their close proximity to the United States, with which economic and cultural rivalry is intense. Observers report that even the separatist French Canadians would prefer the Queen of Canada to an Anglo-Canadian Head of State. Even the rare Irish, token republican in Canada sees Australia's republican flirtation as more anti-British than anything. The truth is that the real objective is not a republic in Australia, and nor is it to become "part of Asia". The real objective of Mr. Paul Keating's republican hyperbole is to achieve constitutional change such that more power is centralised in the executive. As more Australians wake up to this, the republican task becomes increasingly impossible.

A BRIEF COMMENT

In a keynote address to the African Development Bank Annual Meeting, held in Abijan, Mr. Lawrence Summers, USA Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, told the delegates that President Clinton wanted to relieve countries of their "crushing debt burdens". This has marked a change in American policy concerning debt forgiveness, although in Latin America existing debts have been swapped for assets in public enterprises. Britain has already written off huge debts in Africa, but other European nations have held back waiting for an American lead. Debts are created with a stroke of the pen, and can be abolished in the same way. It is high time that the Federal Government adopted a similar policy concerning Australia's depressed rural sector.

UN IS A WASTE OF MONEY AND HOPE

from The Australian, May 7th
Isn't it about time the United Nations closed its doors and let its delegates slink home with their tails between their legs? "What a useless, gutless crowd they are! "All they do is talk, talk, talk, and no one takes the slightest notice of them. "How many 'ultimatums' have they given the Serbs? "And the Serbs just laugh! "And the other day it made the first (the first!) attempt to enforce the five-month-old 'no fly' zone! "And to think that for twelve months the Muslims have been denied arms with which to defend themselves! ''And their 'sanctions' - what have sanctions ever done? "Did they deter Italy during the thirties? No! Did they affect South Africa? No - except to prevent her playing international cricket and football! "And, in the face of total sanctions and a 360 degree blockade, Germany fought the world's greatest war for six long years.

"The UN's adventure in Korea was no resounding victory; in Vietnam, it left behind an unholy mess; it bungled a golden opportunity for a clear cut victory in Iraq - in all history, what defeated leader was ever in undisputed control of his country? "And to do anything worthwhile in Yugoslavia will need more backbone than it has yet displayed. "I don't know which is the saddest thing about the conflict - the bloodshed and suffering, or the total uselessness of the UN's response. (G.D. O'Keefe, Mt. Garnet, Qld.)

Turnbull Argument Is Chauvinistic Nonsense

from The Sunday Age (Melbourne), May 9th
Malcolm Turnbull's article 'Let the Debate Begin' (The Sunday Age, 2/5) provided excellent examples of the sort of careless disregard both of the facts and of logic that tends to mark those who have leapt aboard the lumbering local bandwagon of 'republicanism'. "It is simply not the case that we have 'the British Queen' as our Head of State, or that people at a dinner to honour the President of Ireland, hosted by NSW Premier John Fahey, 'rose to toast not their Queen, but the Queen of another country', as fatuously asserted by Turnbull.

"Malcolm Turnbull ought to know that the correct designation of our sovereign is as follows: 'Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth'. The sovereign is our Head of State as Queen of Australia, not as 'the British Queen' or - another Turnbull howler - 'the Queen of Britain'.

"Turnbull's disregard of logic may be discerned in his inferring from the premise, that someone who is sovereign of 'other realms and territories' should not also be sovereign of Australia, the conclusion that this country should become a republic. His non-sequitur may be disposed of by pointing out that one could equally well infer from this premise that Australia should establish its own purely national monarchy (with, of course, the unfortunate effect of removing both historical connections and the splendid international dimension created when the monarch is Head of State of a number of countries, including Australia).

"When the air is full of such inflated chauvinistic nonsense as Turnbull's 'The Australian republic is the final expression of national self-respect', it is understandable that a mood of dark despair should descend upon the more reflective of our citizens. (Colin Goodwin, North Balwyn, Vic.)

Republic Hot Air Doesn't Deserve the Front Page

from The Sunday Age (Melbourne), May 9th
I am astounded at the amount of media beat up we're witnessing in relation to the republican debate. Over the past fortnight the only substantive item of any relevance to the debate was the establishment of Paul Keating's committee of eminent persons. However, a day did not go past when our press failed to squeeze the debate on to the front page of our newspapers.

"Today being a Sunday, I was hoping in vain for a day of rest from all the hot air. Instead you report another irrelevant and unimportant fact: 25% of the British people believe Australia should become a republic. I thought the point of this debate was that we were grown up enough to no longer have to listen to Britain. Who cares what they think? After all, as our report stated, 56% of the British people do not care what Australia does with its future.

"This debate is set to last eight long years. The media have a vital role to play in fully informing each and every Australian of the relevant points involved in this delicate issue. It should refrain from muddying the already unclear waters with inaccurate and unimportant sentiments." (Justin Gibbs, South Yarra, Vic.)