WE ALL RECOGNISE THE LIES

by Jeremy Lee
What does a government do when nobody believes the lies any longer? I have just received a prospectus for a major investment programme from a well-respected corporation. What interested me most was its summary of the current and future climate for investing. I quote from the prospectus: "Life in Australia is a little tougher these days. We are now part of the Asian Trading Bloc and Asia is a tough market. Australian workers earn $100 a day, Asian workers earn $5 a day. If we produce the same product, it's almost impossible for us to compete on a level playing field.

Many economists are now admitting that Australia, as part of Asia, cannot survive with its current standard of living. Australia needs to borrow heavily overseas just to pay part of the interest on its debt. The borrowing continues to increase the debt. Every man, woman and child in Australia has a debt of $42,000. Yet every man, woman and child has only $400 in savings deposits. It is a well kept secret that 49% of the workforce in Australia is public service related (US 7%, UK 12%). The actual unemployment figure in Australia is over two million. This is disguised by politicians for obvious reasons. There are only seven million potential workers in Australia. There is, therefore, only two and a half million fully employed workers supporting a population of nineteen million.

It quickly becomes clear that if you do have a job, you will soon be taxed out of existence in order to pay for fourteen and a half million non-productive residents ... not to mention the excesses of over-government. ...."
No, it wasn't written by Treasurer Costello, nor by industrial relations Minister Tony Abbott, both of whom would like us to believe we are about the most prosperous economy in the world at the moment. Nor was it written by the Business Council of Australia, which wants massively increased immigration of skilled workers to provide a bigger pool of workers and consumers.

While it is a much more accurate description of the current situation within the boundaries of orthodox economic theory, Social Crediters would immediately recognize the gaps and omissions. No account is taken, for example, of Australia's massive bank of productive technology, which has increasingly taken over from manual labour. Machines, computers, robots, lasers and automation have increasingly taken over from human labour forces, and where applied correctly are more accurate and productive. If it were not for the debt-system we would continually produce more and better with less effort. There is no need for this to reduce the standard of living. In fact, it should continually be enriching it!

Nevertheless, the prospectus was much more accurate in describing our present position than the 'line' continually pushed by politicians. We should really be asking whether there are shortages of physical production? Is there enough wheat, for instance, to provide all Australians with bread? Ask the wheat farmers, who are continually trying to find markets. We produce well over a tonne of wheat for every living Australian. What about sugar, beef, mutton, rice, vegetables, cotton, wool? Or steel, cement, bricks? Or oil, coal, natural gas? Singapore and Hong Kong can produce none of those things.

If there is more than enough physical production for all Australians, why do we have to tax one half of the population to punitive levels in order to get a bare minimum to the other half? If it comes to a question of providing all Australians with high-standard food, housing, clothing and transport, Australia has already won the battle – and again, we can do it with less and less human muscle-power. But we try and distribute the results through a privately-owned debt system, which has blinded us to what we already have, hypnotizing us into believing there isn't really enough, and that we must tighten our belts and live like coolies to justify our existence.

If we continue to allow propagandists to create a false picture of Australia, we will have to accept the consequences that will be forced on us – that we classify our fellow-Australians into two classes, "productive" and "non-productive", or "winners" and "losers". The only criteria for this classification will be whether or not we have a job. And, if we want more "productive" jobs, we must all accept lower wages and a reduced standard of living. The lie has been so well painted that we half believe it ourselves, while the real truth stares at us from behind the propaganda.

THE CENSUS

The final results of the national census have now been collated and published. There are some interesting results. There are still almost 13 million who classify themselves as Christian of one denomination or another. We have 358,000 Buddhists, 95,000 Hindus, 282,000 who follow Islam and 84,000 Jews. When it comes to income the real position is alarming. – There are 938,000 Australians 15 years and over who have "Negative/Nil" weekly incomes – There are 215,000 Australians over 15 with a weekly income less that $39 – There are 353,000 Australians over 15 with a weekly income between $40 and $79. – There are 418,000 Australians over 15 with a weekly income between $80 and $110 – There are 732,000 Australians over 15 with a weekly income between $120 and $159 – There are 1,366,000 Australians over 15 with a weekly income between $160 and $199 – There are 1,868,000 Australians 15 or over with a weekly income between $200 and $299. The figures above show there are 5,890,000 Australians aged 15 and over living on weekly incomes of $300 or less. (The figures in each category have been rounded to the nearest thousand)

While, obviously, not telling the whole story, the above is enough to show a very significant portion of the Australian community is living on or below levels of acceptable poverty, and that none of this is reflected in the "powerful, booming economy" which Treasurer Costello would like us all to believe. Put it another way – there are almost 6 million Australians whose annual incomes are less than one-sixth that of a back-bench federal politician. How do they survive? By taking on an ever-increasing amount of household debt, which is at a higher percentage of household income than at any time in Australia's history.

THE REMNANTS OF RURAL AUSTRALIA

All the major industrial nations subsidise their farmers, the most notable being that "champion of free trade", the US, with the exception of Australia. The much-vaunted 'improvement' in conditions for the agricultural sector, which lasted for a few months, is over. The future looks grim.
The Australian Financial Review (25/6/02) said: "Farm income faces a 40 percent slide in the next financial year, hit by a slump in prices for most major rural commodities .... In the latest quarterly forecasts, issued yesterday, the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics predicts 2002-03 will see the first decline in the net value of farm production in four years. "Farm income is expected to slump from $9.7 billion this financial year to $5.78 billion in 2002-03 ... The forecast slump will be driven by a 9 percent fall in revenue and a 1.5 percent increase in costs ...."

If, as seems likely, this eventuates, it may be the final goodbye to a viable rural Australia. It is already overstretched, with townships, rural industries and jobs crumbling. So what will Australia do? Send Mark Vaile overseas again, to demand that our trading partners abandon their farmers as Australia has done?

A NEW MIDDLE-EAST 'BERLIN WALL'

Israeli bulldozers have started preparing the ground for a new, giant concrete wall in an effort to provide a bulwark against Palestinian suicide bombers. The Australian (18/6/02) described it thus: " ....Three bulldozers lazily piled up huge mounds of earth against a few scattered olive trees, clearing the way to lay the first 120km of protection in the next four to six months. Fences, trenches and electronically sensitive walls will eventually stretch 350km along the 'green line' between Israel and the West Bank and around Jerusalem..... "Palestinians complain the wall will strengthen an already odious apartheid system; Israeli settlers say it will isolate them from their compatriots in Israel and become the acknowledged border of a future Palestinian state ...." Yet the building of new settlements in the Occupied Territories is still continuing, heavily subsidized by the foreign aid provided by the US to Israel!

President Bush says the building of these settlements must stop – even while US money enables their continuation. Somehow, it is hard to believe that Sharon has any intention of abandoning the settlers or allowing the Palestinians their own state. He has plans for a much greater Israel, in which the Palestinians do not figure. The Middle East conflict is depicted in the difference between the old idea of destroying one's enemies and laying waste foreign lands, so graphically depicted in the Old Testament Deuteronomy, and Christ's injunction to love one's enemies, and do good to those who hurt you. There is no meeting point between these two opposites. The way Christ set out is the only chance for peace in the Middle East.

A BRAVE MAN PASSES

FURORE OVER MAYOR PETER DAVIS' COMMENTS

by Betty Luks
The 'politically correct' are in a great ferment over Peter Davis' 'colourful' suggestions as to what corrective measures could be taken by the army when 'recalcitrant' illegal immigrants riot and trash and burn and destroy the detention camps. Following written complaints, lodged by a refugee support group with the office of the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP), the media announced Mr. Davis' remarks are to be 'investigated'. The Public Prosecutor, so the media report goes, will have to determine whether he has breached the State's 1997 Racial Discrimination Act, which, up to date, is untested at law.

For the record
Following is an accurate transcript of Mayor Peter Davis' comments on an ABC programme.
ABC interviewer: "But the idea (of a detention centre in the le Hunte district Council of Central Eyre Peninsula to stimulate economic activity) brought an angry reaction from the Mayor of another EP Council Pt. Lincoln's Mayor Peter Davis."
Peter Davis: "The only place I would tolerate a detention centre is placed in El Alamein (a SA army training camp near Pt. Augusta) and that in fact when the army is in training they can use the recalcitrant illegal immigrants as live target practice – the same as galahs. It's time that more people stood behind Phillip Ruddock and that we told these illegal immigrants to GO HOME!" ('go home' emphasized in interview).

Due to impending investigation, Peter is not prepared to offer any further comment. Even so, it should be noted that within 10 days of his public remarks another hunger strike is in progress and another breakout has occurred at the Woomera camp in South Australia. Why? It has been reported a large number of those who have gone on the hunger strike, plus those who have broken out of the camp, have been informed their applications to settle in Australia, on the basis they are genuine refugees, has been denied. According to one news item, the breakout is a criminal offence. Interesting days ahead.

STARVATION STALKS AFGHANS

A report from the Asia Times, 27/06/02, has a UN official warning the world – "Afghanistan risked becoming the world's next great humanitarian disaster if an urgent plea for food and funds was not answered soon." World Food Programme spokesman "Khaled Mansour said at the Shamshatoo refugee camp, in north-west Pakistan, that Afghanistan could soon be inhabited by 'walking skeletons'." "The most important thing for us is not to wait for the CNN factor, where you see people completely wasted and stunted and dying (on television) so they decide to give the food or money," he said. According to the report, "More than a million Afghan refugees – 940,000 from Pakistan alone – have returned in less than four months."

Note the pattern. The military-industrial elites bomb the hell out of a place, destroy all the infrastructure, set up their puppet governments – with International Monetary Fund debt-finance backing, of course. Not long down the track, humanitarian appeals are made to help pick up the pieces and feed the victims of the barbaric acts! What about changing the pattern? What about stopping the bombing? What about the military-industrial elites stopping producing the misery to begin with?

BRUTE FORCE NOT THE WAY TO GO

HARDCORE AL-QAIDA NUMBERED NO MORE THAN 200-300

Al-Qaida's numbers were grossly exaggerated by the Bush administration and US media. Hardcore al-Qaida members never numbered more than 200-300. Claims that there were 5,000-20,000 al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan were nonsense. These wild exaggerations came from lumping Taliban tribal warriors with some 5,000 Islamic resistance fighters from Kashmir, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, the Philippines and Chinese-ruled Eastern Turkistan, none of whom were part of al-Qaida. The reason 12,000 US, British and Canadian (and Australian .. ed) troops operating in Afghanistan can't find al-Qaida – a campaign that has so far cost over US410 billion – is that there were few to begin with; by now, most have slipped away through Pakistan.

Instead, the US is getting mired in Afghan tribal politics by trying to maintain a regime in Kabul that will take orders from Washington. Last week's much ballyhooed grand tribal council, or loya jirga, that 'elected' CIA 'asset' Hamid Karzai as national leader was a wildly expensive charade conducted under the guns of US and British troops. Karzai's 'election' has cost Washington $5 billion in bribes and payoffs to Afghan warlords. As soon as US and British occupation troops decamp, Afghanistan will again dissolve into tribal chaos or fall under the control of Russia, which continues to arm and direct the Northern Alliance."

COLIN POWELL 'SIDELINED'?

US JUDGE: TERRORIST LABEL 'UNCONSTITUTIONAL'

AUGUST MEETINGS COMING UP: WEST AUSTRALIA

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Seminar and Dinner and Workshop: August 17th & 18th Guest Speakers: Bishop John Hepworth and New Zealand's League of Rights National Director Mr. Bill Daly.

VICTORIA