THE BRUCE BY-ELECTION

"The actual result in Bruce is neither surprising nor particularly significant. Its importance is what impact it has on the Government's thinking". Michelle Grattan, in The Age (Melbourne) May 30th.

The political columnists have said all the obvious things about Bruce. The normal by-election swing against the sitting government; the outrage of many electors over the proposals to increase the taxman's grab on superannuation pay-outs, and also over the proposal to abolish the home loan rebate; and some other issues.
We have heard Mr. Peacock crowing about the return of the Libs. to government; but we know that he, as Leader, has to rally his demoralised troops. The comment following the above title will be proven correct.

In The Age (Melbourne) May 30th is a full-page advertisement headed -"Back Dated Tax Threatens Jobs and Businesses" (no doubt inserted to gain good mileage from the Hawke Government rebuff in Bruce). This full page advertisement was not inserted in the other two Melbourne dailies, so many readers will miss it: we do not know at the time of going to press if it was inserted in some dailies of other States - we would presume so.

Messrs Hawke and Keating could be reading their political obituaries! What the advertisement says was said by us several months ago, in fact last year. When Malcolm Fraser and his colleagues were introducing retrospective tax legislation we clearly foresaw, and warned, that by soaking the entrepreneurs of the business world they would kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
The business entrepreneurs are those people (of the rarer type) who have struggled to financial success in the rugged environment of the production system. Such people are normally of high intelligence, more often than not have tertiary educational qualifications; and possess those qualities of character - such as persistence, courage, toughness, etc. - without which success, particularly in the world of Big Business, will not be gained.

This advertisement presents a typical sample: "A manufacturer now employing 400 people ... will be faced with a tax penalty of about $4 million ... which approximates the present net worth of the whole business. If the legislation is passed that company will be liquidated. The 400 jobs will have to go!"

Interesting Scenario
One Sydney political commentator raised the point which, we ourselves, had envisaged: "Certain Labor Party members and supporters, doubting whether Bill Hayden could ever lead them to power, used to give the following as their ideal scenario: Make Bob Hawke leader of the party, win the election, then restore Hayden to the leadership, and, consequently to the Prime Ministership" (Tony Stephens, Deputy Editor The Sun-Herald, May 29th)

Mr. Bill Hayden was right enough when he said, before the election on March 5th, words to the effect that a blind drover's dog could lead Labor to victory. With hindsight, there was no need for the Labor knives to flash to cut Bill Hayden out of the Prime Ministership; he most certainly would have led Labor to victory, and with that victory would follow the demise of Bob Hawke. We may never know the full story; and media worlds wanted Hawke over Hayden.

We have stated in these pages many times that Mr. Hawke has no more answers to the escalating economic crisis than did Messrs Fraser and Howard; his thinking and training in the economic sphere are rigidly orthodox; and on this account his Government must encounter disaster after disaster. As Prime Minister, he will take the rap. Then could come Hayden! Mr. Hayden would not be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat, either, but his alternative views on some issues of Foreign policy could shift Australia from its present course, if he were at the helm.

EDUCATION FACES 'NEW BARBARISM'

"Australia is in danger of a 'new barbarism' in its education system if certain trends continue, a national education seminar was told in Melbourne at the weekend." Professor Lauchlan Chipman was the authority that gave the warning, and he is well qualified to do so. He is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wollongong (N.S.W.) and is one of the most outspoken academics in Australia today on many "touchy" issues.

Indeed, the majority of academics just will not stick their necks out on "touchy" issues, even when a controversy is raging in their own field of expertise. They prefer to keep their noses clean and "get on" in Academia. We'll go even further and state that there are some academics that at least suspect the truth about historical and other issues, but still adhere to teachings, in their professional lives, which they regard as "safe". Such an issue is the Holocaust during World War 2. Another issue is Einstein's theory of Relativity, which has become a sacred cow in the appropriate sciences.

The monthly (American) journal of men and affairs, Instauration, which we quote, at odd times, has boldly stated that few academics will risk their careers at present by "exposing" Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which so many believe is fallacious. Professor Lauchian Chipman has demonstrated his courage by attacking the concept of the multicultural society, which he believes will prove disastrous for Australia (so do we:) More than one article by him has appeared in magazines; notably the culturally orientated quarterly, Quadrant. Professor Chipman wants a return to what used to be known in past decades as "hard slog", e.g. Grammar, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry the classics (Greek and Latin), French, German, etc. He pointed to the deficiencies in the senior-secondary curriculum in the United States, which is experiencing a crisis in Education.

Other critics berate the practice of filling the heads of school children with "Mickey Mouse" subjects such as the "social sciences" where mere opinions concerning current political, social, philosophical matters are hammered home as Holy Writ. Professor Chipman states that teachers should not have a greater say in the setting of curricula: "It is not the teacher's task to further the objectives of the school. Nor is it the school's task to further the objectives of the teacher."

We advise the new edition of Mrs. Jean Wallis' "The Subversion of Australian Education" is on the way: and advice will be given of its availability. We urge supporters who are concerned about the education of their children to read - "Secular Humanism & Australian Education", by Dr. Rupert Goodman, Reader in Education, University of Queensland. Price: $2.00 posted from all League bookshops.

BRIEF COMMENTS

Few people have forgotten Sir Garfield Barwick, one of Australia's greatest jurists; former politician; and up to his retirement Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. In an interview by the Sunday Telegraph (Sydney) he stated that he did advise the (then) Governor General, Sir John Kerr, to sack the Whitlam Government: "If I had my time over and it was 1975 again, I would do the same thing. I have no regrets. On the Franklin Dam issue, he said he didn't know enough about it to give an opinion. BUT, "I think it has gone so far now that any damage that might be done has been done". On the Tasmanian Wilderness, he had this to say: "I was President of the Kosiusko National Park Trust for more than 25 years. There was always pressure to have a wilderness area set aside. "I refused it. It would have become a place no one would go to, a tremendous fire hazard, completely beyond control and a resort for the dingo. Much the same could be said for the Tasmanian Wilderness.

Federal authorities now have the power to break into and search private property, without a warrant, under no less than 79 (seventy-nine) acts of Parliament. A further 73 (seventy-three) acts allow homes and factories to be entered by Government officials after obtaining a warrant.

The Wran Government in N.S.W. has closed the Dover Heights (Sydney suburb) Boys' High School. This school has now been leased to Moriah College,' an independent Jewish school. Former pupils of the Dover Heights Boys' High School will now be moved to the Dover Heights High School, a former girls' school, which parents and teachers claim will now be overcrowded. The N.S.W. Labor Women's Conference is up in arms over the affair. A spokesman has said - "This is the first time in the history of public education in this State that a public school has been given to a wealthy private school ..." Each child at Moriah College would be subsidised $568 a year by the Federal Government before all other payments to be received on their account. Very many N.S.W. electors will be examining Mr. Wran's motives.

There is much dirt being swept under the carpets with respect to the public funding of political parties. The whole concept is morally wrong: it is for the parties themselves to attract financial support from members for their policies, not to take it forcibly, by law, from those who do not support a particular party, nor ANY Party. The Wran Government has introduced public funding of political parties based on an annual allocation of 22 cents per voter (around $2 million). Most of the money is paid on the basis of results in the Legislative Council (Upper House). To qualify for funding the party must get 3.125% (about 100,000 votes). Legislative Assembly (Lower House) candidates must win one fifth of the number of votes of the winning candidate (approx. 9%-12% of the vote). The Tribune (Communist Weekly, May 25th) supplied the above information.

PRESENTING SENATOR GARETH EVANS
Our attention has been directed to a most revealing article, which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald (7th May, 1976) - at which time (now) Senator Gareth Evans was a lecturer in Law at the University of Melbourne. We quote:
"AT A RECENT CONVENTION OF THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES MR. GARETH EVANS A LECTURER IN LAW AT MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY, TOLD THE GATHERING THAT CHILDREN WANTED A RIGHT TO SEXUAL FREEDOM AND EDUCATION AND 'PROTECTION FROM THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY"'.

The Australian (May 30th) carries two fine letters from ladies; one from a parliamentarian and a Melbourne correspondent talks some sense on Immigration: "Janie Gray", of Birkdale, Qld, writes:
"Thank you for Elizabeth Johnston's article (16/5) on Women Who Want To Be Women. "It's refreshing to know that the flame of sanity is still burning in the suburbs and that some women, like Mrs. Jackie Butler, still have enough confidence to resist the pressures to become 'liberated' into nine-to-five jobs. "What's liberating about work, anyway? If families were allowed to keep enough of their pay packet so mothers didn't have to go out to work, many more women would be able to devote their time and talents to their families and communities, and we'd have a richer society. "I for one would jump at the chance to stay home and I know many of my friends in part-time and full-time jobs are tired of the rat race of trying to do two jobs."

(Mrs.) Betty Hocking (M.H.A.) of Canberra, is A.C.T. Co-ordinator for Women Who Want to be Women, and she writes:
"Like a frog placed in cold water and brought gradually to the boil, Australians are being 'cooked' by legislators without recognising what is happening. "State Rights have already taken a beating and may do so again if the Commonwealth Government gets its way on the Franklin Dam issue. "Now we are threatened with ratification on the UN Convention on the Eradication of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which has a similar sting hidden in its tail. "There are many similarities between this piece of legislation and the Equal Rights Amendment which the United States threw out as unacceptable last year. "The ultimate effect is to make the two income family the standard and a worsening of the economic position of families with mothers who prefer to remain at home. "The fact that two income families create more taxable money makes this a popular line for the spenders of government funds to follow."

"Harry McKenzie" of Hawthorn (Melbourne suburb) writes:
"When Mr. Dolan of the A.C.T.U. wants migration intake cut to negligible levels to protect jobs of Australian residents (which is only common sense) he is told by the Minister for Immigration that 'we must also recognise that we have humanitarian obligations to people far worse off than us.' "The Minister needs to be reminded that charity begins at home and that all other countries, including the ones that export their unemployed to us, have merciless immigration policies to protect the jobs of their citizens. "The Minister was not elected to sort out the problems of other countries, but to protect the interests of the people of Australia. These are the people who will ultimately pay for his sanctimonious posturing. "Could the Minister not save his humanitarian heart bleed for unemployed Australians? What other country will give them refuge? At the present rate of approximately 100,000 (one hundred thousand) a year, migration is also an industry. There are give away newspapers distributed at Australia House, London, stuffed full of advertisements offering goods and services to intending migrants. Qantas depends on migration for a considerable part of its business. Some people have a vested interest in seeing migration continue at its present level, no matter what the long-term consequences might be."