11 April 1969. Thought for the Week: "Countries
must be governed either by tradition or by force
Disraeli. |
DR. CAIRNS LEADS THE REVOLUTIONARIES"More than 1000 university students in Melbourne are planning to demonstrate against the city council's by-law which prohibits handing out leaflets in the city area. Dr. J. F. Cairns, the Federal member for Yarra, was arrested outside the Melbourne Town Hall with 12 other people including clergymen and actors on Thursday in a protest against the by-law" - The Australian, April 5. The maintenance of law and order will undergo a critical test in the city of Melbourne within the next week or so. Revolution with fighting on the streets is a fundamental objective of the Communist strategy for destroying civilised order. The by-law under attack is a major obstacle to this objective. While the Melbourne City Council has stood firm in the face of the provocations, now given immeasurable impetus by the intervention of Dr. Cairns, the revolutionaries seem to have the initiative in the face of almost general apathy. A consortium of leftwing clerics, academics and students have received aid and comfort from sections of the Melbourne press in a campaign to present the by-law as an infringement of the rights of the individual. They point to the privileges granted to newsboys to use the streets for the distribution of equivalent material. Many could agree there is little difference in the content of the wares offered by the newspapers to those offered by the revolutionaries! Every pimply bearded student, never having earned
the substance granted him by the welfare state, but claiming it and
the right to revolution, is given V.I.P. treatment by the press. Granting
the press has this privilege all political protagonists have the same
opportunity and facilities of presenting their case. Lawful assembly
without creating a public nuisance or disturbance is open to all. Leaflets
can be distributed by post and by hand delivery to post boxes. Meetings
can be addressed and the mass media exploited. But these means are not
sufficient for the purpose of the hard-core revolutionaries directing
operations. Public demonstrations by turning the streets into a battle-ground
is essential to the final processes involved in destroying the fabric
of society. The Government could do no better than heed the
advice of Mr. R. E. Thompson, Headmaster of Melbourne High School who
thwarted another project of Dr. Cairns in encouraging the distribution
of revolutionary material amongst his High School students. Mr. Thompson
dealt firmly with a student found responsible and has since remarked,
"A school is such a finely balanced institution that it can easily be
disrupted." |
FALSE ACCUSATIONS IN FLUORIDE BATTLE"Yesterday the president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Dental Association (Dr. L. A. Williams) said some members of the Parliamentary Liberal Party seemed to have been influenced by extremist pressure groups. Opposition to fluoridation of Victoria water supplies had been largely inspired by organisations such as the Australian League of Rights, he said. Dr. Williams said it was frightening to think that this organisation which - opposed fluoridation - on the grounds that it was a worldwide communist plot should have such influence on the Government" - The Age, April 2. In a letter to the Melbourne press the League's acting executive officer, Mr. Edward Rock pointed out that it was Dr. Williams who was using extreme and exaggerated language to frighten people, and to misrepresent the League. Dr. Williams was quoted as saying "Pain and disability caused by dental decay had reached alarming proportions." This type of alarmist and emotional statement is now typical of the propaganda coming from people supposedly objective and circumspect in their assessment of situations. While agreeing that the League was concerned with the authoritarian and totalitarian attitude of those seeking to impose mass medication upon the community, Mr. Rock pointed out that the League pursued the fundamental objective of allowing the individual to choose the advice of whichever experts he desired to follow in the matter of fluoridation. Fresh evidence is coming forward all the time of conflicting expert opinion on the safety of fluoridation. It is a measure of the deterioration in the arena of professional medical advice that one section of the profession can so completely shut off its mind to the misgivings of another section, in so doing to press for the implementation of measures which allow neither the individual patient, or the dissenting medical practitioner any choice over the ingestation of a form of medication either opposed to, or have serious misgivings about. |
U.N. CALL TO BRITAIN TO FREE RHODESIAN PRISIONERSA resolution by 12 Afro-Asian members of the Special Committee on Colonialism and supported by Britain and the U.S. urges Britain to free those found guilty, by a legally constituted court, of acts of terrorism, subversion and seeking to overthrow the elected Government of Rhodesia by force, The Herald, March 27. Any of these acts carry the death penalty in
those countries passing the resolution. Meanwhile the elected members
of the opposition in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia are
incarcerated in prison without trial simply because they were the opposition
and these countries do not tolerate opposition whether internal or external
such is their style of democracy. Britain was also asked to decide what
legislation Rhodesia could pass, but Britain lost her right to intervene
in Rhodesian affairs when she asked the U.N. to take over the matter,
and Rhodesia's declaration of independence is as valid as was that of
the U.S. in 1776 for surely the first chapter of the American Declaration
of Independence applies equally to Rhodesia today. The U.N. should set an example by securing the release of Moishe Tshombe if it is concerned about political prisoners then set its own house in order. |
THE AMERICAN SCENEThe following is Mr. Eric Butler's first report from the U.S.A.: "Vietnam still remains the dominating issue in the United States. President Nixon must face the reality that time is slipping away for him, and that he must get some type of solution to the Vietnam problem before the 1970 Congressional Elections. Strong Nixon supporters are already beginning to express their doubts about Nixon's capacity to take the necessary action on Vietnam. The President is starting to show signs of strength on domestic issues like student revolts and law and order. But be must do much more. If he is a political realist, he must realise that the significance of the Wallace Vote, which obviously played a vital role in his Presidential victory. There has been widespread criticism of the Ray 'trial', with even the Judge later expressing his doubts about several vital points. Ray himself is reported as having said that he anticipates being out of prison in two years. His brother has stated that he was part of a conspiracy. Unanswered questions are: How did Ray know that Dr. Martin Luther King would be staying at the motel where he was shot? Where did Ray obtain the large sum of money necessary to assist him to get out of the U.S.A. into Canada and them to Europe? How did Ray have contacts in Canada who were able to assist him to obtain a Canadian passport so easily? At the time of reporting, the Sirhan trial in California is still proceeding. There appears to be no evidence as yet that Sirhan was part of any conspiracy, in spite of his communist connections. There appears to be little doubt that Sirhan was a type of psychological victim of the dreadful Arab-Israeli conflict, which has produced the festering sore of Arab refugees. A number of Republicans inform me that they have first hand evidence that President Nixon is thoroughly informed on the Rhodesian issue. But there is no evidence that I can see which would suggest any early action to modify the present anti-Rhodesian policy. Some of Mr. Nixon's appointments give rise to hopes that a much more conservative anti-Communist foreign policy is to be pursued, while other appointments raise doubts. Politics are, of course, the art of the possible, and President Nixon may at this stage be making progress slowly in an endeavour to establish a secure base. One of his biggest internal problems is continuing inflation, and on this issue he appears to be content to go along with the usual Fabian policy. Mr. Nixon's decision to establish a modest anti-ballistic missile defence project has lifted the hopes of many American conservatives, while his support for Johnson's non-proliferation treaty has discouraged many others. Another six months will show clearly whether the election of Nixon led to a real change in American domestic and foreign policies, or whether, once again, it is a case of a new Administration inheriting the centralised power of its predecessors, and eventually becoming corrupted by it. |
PRIMARY PRODUCERS : FINANCIAL SABOTAGE CONTINUES"The Federal Government has rejected a request by the States that the whole of the $25 Million earmarked for marginal dairy farm reconstruction be provided in the form of a grant" - The Age April 2. The $2 Million will be used to buy out "uneconomic" dairy farmers. Mr. Anthony has agreed to let the States have half the loan interest free, but the remaining half will carry an interest rate, thus increasing the debt burden of the States and furthering the Commonwealth's policy of liquidating its own debt structure by profiteering as a money lender to the States. However the most important aspect arising from this matter is the willingness of the Federal Government to expand the credit structure to buy out farmers, to destroy their independence and leave them with little alternative. Bbut the same credit
cannot be used to alleviate the crippling costs which have brought them
to a state of financial penury. Such funds as the $25 Million, used
as a discount on dairy products when the consumer buys milk, butter
or cream, could be channeled directly back, into the industry. The discount
would bring down the prices of dairy products, stimulating demand, thus
helping the farmers, while at the same time stabilising the costs of
all sections of the community. |
POSTAL SERVICE DETERIORATING ALARMINGLY"I feel sure many business men will share my dissatisfaction with the deteriorating postal service we receive from the P.M.G. department. Nearly 40 years ago it was unthinkable that mail, whether local, interstate, country or overseas was not delivered, distributed, and ready for prompt action by business people by 9 am. Today in an era of faster, more frequent and varied transport facilities we find that it is impossible to start the business day effectively before 9.30am - 9.45am when, if we are fortunate, the first postal delivery is made." An excerpt from one of many typical letters now complaining of the breakdown in service from the P.M.G. Another businessman in Melbourne said every one who received a letter or wrote a letter knew the service was collapsing. It has been well said that any nation, which can stand the burden of a socialised Mail service, has remarkable reserves of strength. It is a tribute to the flexibility and resourcefulness of the Australian community that is has carried the burden so long. It appears 'we have reached the end of the road and unless the Liberal Government, pledged to free enterprise, individual initiative and the destruction of monopolies, (not so many "oh Yeahs" please) we will be forced to revert to carrier pigeons and smoke signals. |
ON TARGET BULLETINSUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION
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