AN EARLY ELECTION BUDGET?

This comment is being written before the Fraser Government presents its 1982 Budget, but based upon the carefully contrived pre-Budget "leaks" by the Government, the electors are being presented with a type of three card trick in an attempt to prepare them for a possible early election. The basic feature of the three-card trick is to convince taxpayers that the Government is offering income tax relief measures totalling about $1,500 million. That sounds impressive if taxpayers can be "conned" into forgetting that they would have obtained at least the same benefit if Prime Minister Fraser had not broken his promise to abolish tax indexation.

Increases in indirect taxation, helping to ensure that the inflation rate is maintained, and anticipated increased taxation from wage increases geared to continuing inflation, will ensure that TOTAL taxation obtained will be further increased.
Increases in welfare payments, some of these long overdue, will be designed primarily to help prepare the way for an early election if that master of deception, Mr. Malcolm Fraser, can find what he feels is sufficient excuse.

It can be said without any fear of contradiction by events, that there is little the Fraser government can do to prevent the deepening recession within the framework of current financial orthodoxy. The proposed deficit, a formal acceptance of Keynesian economics, will have little stimulatory effect and to the extent that it does, can only contribute to continuing high inflation. Increasing debt, with high interest rates, is like prescribing higher doses of a deadly drug, which has already produced serious side effects.
What is desperately required at present is a major reduction in interest rates, a reduction in TOTAL taxation, and the provision of new credit money direct to individuals without increasing costs.

Prime Minister Fraser's search for an early election gimmick is based upon the realisation that depression conditions are going to be much worse next year. Treasury officials are quoted as predicting that unemployment could reach nine percent by next year, a prediction endorsed by a number of senior business executives. One editorial writer, describing the 1982 Budget as the last chance for the Government, correctly said that the situation is now beyond party politics - it is a matter of national survival.

Australia has an abundance of resources, with adequate skills and technology to ensure that those resources are used to maintain a civilised standard of living for 15 million Australians. But national survival can only be ensured if destructive debt financial policies are challenged. As this challenge is not going to come from the political parties, only a non-party movement of united electors can halt the greatest threatened disaster in Australia's history.

MIDDLE EAST MADNESS

By Eric D. Butler
One of the early Jewish opponents of Political Zionism described Zionism as a form of destructive madness, with ultimate disastrous effects for the Jewish people everywhere. As documented by Mr. Douglas Reed in "The Controversy of Zion", and elsewhere, Political Zionism had its origins in Eastern Europe, developing side by side with its spiritual brother, Communism, and was originally strongly opposed by Western Jews, who feared that their growing acceptance in Western nations would be jeopardised by the programme of Political Zionism. But that programme triumphed, the highlight of that triumph of the establishment of the State of Israel.

Those belatedly upset by Zionist wholesale destructive terrorist activities, as they saw thousands of innocents killed in the destruction of the city of Beruit, should be reminded that there is nothing new about Zionist terror, which started a long time ago. Zionist terror was first unleashed against the British in Palestine because, as the governing power, the British attempted to uphold the rights of the overwhelming majority, the Palestinians, who had lived here in peace with their relatively small number of Jewish neighbours for over a thousand years.
They feared the growing invasion by an alien group with powerful international backing. Menachim Begin, and his fellow terrorists were responsible for the murder of Lord Moyne in Cairo, the blowing up of the King David Hotel, killing large numbers of civilians, and the cold-blooded murder of the UN representative, Count Bernadotte.

It should be recorded that Sir Raphael Cilento, working for the UN amongst Palestinian refugees at the time, was originally to have travelled with Count Bernadotte the day he was assassinated. Sir Raphael's deep sympathy for the Palestinian refugees was at least partly responsible for his premature retirement from the UN and the disgraceful refusal by the Menzies Government to make use of his vast international diplomatic experience; he was smeared with the old "anti-Semitic" label.
Like other authorities on the Middle East, Sir Raphael warned of the threat to Middle East stability unless the Palestinian refugee problem was dealt with constructively.

There have been smears from the superficial observers, encouraged by the Zionists, about the failure of the Soviet to provide the Palestinian Liberation Organisation guerrillas with any realistic support during the Israeli drive into Lebanon. It is conveniently forgotten that the Zionist State of Israel, established by the use of wholesale terror tactics, such as the Deir Yassim butchery of innocent villagers, men, women and children, was aided by the Soviet Union, and that the Soviet was the first to officially recognise the Zionist victory. The Soviet strategists have never been pro-Palestinians nor pro-Arab except to further their own strategy.
Irrespective of what they say, the Soviet strategists know that the Zionist destruction of West Beirut and the elimination of PLO guerrillas is hardening moderate Palestinians to believe that it is impossible to achieve justice except through resorting to force.
It can be predicted with absolute certainly that the Soviet is waiting confidently to recruit a new army of PLO guerrillas.

The situation in the Middle East has been worsened; the ghastly problem of the long-standing Palestinian refugee multiplied a hundred fold. Innocent Jews and others are at risk as the Soviet encourages terrorist massacres in Europe similar to that in Paris. With even that darling of the Zionists, Prime Minister Fraser, being forced by Zionist terror in Lebanon to at least do a little wrist tapping, and President Reagan bluntly telling Begin that he had had enough, it is not surprising that increasing numbers of Jews around the world are starting to rebel against the Zionist intimidations, are calling for a halt to Israeli mass killing and destruction.
But much more than this is required.

Distinguished anti-Zionist Jews like Dr. Alfred Lilienthal must be given every support in their campaign to expose and oppose the madness of Political Zionism. Unless this is done, Middle East instability will increase to the point where it will be lost completely to the West, along with the vital oil supplies.

BRIEF COMMENTS

Most of the (double) talk concerning Tax evasion is purely for political propaganda purposes. A recent letter to the media summarised the reality: It was the duty of the taxpayer to provide the government with the minimum amount of taxation to curb government waste and extravagance. The individual taxpayer, large or small, can be relied upon to spend his money much better than a government bureaucracy. The letter writer might have pointed to the fact that Prime Minister Fraser, who claims to be able to "manage" the economy, allowed himself a very generous $12 million for his CHOGM circus last year. But now it has been revealed that at least $18 million was spent, $6 million in excess of the estimate. So far from publicly apologising for this profligate waste of the taxpayers' money Mr. Fraser says that CHOGM was worth every penny spent on it. We trust that all taxpayers remember this.

We have it through the grapevine that Mr. Fraser and Mr. Howard are meeting with increasing resistance from within the Government ranks, to the employment of "retrospectivity" in framing new legislation against the so-called "tax avoidance". A correspondent, in The Australian (August 14th), the founder of the Company Directors' Association of Australia, writes that the proposed tax avoidance legislation of the Government is contrary to a decision of the High Court. He claims that the Government has no mandate to set aside a decision made by the highest legal authority in Australia.

Senator Alan Simpson, of the United States Senate, has warned his nation on illegal immigration. He maintains that a continued high level of immigration could well lead to political, social, and economic languish which exist in the countries from whence they came. He made other suggestions to aid in the integration of those illegal immigrants who had already settled in the U.S.A.

We have always maintained that charity begins at home. There is a treasure house of wisdom in traditional maxims and aphorisms. Such aphorisms as - "good fences make good neighbours", "a stitch in time saves nine", "one man's meat is another man's poison", "empty vessels make the most noise", and a host of others, embrace often many centuries of wisdom which people have learned from living in communities. We agree with Mr. Russell Schneider (The Australian, August 14th) that charity, indeed, does begin at home. Mr. Schneider remarks that Malcolm Fraser's gift of $10 Million to help rebuild Beirut may help him strut the world stage as the Big International Statesman, dishing out Australians' cash; perhaps it could be better spent right down here, in Australia, say, in aid to our building industry. Politicians are particular types of people. One cynical commentator (we suspect he's right) says Malcolm Fraser abandoned tax indexation because there were no votes in it; much better to be the Big Fellow (with our cash) at election time.