GST WOES INCREASE

by Jeremy Lee
Those who imagined the GST was now an accepted fact may yet be startled at the mounting anger among Australia's small businesses. An operator in Tasmania has now sent a bill for $500 to the Australian Tax Office for the time it took him to complete the Business Activity Statement. A debt collector has already served a demand for the $500 on the Hobart ATO office.

Mr. Watson, the complainant, said: "'....They expect us to do their work for them, but if I'm to be a tax collector, I should be reimbursed,' Mr. Watson said. 'The Government is supposed to be in favour of the user-pays principle. In this case the Tax Office is the user' ...." (Australian Financial Review, 17/11/2000).

Meanwhile, investigations prompted by the Nick Petroulias affair, conducted by former National Crime Authority chairman Tom Sherman, show that 2,000 tax officials have been issuing private rulings, totalling between them millions of dollars
"'...It is evident that favourable rulings can benefit taxpayers by many millions of dollars; those who issue them exercise considerable power,' the report said. 'Any system which involves the combination of discretion, secrecy and large amounts of money is susceptible to corrupt influence'..." (AFR, 17/11)

GROWING RESENTMENT AT BAS

It is quite clear that the GST is really biting for the first time. The forms for the Business Activity Statement are over-complicated and confusing, and the guidelines complex. Brian Toohey (AFR Weekend. 11-12/11/2000) was quite blunt:
"Australia is now two countries. One has to gather data for an activity statement. The other doesn't.... The more disturbing problem for the Government stems from the resentment at the extra workload created by the DAS and IAS among its core constituency of voters who are proud to be small business operators or self-funded retirees. Not surprisingly, complaints focus on the amount of energy that has to be diverted from their entrepreneurial endeavours to completing forms, which go far beyond what is needed to collect the GST.
"If only 1 or 2 percent of these voters decide to punish the Coalition, Labor should romp home at the next election ...."

Heaven forbid! They'd be just as bad as the Coalition!

THE BUDGET SURPLUS

Adding to the anger over the GST is further fury at the surplus the Government has obtained from obscenely high levels of taxation, and its refusal to ease the pain in the community with the extra money received.

A spate of letters in The Australian (17/11) made some thrusting points: "How does any Australian government, let alone the Federal Government, accumulate a budget surplus of $4 billion? By denying the taxpayers - us - the infrastructures and facilities for which we pay our taxes ...." said one.
" ... The balance looks great on the bank statement. But the house's fence is falling down, the electric wiring is burnt out, the kids are hungry, have no clothes and don't go to school, you're too tight to go to the doctor, the dog has fleas and you won't put petrol in the car to go on a picnic. Numbers on a piece of paper. We're worth more than that, aren't we?" asked another.
".... We now know that spending the surplus will put too much pressure on interest rates, except when it's spent on roads in marginal National Party electorates" pointed out a third.
A fourth made the point: "If you're honest with yourself- a budget surplus is overtax. If you have spent heaps of previous overtax on tax reform and another billion of overtax on tax reform education, then if your reformed tax system overtaxes the now educated taxpayer by roughly FOUR BILLION, you should be able to buy a country of your own…"

In fact, the insistence on Budget Surpluses by orthodox economists and the bankers who met Howard in Sydney just after his party gained power has fudged any genuine discussion. There once was a policy that NO capital works should be paid from taxation - even in 'marginal National Party electorates'. Instead, all capital works should be funded by long-term loans at nominal rates of interest, paid over the life of the item. A road which lasted 50 years would be paid over 50 years. The key would be the use of the Reserve Bank to create and make available the necessary funds - as the Commonwealth Bank did in wartime - at a rate of issue no greater than the cost of administration - probably about half-a-percent. This would allow an immediate and considerable reduction in taxation, far bigger than the half-fulfilled promises by the Howard Government.

It would mean the Government telling the private banks to 'get nicked' if they objected - as they undoubtedly would.

BANK BRANCH CLOSURES CONTINUE

PRIVATISED PRISONS

The whole sorry saga of privatised prisons, a running sore in America, is bursting into the open in Australia. Apart from owning several prisons a US company, Australasian Correctional Management (ACM), runs all six Immigration facilities in Australia. It now transpires that there have been reported cases of rape at the Woomera Detention Centre that have been hushed up because there are penalty clauses in the contract between the Government and the company if events at Woomera embarrass the Federal Government.

A lengthy report in The Australian (17/11/2000) said: "....Staff employed by ACM, a US company that runs several jails and all six Immigration facilities in Australia, were often prison guards with no training in sexual abuse issues. Wackenhut, ACM's parent company, is under fire over stabbings, riots, sexual assaults and prisoner abuse at its prisons in the US...."

TREATIES - ANOTHER SCANDAL

The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Denis Burke has called for the Commonwealth's treaty-making powers to be subject to parliamentary scrutiny, and review by the States and Territories. Campaigning for the 1996 election when in opposition, John Howard promised that all future international treaties would be subject to parliamentary examination and approval.
One result was the establishment of a parliamentary committee on treaties. This committee has the legislative power to examine all treaties, and approve or otherwise their signature by Australia. This is a watering down of Howard's promise, and the States still get no say even though they, the Constitution and the Federal system may be directly affected.

At the end of October the parliamentary committee on treaties was preparing advertisements for a public inquiry into Australia's signing the Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Australian (6/11/2000) reported the wording of the advertisement, in part: "The task of the treaties committee is to report to the Parliament on whether it is in the national interest to bind Australia to the terms of the statute ...."

Before the advertisements had been published or the treaty committee had reported, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Attorney-General Darryl Williams issued a joint press statement on October 25th that the Government intended to legislate by the end of the year for the ratification of the Statute. After an unholy row in the 'corridors of power' the Treaty Committee forced Downer and Williams to back down.
It's nice that the odd bit of sanity occasionally prevails.

Neither the UK nor the US have ratified the Statute of the International Criminal Court. US expert Gary Dempster told the US Congress: "The ICC's draft statute is replete with unresolved issues and alarming possibilities. Specifically, the court threatens to diminish America's sovereignty, produce arbitrary and highly politicised 'justice' and grow into a jurisdictional leviathan…"

Why would Alexander Downer ("the terror of the South Seas") and Williams want to commit Australia to such a project?

SHED A TEAR FOR THE WTO

Elena Lonergan, writing in The Weekend Australian (11-12/11/2000), said: "Shock, horror; tragedy. The World Trade Organisation is in a quandary. It doesn't have anywhere to hold its next big bash (and we use the term advisedly). It seems that since Melbourne's jolly gathering, all the interesting cities of the world have taken a second look at the abundant, skull-cracking footage. They've added up the cleaning bills. They've done a quick estimate of dental expenses for all the broken front teeth. And they've said: 'Forget it'… What a shame!

There must be an old disused gulag somewhere in Russia they could use - or perhaps President Mugabe of Zimbabwe would welcome an international conference?

BUMPER STICKERS

There is a reported new bumper sticker being seen in the troubled electorally rorted State of Queensland

"DONT BLAME ME! I VOTED LABOR, 20 OR 30 TIMES!"

HAD ENOUGH? VOTE SITTING MEMBER LAST

from Neil Baird's website
Most people when asked, "What do you think of our Politicians?" react very negatively - usually qualifying their statement with "They're all as bad as each other, so who do you vote for?" These same people are fed up and angry with our politicians as they see them working for overseas interests rather than the people they are supposed to represent, the Australian people. If you agree, then you are not alone.

We have known for some time that the big parties have fixed the electoral system, aided and abetted by the news media; this gives little or no chance to Independents or those who could raise a voice against them. These same politicians feel safe in the knowledge that they can destroy any usurper with cute labels and innuendo.

As you are aware, the "Preferred Party System" is a very fragile thing - where a few votes in the right place means the making or breaking of a candidate? This is the ONLY way to get the message to them.

Vote the Sitting Member Last!

Why? Voting for the opposition or voiding your vote tells them nothing. They will continue selling us out, because they know no better or choose to turn a blind eye. If 5% of all voters did this, then ALL current politicians would be looking for a new job after the next election. The political parties will be shattered and they will know that if they act without the support of those they represent, then they risk being sacked again.

How to!
At the next election vote the sitting member last; vote for the other candidates as your conscience dictates. For example, if there were six candidates you would put a six next to the name of the sitting member and the rest of the candidates you would put one to five next to their names in the order you desire. This way you are rejecting the sitting member - ABSOLUTELY!

Result!
The message sent is clear and unambiguous, we are fed up with their remorseless and callous betrayal of the Australian people. Your vote counts and it is now up to you! Do you want more of the same or are you also FED UP?

Vote the Sitting Member Last!

NOTE
When voting you must put a number in every square or your vote is voided! This tactic could be tried at the next West Australian State election, which is expected to be held early next year.

WHEN TRUTH COULD BE STRANGER THAN FICTION

REAL VOTE FRAUD, COMMICRAT STYLE

from Hal Turner Radio Show

While Gore supporters are holding protests in the streets, Bush supporters are buying bullets at gun shops. In the three days since the US General Election, ammunition sales throughout the United States have jumped an astonishing nine hundred percent (900%). Americans are furious over massive, blatant and widespread vote fraud by supporters of Al Gore and many are openly talking about "blood in the streets". Voter fraud in Tuesday's general election has Radio Talk Shows throughout the United States burning up with callers who are openly speaking about civil insurrection, blood in the streets, state secession from the Union, and wondering aloud whether President Bill Clinton will use this election debacle as an excuse to remain in power after his term expires on January 20th, 2001.

Such talk is not limited to fanatics; US Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), lent credibility to the prospects of violence when he was asked tonight on radio station WBCQ if President Clinton would use this situation to remain in power. Responding to that query, Rep. Paul stated "Six months ago, I thought the idea was preposterous. Now I'm not so sure. The people would come out and there would be total violence."

Here's a brief list of just some of the fraud
Tens of thousands of US Military personnel around the world were unable to cast ballots for the first time in US History because their Military Absentee ballots "got lost in the mail". In past elections, the Military voted 9:1 in favour of Republicans.
Thousands of non-US Citizens - who cannot legally vote - were sent letters by President Bill Clinton just days before the election, informing them they had registered, and even providing them with Voter Identification Cards to sign and use when voting! These mailings were sent to States with large Latino populations such as California, possibly allowing enough non-citizens to vote and sway the election.
In New York City, voting machines were tampered with, disabling the Republican voting levers. When voters came out of the malfunctioning voting booths and sought a paper ballot, it let polling workers know the voter was going to vote Republican because those were the only levers that weren't working.
A television news crew caught Democrat vote counters in Brooklyn, New York, throwing thousands of paper ballots into garbage dumpsters - resulting in thousands of Republican votes disappearing.
Also in New York, registered Republican voters were told in hundreds of polling places they were no longer registered to vote. Those persons were offered a paper "provisional ballot" but when those ballots were filled out, Poll workers refused to place the Ballots in a locked box.
In the Albuquerque, New Mexico area, computerised voting machines were reprogrammed so that votes were not counted whenever anyone cast ballots for all candidates from the same political party! Upwards of 68,000 votes may have been reprogrammed out of existence.
In Wisconsin, Gore campaign workers approached drunks and homeless hobos, offering them bribes of free packs of cigarettes if those people would register to vote and cast a ballot for Gore.
In Missouri, polling places in heavy Democrat areas like St. Louis remained open up to four hours after the legal time, allowing those Democrats to cast ballots.
In New Jersey, hundreds of voters in urban Democrat areas like Hudson and Essex County were jammed into the hallways at the County Boards of Elections, casting absentee or provisional ballots hours after the polls legally closed.

The Media a Willing Participant

Just minutes after voting places on the east coast closed, major news networks began "calling' the race. But when the networks "called" Florida as being won by Al Gore, they did so despite the fact that a portion of that state is in the Central time zone and polling places in that time zone were still open. This premature "call" of Florida by the media caused tens-of-thousands of voters in the affluent Republican area of the Florida panhandle, to leave polling places without voting because they thought Gore had already won. Florida is now the key state in the Presidential race.

False Claims of Fraud in Palm Beach County
Florida Democrats have been complaining wildly about alleged fraud in Palm Beach County, Florida, where 19,000 ballots were allegedly discarded because voters punched ballots for two Presidential candidates. Punching the ballot for two Presidential candidates automatically voids the ballot. But it is now surfacing that many or most of the 19,000 discarded ballots were, in fact, lawfully and properly replaced when voters who made the mistake came out of the voting booth, requested and received replacement ballots then cast a proper vote! Leftist Gore supporters and the media are ignoring this fact, spurring outrage by conservatives that the truth is being suppressed and causing minorities in that county to take to the streets demanding a re-vote. Such a re-vote is not only illegal under Florida law, it is also illegal under federal law (3 U.S.C. 1).
Putting this in perspective, even if the 19,000 votes were all discarded and not counted, those votes would only represent four percent (4%) of the total votes cast in that County, meaning ninety-six percent of the other voters in the County did it correctly.

As a result of all this election fraud, Bush supporters are convinced that Gore, with Clinton's help, is stealing the US Presidential election. Bush supporters are going to gun stores and pistol ranges in large numbers. They are buying large amounts of ammunition for their guns and brushing-up on their aim. Many are openly saying they will not allow Al Gore to steal the election and are calling those who support Gore "the enemy".

Not since the early 1860's prior to the Civil War has the US population been so divided and openly talking about violent civil warfare. Radio callers are making unprecedented open and public calls to employ the Second Amendment (right to keep and bear arms) to protect the integrity of the Constitution and of the Bush election. This election has pitted brother against brother, parent against child, young against old, white against black, Gentile against Jew. The anger is palatable and the situation grows steadily worse.
www.HalTurnerShow.com Friday, November 10th. 2000

LETTER

Who's afraid of the Catholic Church? - The Age, November 17th, 2000

Michael McGirr's discussion of George Weigel's biography of Pope John Paul II (Features, 14/11) misses the point. Weigel is senior fellow at an American right-wing think-tank called the Ethics and Public Policy Centre. And why are right-wing think tanks interested in papal biography? Because the champions of global capital have realised that the social teachings of the Catholic Church are even more of a threat to their cause than passionate, but less focused, protests such as S11.

They are engaging in what McGirr's fellow Jesuit Thomas Massaro describes as an attempt to "steal Catholic social teaching for the purposes of the right-wing of American politics". The tactic is to loudly support conservative papal teachings that do not threaten the interests of global capital, such as on the ordination of women, and simultaneously undermine papal teachings on capital punishment, war and economics.

Witness to Hope is an important book - but readers should be alert to its context. This is a concerted strategy by supporters of global capital to neutralise the subversive potential of the largest organisation on Earth that remains opposed to the current world economic order. - Paul Mees, Fitzroy. Vic.

The above letter sparked this writer's interest, not because we want to get embroiled in a debate about the Catholic Church, but because we know many Catholics relate to and promote Social Credit. Speaking at a Social Credit Convention in Regina, Canada. (1946), Professor F.E.Gregoire, French- Canadian philosopher and scholar, said:
"...The people of (French-Canadian Catholic...ed) Quebec are surely a religious-minded population. They surely place upon eternal life an infinitely higher value than upon temporal life. But they know very well, as was clearly expressed by Pope Pius XI, that the controllers of money and credit have rendered life 'hard, horrible and cruel,' and that such economic conditions 'make it difficult for an increasing number of men to operate the capital work of their eternal salvation.' "
The people of Quebec are surely brought up in the respect of authority. But they also know how to make distinctions, and how to define the mandates outside of which alleged authority is nothing but usurpation. "...The Social Credit philosophy in no way contradicts our Christian philosophy. Every Social Crediter - whether Catholic or Protestant - senses the parenthood between the Christian and Social Credit concepts of what should be the relations of man to man, and of men with the State..."

During his address, Professor Gregoire made it quite clear he was more concerned with the philosophy of Social Credit than with the financial technique. He was particularly concerned with the question of whether Social Credit was tainted in any way with Communism or Socialism. His opinion was that it was not.
There are so many people who 'dip their toe' into the reading of League literature but never become immersed enough' to fully grasp what we promote. 'The philosophy of which Social Credit is the policy is practical Christianity. There are two aspects of Christianity; one gives rise to Christian theology and the other embodies certain ethical and metaphysical values. It is with the latter that Social Credit is especially concerned, writes Bryan Monahan, An Introduction to Social Credit.

The gifted Catholic (Social Credit) teacher Louis Even, In This Age of Plenty, so aptly summed up the core problem with the 'Men of the Right' (wing): "You condemn any form of collectivism... You hate the intervention of Governments... You proclaim that the function of governments should be one of subsidiary. . . .You deplore the accelerated concentration of wealth in a few hands," etc but as he so rightly pointed out, "Mere vocal condemnations will not stop political and economic centralisation, State socialism.
Have you nothing else to oppose socialism but the present vitiated capitalist system, which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer, making small owners lose the little they have left?

You men of the right, what do you have to present to the have-nots, to the homeless? What do you have to present? Nothing? Well then, you won't stop any... State control, ... any Welfare State any form of socialism or Communism."

"Can't you see, men of the right, that the evil in the economic and social organism lies in the submission to a financial system, of which the rules lead to all the conditions that you deplore...?"

Further reading: "Social Credit & the Christian Philosophy" by Eric D. Butler.