THE VICTORIAN ANTI-CANBERRA BACKLASH

"Clyde Holding has been crucified on the cross of madness erected in Canberra by Whitlam, Murphy, Connor and the rest of them. Whitlam talked about the Victorian State Election being regarded as a test or indicator of the attitude of the people towards alleged Opposition obstruction in the Senate. If this is what Whitlam really wanted to find out from Victoria, then he has had his answer. No one wants the Whitlam Government in Victoria." - Maxwell Newton in The Observer (Melbourne) May 20th.

However one reads the Victorian Election results, one cannot escape the conclusion that the dominating factor was a determination by the great majority of the Victorian electors to apply a brake against Canberra. The reaction was a healthy and encouraging one. It shows that the instincts of the electors are still reasonably sound. League of Rights actionists found everywhere a ready response to the proposition that even those electors who had voted for the Whitlam Government on December 2nd, would be wise to ensure that power was kept divided between Canberra and the States. It is this division of power, which is so essential for the preservation of genuine freedom.

The Murphy affair, and the effective Senate campaigning by Liberals like Senator Greenwood and Senator George Hannan, ensured that the non-British migrants threw themselves strongly behind the Liberal Party against the Labor Party. The blatant policies of centralism have been causing growing disquiet. The Labor Party also suffered from the antagonism of the doctors. And there is no doubt that the Canberra move for abortion "reform" initiated by two new Victorian Labor Members and personally supported by Prime Minister Whitlam was a disaster for Mr. Holding.

Mrs. Margaret Holding, who claims that her experience of being a Jew in Nazi Germany influenced her thinking and behaviour, undoubtedly lost her husband many thousands of votes when she announced that she favoured abortion on demand, that she had smoked "pot", and that she didn't believe in censorship for adults. If Hitler is really responsible for the victims of National Socialism holding the views expressed by Mrs. Holding, then he was an even worse influence on Civilisation than generally conceded!

There is no doubt that the abortion issue was a most embarrassing question for Victorian Labor; the woman candidate who openly proclaimed her support for abortion on demand - insisting that this was actually Labor Party policy - polling extremely poorly. With the Labor Party obtaining approximately the same percentage vote at the last State Elections, it seems reasonable to assume that the big increase in the Liberal vote was at the expense of the DLP. The lack of enthusiasm for the Victorian Country Party reflected the unwillingness of electors to have a possible Coalition Government, or to have a minority Liberal Government kept in office by the Country Party. Thus an overall determination to throw all possible support behind the Liberal Party as a brake on Canberra.

Much is being made of the small image of Premier Hamer, and his break with the Bolte style of Government, but there is no reason to doubt that if Sir Henry had been leading the Victorian Liberals again, he would have obtained at least the same majority as Premier Hamer. The Victorian election results were primarily a vote AGAINST the Canberra Labor Government, as were the Federal election results primarily a vote AGAINST the McMahon Government. However, there is no doubt that the front-runners for the development of the permissive society, The Age being a typical example, are determined to create the impression that Victorian electors have voted enthusiastically FOR Mr. Hamer's "new style" Government.

Mr. Holding made the most significant comment on the elections when he said that Mr. Hamer had "adopted more aggressive policies which were in tune with Labor's platform...We represent the greatest force for social change in the Australian community . . .. The Liberals had to adopt our policies to defeat us."

As Sir Robert Menzies once said, describing himself as a "practical Socialist", the electors would accept Socialist policies more readily from the anti-Labor Parties than they would from Labor. Australia's major problems, getting rapidly worse, remain unaffected by the Victorian Elections. But the vote will have a steadying effect at Canberra and end Mr. Whitlam's threat of a double dissolution.

REVOLTING DOUBLE STANDARDS ON RHODESIA

"New York, May 19. Australia, taking an increasingly stern position against the white regimes of southern Africa, agreed yesterday to cosponsor with the Security Council's three African States a resolution aimed at tightening sanctions against Rhodesia." - The Age (Melbourne) May 20th.

The Whitlam Government's strong support for a policy backed by the Communists, and by African States with shocking records of dictatorship and bloodshed, was announced two days after the news that two Canadian girls had been shot dead by Zambian troops opening fire across the Zambesi River, at the Victoria Falls. An American tourist was hit in the stomach but his wife escaped. This brutal, unprovoked murder of innocent tourists across an international border provides further evidence of the criminality of the Kaunda regime in Zambia, a regime that now runs a one-party dictatorship.

If Rhodesian troops had murdered innocent people in Zambia, there would have been a worldwide outcry. The pink clergy would have taken to their pulpits to denounce the Rhodesians. There would have been protest marches. And if Rhodesia decided to follow the example of Israel, and attack bases believed to be harbouring terrorists in Zambia, there is little doubt that the UN would immediately declare war on Rhodesia, describing it as the "aggressor". Both Europeans and Africans are being murdered by Communist-trained and equipped terrorists operating against Southern Africa. The Whitlam Government is giving its blessing to this terrorist campaign.

We trust a few Opposition Members can be persuaded to find enough backbone to stand up to denounce the Whitlam Government's policy. The proposed tightening of sanctions is aimed not only at Portugal and South Africa, but also at the USA, which by Congressional decision has resumed the importing of Rhodesian chrome. Previously the USA was almost completely dependent upon the Soviet Union. Presumably the Whitlam Government would have no objection to this. The double standards of the present Australian Government are now starting to be clear to all who are not completely brainwashed.

POLICY TO DOWNGRADE MONARCHY CONTINUES

"The Citizenship Bill which last week passed the House of Representatives and now goes to the Senate, provides that candidates for Australian citizenship should no longer swear allegiance to the Queen. Henceforth they will assert allegiance to the Australian Constitution." - Dr. A.J. Forbes (former Minister for Immigration in the McMahon Government) in a letter to the Editor of The Age, (Melbourne) May 16th.

Mr. Al. Grassby, the new Minister for Immigration, states that the reason for the change is, "to accommodate those candidates for our citizenship who find it hard to understand why they are to swear allegiance to a monarch they have understood to be primarily Queen of another country..." Dr. Forbes rightly pointed out that Mr. Whitlam, himself, has announced that the Royal style and title is to be amended to "Queen of Australia". This added to the attack on Appeals to the Privy Council; the re-naming of Commonwealth Government Centres as "Australian Government Centres"; the Federal abolition of Queen's honours; the flag and anthem "competitions" are all reliable indicators that the policy to denigrate the Crown, and our traditional links with Britain is being pushed as hard as the anti-tradition forces now dare.

Our comment on Mr. Grassby's remarks would be to the effect that if migrants are sincerely desirous of taking out our citizenship, then the migrants' duty is to swear allegiance to the Constitutional Head of Australia; the Queen. If migrants do "find it hard to understand why they are to swear allegiance to a monarch they have understood to be primarily Queen of another country," then their duty is to find out. We believe that the overwhelming majority of our new settlers realise that if they adopt our citizenship, it is on our terms. They don't expect us to water down or otherwise amend our conventions and traditions to somehow or other "placate" them. We further believe that Mr. Grassby's reasoning is spurious. The Citizenship Bill is yet another attack on our British links and traditions; it is to be hoped that the Senate gives it searching examination.

THE GOLD RUSH - MONEY MARKET STYLE

"The price of gold rocketed again on world money markets yesterday. In London, the price rose $4.25 an ounce to (U.S.) $107.00. In Paris, frantic bidding pushed up prices to almost (U.S.) $114.28."- The Age (Melbourne), May 16th.

What this boils down to is yet a further loss of confidence by the world's major financial interests in the buoyancy of the American economy; the Big Players of the Money Game are "getting out" of (U.S.) dollars into gold, sterling, and other currencies which are "healthier". What has brought this about? Chiefly, the balance of payments position of the United States, currently running at a (U.S.)227 deficit, over six times the deficit, which obtained at the close of the December quarter last year. Under the rules of the Money Game all the signposts are set for yet another international monetary crisis (as we have predicted in these pages) followed by a further devaluation of the (U.S.) dollar. With the wave of inflation which will hit the American economy towards the close of this year... in the wake of President Nixon's record 1972 deficit Budget it is not difficult for us to forecast the onslaught of chaotic spasms for America; economic and social.

This new money crisis will be sure to "spill over" into other economies, such as our own. We have many times predicted that the economies of the West are headed towards a total collapse; to the querulous disapproval of some of our friends in the financial world, and we must re-state our apprehensions. We believe that, indeed, the economies of the West could well be on the point of an inflationary collapse. We hope that we are wrong, but we think that we are right.

In an article in The Age (Melbourne) May 17, Professor Maurice Peston, of London University, discusses the anti-inflationary plans, which are being implemented by the Heath Government, and which we state now, will be ineffectual. We have repeatedly stated in our journals over many years that Finance is politically centralizing. We know that some have not fully understood this concept, so perhaps Professor Peston's remarks may put the matter more clearly than we have been able to do:

"Whatever may be thought about the economic effects of the (anti-inflation) policy there can be no doubt about its interventionist nature. . The price commission requires pre-notification of price increases, regular reporting, and the keeping of records on costs and prices, which will be subject to spot checks. ..Whether this is called Socialism or State Capitalism, it is apparent that private business enterprise will be subject to a degree of detailed supervision, which, if it persists for any length of time, will radically alter the workings of the British economy."

Not only the British economy. Professor Peston should have been a little more explicit; he means the British social structure. All highly industrialised Western nations are grappling with the monster of mounting inflation, and the so-called "remedies" of the orthodox economists ensure that more and more controls, leading to further political centralisation, are imposed. We can further predict that the imminent international monetary crisis will again bring forth demands from certain high Treasury officials of various nations, along with officials of the International Monetary Fund, for the universal acceptance of I.M.F. -S.D.R.s (Special Drawing Rights) as THE Reserve Currency of the West. If this I.M.F. "plan" is not then realized, a very bleak economic outlook confronts us all, and this does not mean that we support the I.M.F. "plan"; we don't.