A NEW VISION FOR AUSTRALIA - THE COMMON GOOD

by Betty Luks
Wow! The Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier, stuck his head above the parapet risking the hail of jibes and sneers which he must have known would be fired. All because one of his Easter messages called for a ‘new vision’ for this nation, a ‘new social contract’ between the people - and the banks and miners should lift their game. Peter Costello, former Liberal federal treasurer took aim at the Archbishop: “Bank-bashing archbishop mining an unprofitable vein”, Sydney Morning Herald, 11/4/2012:

“The archbishop's Good Friday article seemed to echo the argument of another person who has been railing against the banks and the miners: the Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan. He attacks miners and banks as a way of shoring up Labor's support base - a little bit of class warfare to get the faithful back into the fold. When your primary vote is about 30 per cent, there is some method in that madness. But I don't think it is going to work for the archbishop. Are people going to flock to church to hear sermons against miners and banks? Bank-bashers are a dime a dozen. You don't have to wait until Sunday to get an earful of that.” No Peter Costello, people are not going to ‘flock to church to hear sermons against miners and banks’ but they just might come to hear about how the real world could work for the benefit of ALL mankind – not just the ‘chosen few’.

“I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly”

“Abundant life is an inner thing of mind and spirit, and the external condition for it is freedom from the driving necessity for overmuch preoccupation with getting the means of bodily existence. How the Social Credit movement hopes to reach its objective is made clear by an understanding of what the term Social Credit really means. Social Credit is the belief or faith of society that the individuals composing it can get the results they want by working together in association. If people persistently get the results for which they associate, they have Social Credit.

If all the individuals associating together as the nation were asked what results they personally wanted most urgently from thus associating, we should almost certainly get an overwhelming majority asking for such things as food, clothes, houses and personal security, which could be classified under a general term such as "the conditions of well-being."

By such a referendum, we should find out what the mass of individuals composing the nation really want, and this desire would, under our definition of Social Credit, be a starting-point for our demand for results. It would thus be our policy, as an association of individuals, so that we should become what I can truthfully call a political democracy.

This clear-cut conception that we must become in fact what at present we are in theory only - a "democracy of policy" - is the first idea which the Social Credit movement is striving to impress upon the consciousness of the people, allied with the idea that we cannot achieve this until we make up our minds as to exactly what policy we do want. Until this is done, governments lack the only directive power which will push them the way the majority of people want them to go.

This focussing of the people's will into demanding what they want has necessitated a re-statement of the root idea behind political democracy, that the sole foundation for the right and power of appointing governments is the common consent of the individuals of a nation, and that this right and power shall make the relationship of people and government that of master and servant.

But a wise master does not order his servant to do impossible things; and so if a policy is vigorously demanded by the will of the people, the people must be sure that what they demand is something which can reasonably be expected to be put into operation, and the full and entire responsibility for the consequences of their policy must be accepted by the people themselves and not by the government…”

(Taken from “Aim of Social Credit”).

LETTER TO THE PRESS: THE ASSAULT ON DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

Letter to the Editor, Wangaratta Chronicle: Dear Sir,
On 16th and 23' March 2012 Wangaratta Chronicle published on the Rural City Connections Page an advertisement:-

Executive Officer, Hume Strategy Partnership, Part Time, Limited Tenure contract 2 years. Salary negotiable. Applications made to Manager of Human Resources, Rural City of Wangaratta, closed on 30th March 2012

In part the advertisement read "we need you to help us to effectively and efficiently implement the Hume Strategy for Sustainable Communities 2010-2020 regional plan on behalf Hume Strategy Partnership members
• North East Local Government Network (NELGN)
• Hume Regional Management Forum (RMF)
• Hume Regional Development Australia (RDA) Committee

You may not have read the advertisement or you may wonder what it is about.
My submission to the Rural City of Wangaratta Draft Rural Land Strategy (1) included a document from the Organization Economic Co-operative Development, Paris, France which stated about Australia (Victoria) Regional Management Forums "Legal Status, None. Sources of Financing. There is no fund directly supporting the Regional Management Forums. Regional Executive Support Officers are state public servants whose role is to provide executive support to the Forum. Forums are "championed" by departmental Secretaries."

The document gives details of Hume Strategy for Sustainable Communities (Hume Strategy). Results The Regional and Sub-Regional Plans, to be developed with reference to this strong evidence base, will be completed in March 2010. Contact Department of Planning and Community Development, Andrew Wear, Manager, 1 Spring Street, Melbourne, Vic 3000, Australia.

In submission March 5th 2012 to the Rural City of Wangaratta Draft Rural Land Strategy (2) I wrote:
"July 2010 the Urban Development Division, Department Planning and Community Development published Hume Regional Plan, The Hume Strategy for sustainable communities 2010-2020. A plan developed as part of a CSIRO Project. The Hume Strategy regional strategic planning project was sponsored by the Hume Regional Management Forum composed of public servants."

I have researched Hume Regional Management Forum on "Google" and found the State Services Authority gave a report "review of regional management forums" to the Minister on 30th November 2007. Unlike the Auditor General or Ombudsman which both report to Parliament, State Services Authority reports are given to the Premier. The Authority does not have a regulatory or audit role and carries out its legislative requirements by working collaboratively with public sector bodies and organizations.

The State Services Authority was directed to review the Senior Structure of Victorian Police and report to the Premier. Recently it has been required to review the arrangement for sustainability Victoria.

There may be withdrawal, as suggested Chronicle 30th March, of the Rural City of Wangaratta Rural Land Strategy 1 and 2 but the assault on democratic rights will not be ended. It is reassuring that at the Rural Land Strategy consultation meeting, held 28th March, at Wangaratta a Position Statement for the Rural Action Super Group Inc was available. This provided information about proposed legal investigation of property rates, land values and obligations of Councillors.

- - Yours sincerely, Alison G. Walpole, Whorouly South, Victoria 3735  

RURAL ACTION SUPER GROUP – FORMED TO FIGHT!

A Rural Action Super Group has been formed to fight for accountable and transparent local government, lower rates and reinstatement of proprietary rights for rural property throughout Victoria, with members from Wangaratta, Indigo, Moira, Shepparton, Strathbogie and Campaspe Council areas.

Rural Action Super Group Inc. Chairman Gordon Hamilton explained that the Super Group's primary focus will be to use the Valuation of Land Act to restore rights arid fairness for ratepayers who have endured up to eight years of Farm Zoning systematically stripping rural property owners of the "as of right use" to build a home upon their land. Mr Hamilton said that the catalyst for community protest groups in Northern Victoria coming together was the recent Regional Rural Land Use Strategy Panel Hearing held by the municipalities of Moira, Shepparton and Campaspe.

At the Panel Hearing, Mr Ian Prldgeon of Russell Kennedy Lawyers, (representing the Councils) told the Panel that "landholders only had a "perceived" ability to construct a dwelling on rural land".

Mr Pridgeon stated that the "Farming Zone does not in any way suggest that Rural Living or similar opportunities is something that needs to be accommodated on Rural Land." Mr Pridgeon told the Panel "the need for agricultural land to be bought and sold based on its agricultural productive value and not an inflated potentially speculative value based on Rural Living or Lifestyle opportunities". The changes to the Farming Zone Schedule and applicable policy reflect a refinement in the planning provisions not any dramatic change. There is no increase in the restrictiveness of the controls over the current interim controls.

The Rural Action Super Group Inc. believes that agricultural land does need to be protected for long term food production the Rural Action Super Group Inc. is however outraged at the Government's primary solution for the protection of agricultural land was removing the right from small landholders to build a home upon their land.

The Rural Action Super Group Inc. quotes a submission presented to the 2004 Labor Govt. Rural Zones for Rural Review by the Nationals' Spokesperson for Planning, Jeanette Powell MP which states that "the Nationals vehemently opposed the Labor Government's attempts to introduce new restrictions to the Farming Zone that removed the right to build a home on a farming property that was under 4Oha," because "this would render that land comparatively valueless". The Nationals warned the Labor Government that "the removal of the Right to Build may result in banks calling in their loans". Following the National Party submission, the Labor Government transferred power to Local Government, giving them free rein to impose minimum lot sizes to build.

The Rural Action Super Group inc. is understandably incredulous that the National Party is now supporting Local Governments throughout Regional Victoria to permanently remove the 'as of right use' to build a home in the Farming Zone under 40 ha.

Councils have effectively rendered small rural properties (without an existing house) comparatively valueless through a succession of Planning Amendments and Planning Overlays. These properties must immediately be revalued and rated correctly as farm land in accordance with the Valuation of Land Act (Section SA), and NOT at the highly inflated Lifestyle or Residential value. Attention needs to be drawn to the 2008 independent Report by SGS Economics commissioned by the Mildura City Rural Council into land values, which clearly show how Farm Zone changes lead to the devaluation of land, with the significant loss of Rate Revenue to Council.

The Rural Action Super Group Inc. has begun the process of compiling a dossier of valuation case histories following several trial cases in Shepparton last year, concerning objections to rate valuations based upon Farm Zone Restrictions and Flood Overlays. These trial cases achieved devaluations averaging $428,000, with the highest devaluation of $650,000 (to date) on one 260-acre property near Shepparton.

The Rural Action Super Group Inc. will this year initiate a campaign throughout Rural-and Regional Victoria with the aim of restoring land rights to rural properties by objecting to land valuations imposed by councils. This course of action may ultimately achieve the long awaited reform to local government through a restructuring of Councils rate revenue.

The Rural Action Super Group Inc. will call for a Departmental Investigation into the actions of any Councillor ignoring his or her legal obligations to declare their pecuniary interest when dealing with land rezoning and other restrictive overlays. The Group will also make a submission to Government to investigate the restrictive barriers placed by Council on Freedom of Information applications.

Rural Action Super Group Inc. A0057312M 28/3/12 Website: www.supergroup.com.au  

THE AUSTRALIAN MOMENT, TOO, WILL PASS

by James Reed
“The Australian Moment” (Viking/Penguin, 2012) by mega-multiculturalism journalist for The Australian George Megalogenis, sat on my desk next to a series of clippings from Maggie Whitlam’s funeral and Martina Sprague’s “Norse Warfare: The Unconventional Battle Strategies of the Ancient Vikings” (Hippocrene Books, 2007). I had borrowed both books from the library – I would never buy a book written by one of our opponents. Usually I read them in the bookshop if my arthritic back is not too bad.

To join up the dots: the clippings from Maggie Whitlam’s funeral show most of the same PM characters featured on Megalogenis’ book. Only on that book they are newer and more vibrant; the cuttings show ageing and the passage of time. These people who led us to the state in which we are in, described each week in these pages, are beginning to pass into history. Unlike leaders from past eras there is nothing that future generations can learn from them or will care about. Malcolm Fraser, Paul Keating and the like are just men of the ideology of the times. “The Australian Moment” demonstrates this clearly: immigration, multiculturalism and Asianisation are just manifestations of economic globalisation, which for Megalogenis is an unquestioned good. This book too will soon be forgotten.

“The Australian Moment” published under the Viking imprint of Penguin books, would be incomprehensible to the ancient Vikings. They would be astonished that a race of people could allow such clowns to rule them and allow themselves to be treated in such a dishonourable way. But all of this is a product of over-civilised consumer apathy. If history shows anything, it is that all things will pass and that includes the current cult of globalism.  

THE FATE OF THE LABOR PARTY IS SEALED

by James Reed
I hope that you haven’t forgotten about the spin-off from the Queensland election which led to the Queensland Labor Party members now being able to meet in one small mini-van. Bill Hayden, for one, is worried about the future of the Party (“Hayden Fears Labor’s Time has Passed”, The Weekend Australian, 31 March–1 April 2012, p.4) “Unless this party gets out of this suffocating thing we have created, I fear we may have had it.” And: “It may be that Labor has had its time.”

Let us hope so. What began as the party for the working White Australian has become the politically correct party of globalism and cosmopolitanism, just like the even more corporate Liberals. The Greens have a family difference, being critical of the corporates, but they make up for it in an even more fanatical support of globalism in the form of world government.

Just like capitalism and communism, in the end it will all be the same loss of freedom for the individual.  

TRUTH, FREE SPEECH AND FINKELSTEIN

by Ian Wilson LL.B.
For many of us, sceptical about our corporate media, regulation of the media seems a good idea. But it is not. R. Finkelstein, Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Media and Media Regulation, (28 February, 2012) reads as a reasonable document, if you only read the Executive Summary. Finkelstein recommends that there be created a new body, a News Media Council, with the power to enforce “journalistic standards” (p.8). The Report says that “The establishment of a council is not about increasing the power of government or about imposing some form of censorship” (p.9). No, it is about making the news media more accountable. Or so the report says.

Jennifer Oriel, “Truth Falls Victim to Finkelstein” The Australian, 28 March, 2012, p.30, contests this. She points out that Finkelstein’s Report will do to the media what has been done to the universities. The Report revealingly says: “often readers are not in a position to make an appropriately informed judgement about the news” and “Because of information asymmetry, readers are seldom in the position to judge the quality of news stories.” Well, who is then?

The elites then propose that the technocrats will be the ones to tell us what the truth is. No, give me Rupert Murdoch anyway and the League of Rights via the internet to oppose him. It is much like the old bank nationalisation proposal that the League worked to defeat. Bank nationalisation is not social credit and can lead to great mischief, especially if the Whitlams of the world control the money box. Likewise we should also oppose media regulation however much we dislike existing messes.  

HUNTING POLITICAL CORRECTNESS AND MULTICULTURALISM 

by Brian Simpson and John Steele
Conflicts and internal divisions in the ruling ideology of multiculturalism can be seen daily. One emerging division is between Green/animal rights groups and traditional Aboriginal hunters. Secretly filmed video of an indigenous group of hunters killing a dugong has upset liberal groups. Such groups are also alarmed at the killing of turtles, hit on the head by concrete blocks.

Traditional hunting is permitted by the Native Title Act but the conflict between the different sectors of liberal ideology is evident once more. Even if the killing of animals by native hunters was performed with veterinarian painlessness, animal rights groups would still be concerned about the hunting of protected and endangered wildlife. There is no solution to this conflict, because as we have said many times, the liberal philosophy of multiculturalism and political correctness is internally incoherent. May the least politically correct group win.  

THE UNIVERSITIES GOING DOWN, DOWN, DOWN

by James Reed
It would seem that our readers hate the universities almost as much as I do given the multitude of letters I receive. Consequently each week I search for further signs of their gloom and doom to brighten your day. This is not a perverse hatred, but a rational one. The universities have contributed, in my assessment, much evil and have helped create our present plight. And yet sneaky professors freely do their evil deeds of treason with no fear of exposure. They live the life of the well-fed cockroach. I, for one, want to do something about it!

Maybe Tony Abbot could be of some use here. As an economic rationalist, money is his main political concern. Then let us carry this through to its logical conclusion. The Arts, feminism, multiculturalism, cultural studies – all of this has achieved for the elites all it can give. Surely these departments are no longer needed. Eliminate all of this and give the money to, say, Asian language studies. Say that we need to be part of Asia, why then do we need Humanities, Women’s Studies and the like? Save dollars and maintain holier-than-thou political correctness. It’s easy Tony.

At present the universities are dying a slow death. International education loses money twice as fast as it loses students and fell by 19% last year. (The Australian, 28 March, 2012, p.23) The sector is super-sensitive to enrolment downturns and such downturns are inevitable as the sector is coming to be run on insecure casual appointments. (The Australian, 28 March, 2012, p.26). Quality is going down, down, down. As the sector is imploding, the kind thing for Tony Abbott to do as PM is to get together a razor gang and quickly put it out of its misery.

BEING BLACK IS NEITHER NECESSARY OR SUFFICIENT

by James Reed and Chris Knight
The issue of what makes someone an Aboriginal has been debated from time to time, in particular the controversy surrounding the Andrew Bolt case. The issue was raised again in the article “Not So Black and White” (The Weekend Australian Magazine, 24-25 March, 2012).

The case in question is that of a man who is clearly an Aboriginal, by family heritage and racial features. Yet, incredibly, he was rejected as being Aboriginal in a claim to get Aboriginal housing. All of this seems absurd in the light of the Andrew Bolt case where light-skinned blue-eyed people have been identified as Aboriginal.

Being Aboriginal has a wide range of financial benefits, so the government has used a three pronged ‘test’ for Aboriginality: (1) being of Aboriginal descent; (2) identifying as an Aboriginal person and (3) being accepted by the Aboriginal community in which they live. The test has absurd consequences. A person not identifying as “Aboriginal” would not meet the test, or if he/she had no community (last of the tribe scenario). But the real problem is condition (1) which is satisfied too easily. Having an Aboriginal ancestor is enough, however distant. Hence someone 1/64th Aboriginal is Aboriginal by (1) if (2) and (3) are met. This claim though involves the person excluding the rest of their identity, the Whiteness part. Isn’t then the claim of individual X = Aboriginal, essentially arbitrary? For equally we could posit individual X = non-Aboriginal. However by the logical law of identity as X = X, then Aboriginal = non=Aboriginal, a contradiction! (Chris at last found a use for his US university philosophy major!)

Some people who are of mixed race say that they are interracial i.e.: that they are part Aboriginal and part White. That was once the common sense position but today’s political correctness which treats race the way the Victorian era treated sexuality goes against this type of thinking.

On a parting note, since nowadays race and colour doesn’t matter, isn’t there a case that we all are Aboriginal because go back hundreds of thousands of years and all mankind is related. So doesn’t that mean that I meet condition (1)? If I turn my mind to it, condition (2) is satisfied. If you turn your mind to it and we form a “community”, then condition (3) is met. Such are the absurdities of ignoring race and colour.

LIBERAL HYPOCRISY

by Brian Simpson
A You Tube site (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FZRSE_p1ys) alleges that South African President Zuma sung “Kill the Boer” at ANC Centenary Celebrations in Bloemfonstein, South Africa. The translation indicates that the Boers are to be killed with a machine gun. The person next to Zuma makes machine-gun-like noises.

The “Kill the Boer” ditty was declared hate speech by South Africa’s High Court in September 2011. The site “Sarah Maid of Albion” contains much on the tragic story of the massacres of White farmers in Africa. Beyond this are the terror tactics that were practiced in Zimbabwe, for example, by Mugabe’s Zanla army against the Shona-speaking peasant people, and the Gukurahundi ethnic cleansing massacres that led to the deaths of thousands. This is all covered in a speech by Ray Bennett, party treasurer of the Zimbabwean Movement for Democratic Change, 11 November, 2010.

("In the 1950's the word Uhuru, meaning “Freedom” in Swahili, became synonymous with what is still portrayed as the Mau Mau struggle against white Colonial rule in Kenya. Meanwhile, in the present day the Uhuru movement is a black power movement in America, whilst Black Uhuru is a Jamaican reggae band.
Uhuru is a word which the liberals like to associate with black freedom fighters rising up against white oppression, or which they use to evoke images of a rich African culture usually to the backing chants of village children or some lilting and sanitised voice of ethnic African revolution, such as the late Miriam Makeba...")

My point is, where are the bleeding heart Western liberals now who ranted and raved about apartheid and who did their best to bring down Rhodesia while all of this was happening? They were acting as moral and racial police, pursuing justice and equality.
Well, then, what about justice for White farmers and black farm workers who have either been killed or injured? And if today we have “Kill the Boer” then why, out of pre-emptive self defence, was apartheid wrong?