An Open Letter to Alexander Downer

Mr. Downer, in The Australian's Scrapbook column, 24th February, 2004 I read your comments about Mark Latham. You thought in order for Mark Latham to become more publicly acceptable, he needed to change his 'image' from the abusive and hateful person he presented in Parliament. You also noted he was "very ambitious" but quite "cynical"- in fact a "chameleon" changing his colours when the circumstances and/or environment called for it. Latham was not at all like the former ALP leader Gough Whitlam, nor like the Liberal's John Howard, both of whom had "a deep and passionate sense of belief", although you didn't outline what their beliefs were. For my money, both are centralists.

You went on to ask of Mark Latham
"What is he really about?" "What does he really stand for?" "What is the true person behind all this?"
Mr. Downer, the time has come for Australians to ask of you (and your party) the very same questions:
What are you really about? What do you really stand for? What is the Alexander Downer person behind all this, i.e., behind the façade?
Remember the 1987 League of Rights Annual Seminar in Adelaide, South Australia?

Your self-righteous criticisms of Latham spurred me to look again at the videoed speech you made to the Australian League of Rights in 1987. I'm confident you will remember the occasion; not only did your party-machine dismiss you as a shadow minister the night before you made the presentation, but some years later, Paul Keating used a videoed version of the occasion to attack you in Parliament.
As State Director of the ALOR at the time, as well as manager of the League book shop in Waymouth Street, Adelaide, I was very familiar with what happened.
At the height of the furore, we refused copies of the video to the 'baying hounds' of the national media - we were not going to let Paul Keating, or the media, use the League of Rights as their weapon with which to mount the attack.

It'sTime
But, I think the time has come when Australians need to be reminded of what you, as a grandson of one of the architects of the Commonwealth Constitution, and as a Liberal Party member at the time, claimed you stood for.
In order for the Australian people to make their own judgement, that is to judge not only you, but also your fellow Liberals, by the 'fruits' or the results of the Liberal years in power, the Australian League of Rights is re-releasing that 1987 video.

Let me remind you
Your presentation, "Our Constitution Under Attack," was one of a three-part seminar on the theme: "Our Christian Heritage At Risk."
Let me list just a few of your stated beliefs at the time:
On the rights of the Individual:
· "There is an ever existent battle between the individual and the rights of the individual and the propensity of bureaucrats, particularly federal bureaucrats, and politicians, to want to concentrate power in their hands and control your lives as Australians."
· You quoted Sir Robert Menzies: 'The battle for the freedom of the individual never ends.'
· "Don't think you can ever underestimate the constant threat to the freedom of the individual in any western society."
· "After the Second World War we started to take that freedom of the individual for granted because as government grows and its tentacles move further and further into the community and grasp hold of every single one of us, then our much treasured freedoms that we have fought two world wars to preserve are being taken away from us."
· "The Left (of politics) do not support the principles that are ingrained in the Constitution, that you the ordinary people, are the final arbiters in the changes that may take place."
· "Socialism, and Social Democracy, its hand maiden, are all about central control. They're all about somebody up there in Canberra making decisions about your life for you rather than you making decisions yourselves about your own lives. There are many examples over the last four years of how a seemingly very moderate, a seemingly almost conservative Labor government has, in fact, started to take, very gradually, decisions which are undermining the rights of ordinary Australians to take decisions about the futures of their own lives and allowing those decisions to be concentrated, on your behalf, apparently, and rather patronisingly over there in Canberra."
· "You can look at the way the Labor Party manages the economy along the lines of the so-called Corporate State; it was Mussolini, one of the most notorious of all anti-democrats who was a great fan of the system of Corporate States."
· You defended the original intent and role of the Senate against power-hungry politicians.

A question was asked of you:
"Aren't we living in times similar to the time when the Roman Civilisation collapsed?"
You responded:
· "I'll tell you what happened in two sentences. There was a growth of central control in Rome, the emperor became increasingly powerful, the Senate which had represented various groups in the community became powerless, the great institutions really began to collapse, they existed only in name, the government became obsessed with collecting taxes for more and more spending programmes for more and more extravagance.
· And the leaders of the community lost their values and lost their sense of direction - the whole civilisation collapsed!"

In answer to another query about the Christian basis of the Constitution you replied:
· "The Constitution relies on the Christian ethos…fundamentally, Christian principles are the basis of the Constitution."

Mr. Downer, the leaders of this nation and western Christian civilisation have lost their values and their sense of direction - and it is in the greatest danger of collapsing.
Mr. Downer, all major political parties have contributed to this centralisation of power, not only in the hands of bureaucrats in Canberra, but in the hands of an international elite who are answerable to no one but their own creed of greed and power.
They have succumbed to an idea as old as man, an idea promoted under many labels, but the nature, the intent is always the same - an elitist few should plan and control the lives of many.

THE NEW WORLD ORDER THREAT TO AUSTRALIA
In the 1980s the League brought out an excellent leaflet to warn fellow Australians of the dangers to their freedoms and why our industries were being destroyed. It dot-pointed the One Worlders' programme outlined in a document by Harlan Cleveland, in his "Agenda for the Planetary Bargain" and released in 1976 by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Harland Cleveland was a former U.S.A. Assistant Secretary of State, a Rhodes Scholar and a long-time member of the influential American Council on Foreign Relations - the sister group to the Australian Institute of International Affairs. (I believe you are familiar with the group?)

Why Industries Are Being Destroyed - The New World Order Programme:
· Create a World Food Bank.
· Provide for international control of all sources and supplies.
· Internationalise commodity markets.
· Establish international control over the wealth of the oceans and deep sea-beds.
· Provide for international control of the "weather of human command".
· Rewrite the rules of trade and commerce.
· Create a world currency.
· Create a world police to "keep the peace when it is threatened and restore the peace when it is broken".
· Provide special programmes to each of six categories of …institutions, namely: business corporations, labor unions, non-profit organisations, enterprises, communications media, educational systems and government agencies.

By their fruits you will know them
Mr. Downer, in the year of our Lord 2004, even 'blind Freddy' can see the 'one-worlders' are far into implementing their planned agenda. Yet, it appears only one lone Senator, who sees the danger to our way of life, is warning his fellow Australians as to what is happening, and of the consequences, if we as a nation continue down this path.

In a recent media release Queensland's Senator Len Harris warned
"While WTO membership consists of nation-states, the transnational corporations sit on the all-important 'advisory' committees and determine detailed policy …
The WTO identifies eleven major categories of services which are now being liberalised under GATS. It extends the normal definition of trade to include the transfer of a service across national boundaries, including services provided by a foreign owned multinational, operating locally.
With its broad interpretation of what constitutes trade, the scope of GATS is potentially enormous. The GATS negotiations, with their built-in commitment to continuous liberalisation, will promote and extend privatisation and deregulation which has had such a devastating impact on living standards throughout the world. Under the agreement, governments will be locked into liberalisation policies, regardless of disastrous outcomes."
A borderless world, a one-world, ruled by this international elite through their chosen all-powerful bureaucracy.
Mr. Downer, enclosed with this open letter is a copy of that 1987 video to remind you of what you once stated as your beliefs and to ask you:
"Now that the leaders of this community, this nation, this western Christian civilisation have lost their values and lost their sense of direction - how long do you give this civilisation before it finally collapses?
Betty Luks, Australian League of Rights. 17/3/2004.