WHEN STATISTICS ARE COOKED

by Jeremy Lee
It is a worrying sign when ordinary people no longer trust the figures used by politicians to laud their achievements. It means, obviously, that when occasionally governments get things right they are still disbelieved. Take the recent Howard/Costello/Abbott boasts about falling levels of unemployment. One result was a number of letters in The Weekend Australian (12-13/8/2000) pointing out the truth. Among other realities described was the fact that out of the 75,000 jobs claimed to be "created" in July, 60,000 were part-time jobs for women.

"This is the problem with most work created these days. It is part-time, insecure, low-paid, unsatisfying and with poor conditions ..." wrote one writer. "....Not one news report stated how the unemployment figure of 6.3 per cent was calculated. Newstart and all the other meaningless training courses, plus work for the dole and the refusal to include anyone who works more than one hour a week are accounting tricks designed to deceive the public and conceal the true magnitude of this disaster,...." wrote another.

Yet another elaborated: ".... The A.B.S. defines the unemployed as those who 'had actively looked for full-time or part-time work in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week'. Those who had given up and were no longer looking for work are not included. It is estimated that this 'hidden unemployment' would add a further 400,000 men and women to the real unemployed ...... The A.B.S. definition of an employed person is 'persons aged 15 and over who during the reference week worked one hour or more'.

There are 9.2 million employed Australians on this basis. Of these 1.4 million worked less than 15 hours a week and a further 1.1 million worked less than 30 hours a week ....That's over three million Australians either under-employed, or completely unemployed.

The Howard/Costello/Abbott government is being completely dishonest in its unemployment claims.

A fourth letter in the same issue gave this overall picture: "This is an intolerable age of self-serving politics, limp media, corrupt law, woebegone churches, directionless education, the globalisation gobble, the sale of Australia, unmitigated crime, the migrant debate and defence in a shambles ...."
A truthful and more apt description!

A TAX ON TAX

OUT IN THE OPEN

The Editorial in The Australian (14/8/2000) was quite specific: " .... The Australian is a republican newspaper and keeps the faith...."

It went on to urge the re-vamping of the Australian Republican Movement, emphasizing that Malcolm Turnbull, despite his past contributions, was not the man to lead it. ".... The people know who Mr. Turnbull is. They also know they do not like his approach, or his model for a republic. Mr. Turnbull should know that he should go. It would be unbelievably short-sighted of him not to." T

here don't seem to be too many hands up for the job.

EAST TIMOR ANOTHER VIETNAM?

With two U.N. soldiers killed in the last three weeks, there are ominous signs that creating future peace is going to be long, complex and expensive. A report from Tim Dodd in Jakarta (A.F.R., 14/8/2000) said:
"Nearly a year after the vote for independence in East Timor, a resurgence of pro-Indonesian militia groups and a lack of action by Indonesian authorities has United Nations officials frustrated and worried. U.N. peacekeeping commanders say that the militia are better armed and better trained than they used to be. Militia groups still control many refugee camps in West Timor, preventing an estimated 100,000 East Timorese from returning to their homes, which gives them bases for new attacks against the peacekeepers ...."

Wishful thinking is not going to solve this problem. There is no such thing as a "no-win" war. Unless the militias in question meet a stronger and more determined force, they will continue to grow bolder.

CONSTANT PRESSURE BRINGS RESULTS

Even the biggest multinationals cannot bear constant pressure and bad publicity. One of the biggest agricultural biotechnology companies in the world, Novartis A.G., has announced that it will withdraw all genetically-modified ingredients from its food products. Among other things, Novartis makes Ovaltine, Gerber baby foods, Wasa crackers and various health foods. It is the first big multinational to eliminate genetically-modified ingredients from all its foodstuffs world-wide.

Others are beginning to waver, with companies such as Frito-lay and McDonalds dropping genetically-modified corn and potatoes from some of their food in the United States. Novartis is still in a delicate position, as its agricultural division continues to sell genetically-modified-seeds. It has done no more than buy a breathing space, and will continue to face fierce scrutiny until it is squeaky-clean. This is a clear indication that thousands of people, well informed and working together can change things far more effectively than starting new parties and trying to get into power themselves.

NO MORE WHARFIES?

Patrick Stevedores are in Phase Two of a plan to replace wharfies on the dockyards - by robots. Technology has now been developed to unload, lift, stack and move containers entirely automatically. The day can be foreseen when shipping terminals will be handled by no more than one or two "button-pushers", or more correctly, computer operators. Once complete, the technology will cost no more than $100,000 per wharf, recouping the cost in saved wages in a week or two.
This is a microcosm of what has been developing ever since the Industrial Revolution - the replacement of labour by technology.

What is government's answer? To find displaced wharfies a niche in the "education economy"? Or give them work-for-the-dole? The answer is a change from the wage-and-salary economy to the dividend. Douglas showed how this could be achieved before World War II. But wage-slavery is a useful mechanism for social control, both for government and the banks.

DEBT CONTINUES A GRIM TOLL

The latest figures from The Australian Bureau of Statistics give two incongruous pictures:
(1) Average turnover for all Australian farm businesses was $269,300 in 1998-99, which was 2.9% higher than for the previous financial year. Among the States, Western Australia had the highest average with $385,700, while Victoria recorded the lowest with $202,500
(2) The average gross indebtedness of all Australian farm businesses was $237,000 in 1998-99, up 14.2% on the $207,500 recorded a year earlier. Among the States, Western Australia had the highest with a $356,900 gross indebtedness, followed by Queensland with $324,100. Victoria, with an average of $147,000, was the lowest.

What do we make of that? It would seem that those who followed the dictum "Get-Big-Or-Get-Out" have, on average, ended up in the worst position, if one compares Western Australia and Victoria. Where will those Victorian dairyfarmers who will be borrowing to take over from milk-producers in other states end up? The omens don't look good.

THE JAPANESE WAY

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM TO BE HELD IN MELBOURNE

The World Economic Forum is an organisation made up of the richest global companies in the world. For the past thirty years it has held regular summits and meetings aimed at 'managing globalisation'. Every February in the Swiss mountain resort-town of Davos, over a thousand of the world's C.E.O's. meet, along with a restricted list of politicians, academics and influential media who are invited along. Discussions range from how to manage the Asian economic crisis to surfing the internet revolution, all with the aim of extending market and corporate power.

In September of this year, the World Economic Forum will hold the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit, "Asia-Pacific in the 21st Century: Leveraging the new drivers of growth". The Summit is jointly sponsored by the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Davos Connection (the Australian arm of the World Economic Forum) and will take place at the Crown Casino, Melbourne, September 11th-13th - three days before the Sydney Olympics commence.

Members of the W.E.F. include Amcor, B.H.P., B.P., Boeing, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank, Chevron, Dow Corning, Dupont, Exxon-Mobil, General Motors Holden, McDonald's, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Monsanto, Nestle, Niki, Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd., Rio Tinto, Shell, Siemans, Westfield, Western Mining.

It is the intention of many groups, from all shades of the political spectrum, concerned about the growth of corporate power and globalisation, to organise a week (in Melbourne) of co-operation, workshops, networking and protest action to coincide with the W.E.F. meetings.

GLOBALISATION: BACK TO THE PAST

by Antonia Feitz
The elites say globalisation is the way of the future. It's not actually. It is a reversal to the bad old days of unrestrained capital. What governments worldwide - except Bhutan - are doing is destroying the fragile flower of a fair society for all. Just think fellow Australians, according to econometrician Ann Harding who did the modelling commissioned by the Australian, the dualism of the Third World countries - where you have a modern and affluent international sector and a poorer 'traditional' sector - "could be emerging here".

That nice, isn't it? We won't get as bad as Ethiopia, but maybe like the Indian or South American cities. They have millions and millions of very wealthy nationals who don't give a ratz for their impoverished fellow-citizens. Australians keep trying to tell their politicians that they don't want this polarisation. They want a stop to the current disastrous policies and they want the restoration of civil society.

But it's full steam ahead to the ugly old days of unrestrained capitalism for the politicians ruining this country. And the Australian continues to pump out the daily propaganda that we've never had it so good, we just won't admit it because we're envious and resentful. In keeping it up, they're fools and will eventually come a cropper.

U.N. RAPID DEPLOYMENT AND SECURITY FORCE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A.L.P. STANCE TOO SMART BY HALF

"It never ceases to amaze me how usually rational and intelligent people like Kim Beazley keep on falling for the three (or four) card trick of economic rationalism, free trade, privatisation and deregulation. All these modern day myths, like those from ancient times, have no basis in fact and are, in fact, based on deception, lies and misrepresentation.

Economic rationalism elevates market forces to God-like status, and an absolute truth. Can anyone seriously suggest that market forces are rational? Recent dot com activities, or the stock market crashes of 1929 and 1987 demonstrate otherwise. Rather than being the new economy, it is the irrational unreal economy. Market forces are not, as we are told to believe, free of human contamination, they are, in fact created and manipulated by greedy humans. So called free trade is neither free nor fair. Every trading nation has various forms of barriers and/or incentives. Many of them concealed in the form of "soft" loans, regulations, safety and health controls, subsidies, technology controls, unjust labour practices and foreign aid.

The unfairness of today's trade is no better demonstrated than by manufacturers of sporting gear. Their lavish sponsorships of sports people and organisations are tragically paid for by the $1/day workers in developing countries who make most of their gear. The level playing field myth defies any rational examination. The world is neither level nor flat. More than 500 years ago Christopher Columbus proved that the world was not flat. The economic rationalists are now telling us that he was wrong.

All countries are different in many respects: climate, living standards, access to resources, human rights, location, population, etc. The list of "unlevel" differences is endless. In Australia we are often told that our uncompetitive difference is high wages. Most of the complaints come from people whose incomes are far greater than those they complain about.

Deregulation, a socially evil phenomenon, first imposed upon us by the Hawke and Keating Governments does not mean the abolition of regulation but its transfer from public (government) hands to private ones. The banks are a good example of how bad deregulation is. The recent "cash for comment" scandal is another example of the folly of self-regulation.

Unfortunately, a majority at the A.L.P. National Conference ignored these important considerations and opted for the so-called smart, free-trade, economic policy. I am afraid that they were too smart by half because those policies will inevitably increase the number of Australians who will be forced to rely on the social justice policies also adopted at the conference."
John Halfpenny, North Fitzroy, Vic.

LETTER TO GOVERNOR-GENERAL

from Mr. Neil McDonald, Highton, Geelong
Dear Governor-General, At least two petitions with about or over 40,000 signatures (total 80,000) have failed to delay the Goods and Services Tax (G.S.T.). There are many other petitions and protest letters sent to politicians and Parliaments. Genuine concern from fair dinkum Australians seeking an alternative.

Australia has a wonderful Constitution. Section 59 says: "The Queen may disallow any law within one year from the Governor-General's assent." If the Queen's powers are transferred to the Governor-General, notice should be taken of widespread concern that ignores the Constitution.

Section 51 (11) and Section 9 state that the Government may not apply a tax that discriminates between States or parts of States. I am a veteran war pensioner - proud to be an Aussie... walked the Kokoda Trail, climbed New Guinea's two highest mountains. Sadly Australia is sinking into foreign hands and the watchdogs are asleep. Please tell me, how many names on a petition or letters of concern would cause you - our Official Umpire to raise your hand, blow your whistle and count those on the field. Her Majesty would surely approve if you told her... "I don't like the look of the G.S.T. Nowhere is its track form good. Before we go over the edge, the game should be stopped and a vote or referendum taken for direction. If a majority endorses the verdict, carry on!"

Enclosed is a postage stamp. Please tell me the number required to stop the G.S.T. and take a vote. What is a mandate when the result is less than 50 percent? Tell the Prime Minister... "Dear Johnny - lots of complaints ... you are kicking against the wind."

Hoping this letter gets past security guards, for a secretary to pass it on to a distinguished fair-minded upholder of the Constitution. Wishing you good health... Time for courage... tell the P.M. "there's a million written reasons why he will be voted out... leaving no real alternative to be truly representative."

Neil McDonald received the following reply from G-G's secretary:
"... I am sorry to disappoint you but 12 months has already past since the legislation establishing the GST received Royal Assent. Further, section 59 could only be exercised by The Queen and Her Majesty would only do so on advice from her Australian Ministers. You may be interested to know that section 59 has, in fact, never been used. To answer your basic question, it is not so much a matter of how many petitions might be received by the Governor-General. Any changes to the GST legislation would only come about through the normal democratic and parliamentary processes." - Martin Bonsey, Official Secretary.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN WEEKEND OUTSTANDING SUCCESS

GIPPSLAND ADMINISTRATOR APPOINTED

SYDNEY CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS' CLUB

The Annual General Meeting is to be held on August 29th, 2000 - make every effort to attend. Guest speaker will be Mr. John Stafford and his subject will be "Ireland Today". No meeting in September: Due to the anticipated Sydney Olympics' congestion there will be no meeting in September.

BOOK

The book "Vaccination: The Right Choice" by Maureen Hickman ($28.50 posted) is available from the Heritage Book Service, P.O. Box 6086, Lake Munmorah, N.S.W., 2259. BOOK - Genetic Engineering: Food & Our Environment (A Brief Guide) by Luke Anderson: A reading must for everyone! Author Luke Anderson has presented a clear picture of all aspects of the debate concerning genetically engineered foods. The question is answered as to who is making the crucial decisions about the future of our food supply. Why are living organisms being patented? What are the implications to our health, the impact upon farming and the environment? Unsustainable chemical/industrial farming practices have already turned much arable land into desert, yet the Federal Government is pouring approximately $80 million this year into gene technology! Order from: Australian Heritage Society, P.O. Box 163, Chidlow, W.A., 6556, or any of the League Book Services. Soft cover - $22.00 posted.

NATIONAL WEEKEND