MONSANTO DEFEATED

by Jeremy Lee
The giant multinational conglomerate Monsanto, which has tried to seize control of the world's seeds in order to tailor all future seed-stocks to chemical and herbicide dependency, has been forced to pull out of Europe. According to the UK's Weekly Telegraph (22.28/10/03)
"… The move was widely seen as a sign that it has given up hopes of introducing GM cereals in Europe. It announced its decision on the eve of last Thursday's publication of the results of farm-scale evaluations of GM crops, the final and most influential part of the Government's investigation into whether to allow GM crops to be grown commercially. The trials investigated the effect of GM maize (i.e. corn) oilseed rape and sugar beet on farm-land wildlife and biodiversity. Two other Government reports on the economic benefits of growing GM crops and on scientific understanding of their environmental and health effects have also failed to present a strong case for commercial GM cultivation. …. Monsanto's announcement that it wants to sell its cereal development stations at Cambridge and in France, Germany and the Czech Republic follow hardening resistance to GM crops throughout Europe….."

Another report in the same paper highlighted the politics: "Ministers are expected to delay any decision on commercializing genetically modified crops until after the next election, following Government trials which found two out of three GM crops harmed the environment…."

A report in The Weekend Australian Financial Review (28-29/6/03) pointed out: "… Monsanto is the global leader in GM seed. 91 per cent of all GM hectares are planted with its product. What happens to this company will determine the future for GM food worldwide….. While the GM industry points to its new line in pharma crops (seeds that have been genetically engineered to carry vaccines and other health benefits) as its hope for future profits, Innovest warns: "Contamination of food products by Monsanto GE (genetically engineered) pharma crops could bankrupt the firm and cause substantial investor losses …."

The author, Julie Macken, concluded: "… At present the world has 58.7 million hectares under GM crops, or a little more than 4 per cent of market share. But two-thirds of that, or 39 million hectares, is in the United States. If the world decides it wants its food labeled, the US can say goodbye to nearly 40 million hectares of GM food, because it segregates only 1 to 2 per cent of its crops. So supplying verification that a seed is GM-free will be a prohibitively expensive option …." (emphasis added)

So what happens if Monsanto and its ilk cannot ride roughshod over the millions of consumers worldwide who don't want their food genetically modified? Presumably, it will be foisted on Third World disaster cases, where drought or politics has produced famine. Then it will be a case of "eat GM or die".

THE COSTS OF A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT

The republican gaggle in Australia make much of the cost of the Monarchy to Australia on occasional visits. Such costs pale into insignificance when a republican president arrives! The Australian Aviation magazine (November 2003) gave us some idea: "Canberra airport and surrounding roads face shutdown due to security precautions for the visit of US president George W Bush and Chinese president Hu Jintao later this month.

Roads between Fairbairn air force base the airport and the parliamentary triangle will be closed both ways for the convoys of armour-plated limousines and up to 50 other vehicles that will ferry the large presidential parties….. Bush will be accompanied by about 600 people and several aircraft. Hotel accommodation will be stretched because the presidential visit coincides with the Rugby world cup. An official involved in the planning said yesterday security would be much tighter than for President Clinton's 1996 visit to Canberra.

No other business will be conducted by Parliament when it is recalled at a cost of $2m for the two presidential addresses. While Bush will travel in Air Force One, an identical back up aircraft will be stationed in Australia, probably at RAAF Richmond….. Included will be a USAF C-5 Galaxy aircraft which will carry the armour-plated limousine (and an identical back up) and various black-windowed long wheelbase vehicles for the Secret Service agents.

An arcane requirement of the President's travel is that he must have access to a secure telephone landline at all times. During Mr Clinton's visit, US technicians ran cables along corridors in Parliament House where the President was due to talk, to provide instant access to the Pentagon for any national or international crisis …." It might be a little cheaper to send an E-mail!

COSTELLO'S BUDGET SURPLUS

Suddenly and, of course, completely unexpectedly, Access Economics has discovered that the Budget surplus has risen to just on $7 billion - well over $1000 for each family of four. So we're now set for an election campaign between Mark Latham and Treasurer Costello on the best way of bribing us with our own money! John Anderson will chip in with his views on how to spend the money expected from the (unwanted) sale of Telstra. The National Party in Queensland claims it is, unlike its federal counterpart, opposed to selling Telstra. But it can be expected to 'sit on its hands' rather than embarrass the struggling federal Nationals trying to hold their seats.

It seems not to have occurred to any politician that, if they have received taxes over and above their estimates, and have a surplus, they should return it to ALL long-suffering taxpayers. A cheque for $2,800 for the eight members of my household to share over Christmas would warm me towards the government more than all the expensive propaganda I expect to receive.

THE COST OF EDUCATION

Latest news shows the monumental debt of our university students.The Australian Financial Review, (29/10/03) told us: "Accumulated HECS debts continue to rise steadily, hitting $9.8 billion half way through the 2003 academic year, according to new figures from the Australian Taxation Office. The data, released yesterday as part of the ATO's annual report, revealed a total of 1.2 million people owe HECS debts to the Commonwealth, with $1.6 billion in new loans incurred between July 2002 and June 2003…. The release of the new accumulated HECS figures comes in the midst of a heated debate about student debt levels, with Labor and student groups warning the government's proposal to partially deregulate fees will stop graduates from buying homes and having children …."

Borrowing for the future is no way for a nation to prosper. We need instead an Australian Permanent Fund, rather like the Alaska Permanent Fund. In Alaska, all oil revenues are returned directly to the people. When the Fund was established by referendum in the mid-eighties, it was set up in such a way that it could not be touched by politicians. Some of the money was invested in gilt-edged securities. The rest was sent by cheque as a dividend once a year to all Alaskans over the age of six months.

Suppose we set up such a fund in Australia? The Australian Permanent Fund, with all Australian citizens as beneficiaries. Neither Mr Costello, Mark Latham, the Australian Tax Office nor the Governor of the Reserve Bank could touch it. It would be overseen by a group of Trustees appointed by consumer groups - accountants, housewives, retired judges, farmers and welfare groups. It would have to produce an audited balance-sheet every year together with a report on progress which went to every Australian household free.

Into this Fund, to start it off, we could put all Australia's mining royalties; all traffic and other fines; the profits from Telstra; all Australian assets the Government insisted on selling to foreigners and all budget surpluses. Part could be invested in loans for necessary capital works to state and federal governments at commercial rates of interest. The rest could be paid out annually by way of cheque to each bona fides Australian citizen, preferably just before Christmas. No migrant or non-citizen would be eligible for such a dividend. There would be no means-test. Everybody would be entitled to receive it as a birth-right.

If Alaska can do it - why couldn't Australia?
(P.S. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this. Drop me a line at 3143 Esk-Hampton Rd. Ravensbourne, Qld. 4352)

NINE MILLION AMERICANS OUT OF WORK

Further to our recent report on the loss of manufacturing business in America, how's this for a report by Australian journalist Tony Walker in Washington?
"If you want to get a fix on the United States in a time marked by mixed signals for the Bush administration - a revving economy, a firming stock market, good news for Republicans in governors; races, an Iraq war gone away and a ballooning budget deficit - don't stay in Washington. Go to the heartland, whether it is the corn belt of the Midwest or what used to be known as the rustbelt of Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. Here people dwell less on the promise of an economic recovery and more on the reality of jobs and job losses.

As a hard-pressed representative of the Chamber of Commerce in Rockford, Illinois said: "It's the economy, stupid. Americans don't care about Iraq when it comes down to it; it's jobs". Neither the mounting toll in Iraq, nor the stubborn resistance of the manufacturing sector to resume hiring will be bringing much comfort to the Bush camp in these testing days. In fact, scarcely a week passes without a major US corporation announcing not that it is rehiring, but shedding jobs and closing businesses…."

The article was headed JOBS: THE PEOPLES' BIGGEST TERROR. JOBS FOR THE BOYS: The Weekend Australian (1-2/11/03) told us about a few who have jobs. "Firms doing US government-funded business in Iraq and Afghanistan donated more to US President George W. Bush's 2000 election campaign than to any other politician in the past 12 years …" The report went on to detail the donations - a welter of bribes and slush funds. Remember, this was well BEFORE S-11. Somebody knew what was coming.

SOUTH AUSTRALIANS - NOW IS THE TIME

Independent MP and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Peter Lewis, has warned South Australians he believes the major parties are trying to manipulate the findings of the Constitutional Convention. (The Advertiser 5th November, 2003) The final report of the Constitutional Convention, prepared by Issues Deliberation Australia, which conducted the deliberative poll for the August Convention, is expected to be tabled in the S.A. Parliament at any time now. But, Mr. Lewis has also asked about 20 people who attended the convention as leaders in various workshops, to prepare a companion report on what changes people want.

What! Surely Mr. Lewis trusts his fellow politicians to do the right thing. No? No. He has accused the major parties of trying to manipulate the findings of the Convention. He listed the three major changes being examined:
· The introduction of citizen-initiated-referendums.
· Optional preference voting for elections.
· Cutting the terms of MLCs from eight years to four years.

He challenged South Australians to get involved, "Regardless of what is contained in the report, the people themselves should now speak."

There you have it fellow South Australians, if you want to see constructive changes to the system under which you are governed then you must make the effort to let your political representative know your will - now. You have never had such an opportunity to change the governance of the state as what you have now. The ball is now in your court. Let your political representative know your will - now.

NEED WE REMIND YOU - TO BE GOVERNED IS TO BE

Noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorised, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished.
It is, under the pretext of 'public utility' and in the name of 'the general interest' to be placed under: Contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolised, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed.
Then at the slightest resistance, at the first word of complaint, it is to be: Repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed.
And, to crown it all, it is to be: Mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonoured.

THAT, IS GOVERNMENT! That is its justice, that is its morality.
*Credit goes to French philosopher P.J. Proudhon for the summing up of 'government'.

GREEDY LIBERALS MISREAD THE MOOD

The other states may not have caught up with the news of the cosy arrangement the W.A. state Libs and Labor had cooked up for themselves - taxpayer-funded election campaigns. But the electorate backlash was too strong and they have ditched the idea. They must mean further taxpayer funding of their election campaigns, because the Australian people, through their taxes, already fork out millions of dollars for the federal elections. This is probably why West Australians don't want the political parties dipping their greedier and greedier snouts ever deeper and deeper into the trough of public monies.

The Labor Premier Dr Gallop revealed discussions had taken place between the Liberals, the Greens and Labor - the proposal is already ALP policy - and it was agreed all groups would support the policy. But the Libs backed away with the Opposition Leader Colin Barnett admitting he had underestimated the public outcry over such an idea. The West Australian newspaper revealed it had been inundated with letters from angry readers and a special Westpoll found four out of five voters were against the idea of public funding of election campaigns.

THE 'GREAT AUSTRALIAN DREAM' PUBLIC FORUM

We received the notice too late to publicise the event, but we are pleased to report on the Property Rights Public Forum sponsored by the Queensland F.R.E.E. Association held on the 18th November. We see those invited to speak included: Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, the Leader of the Opposition Lawrence Springborg MP, Senator Len Harris, Mrs. De-Anne Kelly MHR and representatives from the Young Nationals, the Canegrowers of Mackay, the Australian Cane Farmers' Association and Mr.Ken McFadzen of HASCO.

Main speaker is Professor Wolfgang Kasper, Professor Emeritus at the University of New South Wales and Senior Officer at Sydney's Centre for Independent Studies. The Professor has been conducting his own campaign on Property Rights and, according to the flier, has earned the respect of all sectors of Australian business and farming. It is only recently a visiting speaker bemoaned the 'crisis in leadership' the world over. It is encouraging to see men such as this professor who are 'sticking their necks out' in the defence of the peoples' rights and liberties. It will be interesting to find out if all the invited speakers fronted up to the Forum. Queensland readers might like to send us reports of what happened at the Forum.

BRITISH JUDGES COME OUT FIGHTING FOR THE PEOPLE

Courtesy of Neil Baird's email service
England's most senior judges have warned that Tony Blair's legal reforms were opening the way for a British Hitler. They accused him of wrecking the unwritten constitution that has for centuries protected the peoples' rights and liberties. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, said the reforms also posed the biggest threat to judges' independence in 400 years. His Deputy, Lord Justice Juidge, said Mr. Blair was dismantling the constitutional barriers that have shielded Britain from horrors such as Nazi tyranny. "We have to remember that Hitler came to power in a democratic country by getting a significant vote and then subverting the constitution," he said. "There are nasty people out there and there is no guarantee that because we are Great Britain none of them will ever come to power.

The criticism came as the Judiciary published a damning reply to the sweeping reforms launched by the Prime Minister in his June reshuffle, when he abolished the post of Lord Chancellor. The Judges have made it clear that they believe the abolition of the 800-year-old post was botched and wrong. They demanded what Lord Woolf called "an entirely new constitutional settlement". An assessment of the reforms put out in the name of the Judges Council - the representative body of judges and magistrates - said:
It has to be recognised that the manner in which the reforms were announced, without any consultation, has damaged the confidence of the judiciary.

Blair's understanding of actions questioned:
In a contemptuous dismissal of Mr. Blair's grip on the meaning of his own actions, they added: "The concern of the judiciary is heightened by the failure of the government sufficiently to appreciate the full significance of the changes that the reforms involve." Lord Woolf, the most senior judge in England and Wales, learned of the decision to abolish the post of Lord Chancellor when he heard it on TV and he has delayed his retirement to fight the proposals. The reforms appeared not to have been fully thought through at the time of the reshuffle. Lord Irvine's replacement, Mr. Blair's former flat mate Lord Falconer, has had to act as Lord Chancellor despite the supposed abolition of the post.

Details of the reforms did not surface until a month after the reshuffle:
These involve the setting up of a commission to appoint judges in place of the Lord Chancellor, a Supreme Court to replace the House of Lords as the highest court and the abolition of the senior barristers' cherished rank of Queens Counsel. The Lord Chief Justice said the removal of the Lord Chancellor, who is head of the judiciary and a member of the Cabinet, left the courts exposed to Political interference, and warned the replacement for the Lord Chancellor, the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, will be a politician who cannot be accepted to lead the judges.

Lord Woolf said the scale of the threat to the judiciary had no modern parallel, "I think you have to go a long way back in this jurisdiction," he said. "There were certainly threats in the 17th century - a lot of judges lost their heads." This compares Mr. Blair's reforms with an age in which Oliver Cromwell railroaded judges to try Charles I; the body of the judge who sentenced the King to death was dug up, hanged, beheaded and dumped in a lime pit when his son Charles II was restored to the throne.

Lord Justice Juidge used the example of the French far-right politician, Jean-Marie Le Pen, when warning of the dangers of a British Hitler. "You cannot run through the future and say this is Great Britain, everything is perfect here, things like this do not happen here," he said.

THE BUSINESS OF A POLITICAL DEMOCRACY

We read and hear much about 'democracies' these days - usually in relation to that version of de'markrazy' being imposed on the Iraqi people by that great leader of 'the land of the free'. In the 1930s C.H. Douglas referred to the highly organised campaign to discredit 'democracy'. 'Democracy' was 'out,' and a form of Administration 'was in'. Centralised Control was proposed, either under the name of Communism, or Fascism, or a National Recovery Campaign, or Rationalization and a planned economy (My, my - and we thought rationalization was an idea thought up by the current crop of multinationalists!)

The 1930s allegation was that 'democracy' was ineffective and that the interference of governments in business was the cause of the breakdown, which in turn, resulted in the Great Depression and chaos. But social crediters had done their homework and knew the chaos was due to finance, not 'democracy'.

Douglas explained: The drive behind the desire to substitute various forms of dictatorship for the democratic machine is the desire to employ the forces of the State to impose the policy of international finance and trustified industry upon the general population. This is exactly what has happened over the last fifty years. The business of a political democracy is to elect representatives who will insist that those responsible for producing results do so....is not a bit of use asking democracies to decide upon matters of technique, and it is quite certain that if you throw a plan to democracy it will be torn to shreds.

The function of the politician as a parliamentary representative of the People is firmly established in Australia's political system of Constitutional Monarchy. It is the business of the Parliamentary democratic machine to transmit the desires of the people for results into the results desired - that is its democratic objective.

If the same spirit of service, of representation, is imbued in other One Nation candidates, as is demonstrated by Senator Len Harris to his Queensland people, a revitalized One Nation party would improve their support, and indeed their vote, at the next federal election. They couldn't do better than campaign on a genuine political democracy rather than let the Lib/Labs get away with their fake version. We highly recommend C.H. Douglas' little booklet, "The Nature of Democracy" for further study. Price: $2 posted from all League Book Services.

ANNUAL BASIC FUND

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Mahathir's Speech: The Editor, The Australian
Dear Sir, Mary Werther is wrong about Dr Mahathir on two counts (28/10): he did not utter "innuendos" about Jewish power but spoke openly about it, and he did not use "anti-Semitic vitriol", merely exaggeration for effect. It is an open secret that Jewish influence in national and international politics is out of all proportion to the percentage of population that is Jewish, that it is based on financial clout and that it is wielded to serve Jewish interests at the expense of other interests. That is why Australian law was changed to prevent David Irving, a historian of notable achievements despite his errors, from visiting us; why the War Crimes Act was wrongfully amended to allow the wicked and futile pursuit of geriatrics as alleged "Nazi war criminals" far too late after the alleged offences.
It explains the improper assaults on free speech through "racial vilification" and "racial hatred" legislation designed to suppress dissident historical views about the Holocaust and public criticisms of Jewish lobbying power.

If vitriol is to be sought, it can be found rather in Phillip Adams' over the-top language in "Handing a club to anti-Semites" (Opinion, 28/10), whereby the Christian and pro-British group, the "Australian League of Rights", is labelled "abominable" and associated with "anti-Semites" and "neo-Nazi organisations", while David Irving is called "diabolical". The context in which Adams can publish such unjust defamation, and The Australian publish it, is precisely the context Dr Mahathir sought to publicise.
Yours sincerely, Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic. 28th October 2003.

Victoria's Council Amalgamations
Many of the problems of Local Government can be laid at the door of amalgamations in 1994. At that time, the redundancies that obviously occurred because the efficiencies ostensibly accruing were not funded, but were thrown to the remaining councils to pick up the tab even though rates were compulsorily reduced by 22.5%. Similarly, a black hole has been found in superannuation which, under orthodox financial rules, will ultimately be funded out of rate revenue. In a recent letter to the Herald Sun someone suggested a further round of amalgamations was necessary. Poppycock! It is obvious that amalgamations are not working. You could divide Victoria in three: Melbourne and Eastern Victoria and Western Victoria by a line from Deer Park to Echuca, call them three cities, and you would still not have enough money to operate 'efficiently'. While the points you raise are pertinent, they cannot be achieved simultaneously until the economic rules are rewritten.
Ron Fischer, Ballarat, Vic.

SYDNEY CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS' CLUB

'THE NEW DAY' DINNER & SEMINAR - ALBURY

The speakers presented their papers with wit and humour; Eve Hillary's account of how "They are Stealing Our Children" here in Australia left her audience aghast. Donald Martin posed (and answered) the question: "Is the European Union Faltering?" and Bill Daly also asked (and answered) the question: "Is a Revolt Against Globalism Happening?" Betty Luks opened the Seminar with a vision for "The New Day". You must hear and be encouraged and inspired by the full range of speakers.
Individual Audio Tapes - $6 each posted; Five Tapes - $25 posted; Complete Set - $25 posted.
SPECIAL ACTIONIST DISTRIBUTION PRICE: THREE complete sets for $50 posted.
Order from: MEA Tapes and Books, PO Box 248, East Caulfield, Vic. 3145

AUDIO TAPE: "Are You Sick & Tired of being Tired & Sick?" Dr. Alec Burton's address to the Adelaide Conservative Speakers' is filled with commonsense advice. He outlined what is a sensible approach to health and well-being for us all. Dr. Burton runs the Arcadia Health Clinic and the Australian College of Hygiene in Arcadia N.S.W. Audio available from the Mayo Tape Library, Box 6, Hahndorf, S.A. 5245 - $6 posted.

Editor's note