To comment on any articles or to give your opinion please email me at;  onenation@optusnet.com.au@optunet.com.auonenation@optusnet.com.au 

Rod Evans, says.....

Today's news comment.

9th April 2008.

Has anyone been following the actions on the periphery of the current US economic crisis. I refer to the oil and Gas cartel engendered by Russians and the Chinese ably assisted by Venezuela and now it appears by the Swiss. The Americans are mainly the ones who suffer from this action along with anyone silly enough to be connected to them through Parity pricing, and that of course is us in Australia.The so called Singapore daily spot price has been manipulated by the major oil companies with the full support of the Australian government.

Not one oil refiner pays the spot price as shown on TV nightly at the bottom of  the stock exchange reports except as top up supplies when demand outstrips supply and that is why the spot price is shown with the stock exchange report, because, it is a part of something called ‘Futures gambling’. Just as all futures is a gamble on the possibility of buying cheap now and selling for a profit at a later given date. It is purely a gamble on rising prices. All refiners buy their oil on long term contracts at, as close as we can determine, at about $10 dollars per barrel and it suits to have traders working for oil companies who will willingly inflate spot prices to justify an artificially inflated retail pump price, remember also they are gambling on buying their own products.

 Why does the Government allow the public to be manipulated like this? Because it greatly affects the way our and the world’s economy is reported in economic growth, in our case, if the sale of fuel was controlled as it should be and only the small amount of oil bought at these prices was shown separately, quarterly economic growth in Australia would read very differently, in other words the government would not be able to claim our economy is stable or continuing to grow so easily, just look at what has happened to the financial industry lately with growing interest rates, particularly with the Federal Reserve allowing the Banks to raise rates above the official rate, which has a direct detrimental effect on growth. It is important to note that Australia is almost self sufficient in oil for fuel as opposed to other countries and in particular America who must import oil to meet needs, happily we do not have those pressures, with little need for oil for heating. We could almost have a national oil distribution at realistic prices without the need to rely on imports to any great degree, particularly if we increased local refining ability and started to fully exploit petrol from gas and shale. Why don’t we?

One answer could be because more than half the retail pump price is government tax. ie; at $1-40 per liter 70cents + is TAX.

 It is hard to find a parallel industry where both the foreign owned company and the government of the day are ripping so much off the public for a necessary staple item.  

1st October 2007.

I am heartened by the revelation in the Australian 1/10/07, on the new evidence found regarding the detention of  Naturalised Australian Charles Zentai, who is facing extradition to Hungary to stand trial for the alleged participation of the beating murder of a young Jewish boy in 1944. It appears that testimony which convicted another for this murder in a trial conducted in 1948 also in fact clears Mr Zentai.  Mr Zentai has consistently claimed through his son Mr Ernie Steiner of his innocence in that he left that area 2 days before the murder took place, another has come forward to say Mr Zentai was in fact present. Surely it is time to put to rest these allegations, but I suppose those who are pushing this issue feel justified to pursue an 85 year old man to his probable death. I hope their God will grant them mercy.    

17th September 2007.

      The reported runs on some Banks, (people withdrawing total savings), following the reports of the collapse of prime mortgage lending in America will no doubt have a flow on effect here. But don't hold your breath waiting for the media to tell you. Although you may have gleaned the truth from the Reserve Bank announcement that they have pumped massive cash into the system, as has most western reserve systems.

What it proves is that the whole loans approach from the Big Four Banks is fundamentally flawed and all it took was an accumulation of bad business practice to impact severely, the propping up from the reserve system is equally flawed, the basic facts are that banks have overextended dangerously and are now clambering for the reserve to prop them up, even though they have posted massive shareholding profits to their owners over recent years, rather than holding sustainable reserves since deregulation of their industry. They are no longer required to lodge appropriate percentages of savings with the Reserve Bank to justify their lending. The table included here is the current situation with some of the Banks in Britain.

This imbalance in deposits v/s lending is indicative of why Banks fail and as this is the practice of Banks world wide, we can predict that our Australian banking industry is in no better shape than those overseas. My advice would be to move your savings into Australian financial institutes such as Credit unions or Building Society's like the Australian Credit Union or Heritage Building Society where your savings are protected and let the banks stew in their own corrupted mess.     

27th August 2007.

Recent correspondence from Government sources regarding the Separation of powers inherent in our Judicial System, that is to say that whenever a person is called in front of a Court of Law in Australia, whether as a defendant or as a plaintiff.  We should be able to rely upon the complete impartiality of the Magistrates and Judges sitting in judgment of these cases. But can we????? Whilst Judges are appointed by politicians, of any persuasion, there will always be the fear that these are appointments are made more for certain leanings than for upholding the law with complete impartiality, we have Queensland's affirmative action policy as a point in case, where claims have been made that this has often seen the best people overlooked for appointment.  This is not meant to infer that any Magistrate or Judge is corrupt.

Then we come to an appearance in court where the Law Act and various Court Act's are supposed to govern the actions of Magistrates and Judges as well as decisions made from opinion and precedent cases, into these hands we place our well being and our hopes for pure justice. Documentation, as in complaints or background or any other issue which needs to be documented to substantiate a case going before a court, we are informed in various Law and Court Act's, needs to be "sealed to the court" through the stamping of the documents with the appropriate 'Court Seal' before an action is able to be ruled upon. But are these 'Court Seals' always in use? Apparently not!!!!!  It appears that the various Courts often use a 'Court Stamp' such as in tribunal hearings. The question then arises, an appearance in a case by a person where relevant documentation is stamped and not "Sealed to the Court" is a person appearing in a validly constituted Court?  Or is a person appearing under a tribunal effect under what is commonly referred to as "by consent" which alternatively supposedly grants an authority to Judges, and are Magistrates and Judges in these circumstances bound by their oath or are they sitting in judgment without such binding. The ramifications of such a situation is horrendous.

We then come back to the validity of a 'separation of powers' which no longer seems to be relevant in the realm of  the Judiciary if they are not sitting bound by their oath. The answer to these vexing questions would be for a committee of enquiry to decide and any future appointments to be made by a committee of  peers with input from ordinary members of the public to recommend the appointment of Judges instead of the current political recommendation committee. A loss of faith in Australia's Judicial system is a step towards anarchy.

7th August 2007.

Everyone is tipping a Federal Reserve interest rate rise is set to be announced this week or next, unusually so in an election year, it appears that the rise will go ahead despite the damage it is likely to do to the Federal Government, given that John Howard has constantly declared his Government will keep interest rates low.

Howard is bleating on how it is the States fault, not his!! It is the States who are borrowing too much for infrastructure spending, while the facts are that it is more likely to be the pressure on the Big Banks who have over extended their credit allocation. Credit has been too cheap and too readily handed out by financial organisations creating personal and mortgage debt that is now not possible to maintain, we have many defaulted home loans and those defaults are greater now than for many years according to the Real Estate institute's latest briefings, this latest rise will only make the situation worse. The American Home market has already collapsed with losses of at least $12 Trillion being faced by lenders, Macquarie Bank recently announced a 25% loss in the last quarter.

It is timely to inform people that we are facing a possible crash in the financial arena of a magnitude never been seen before, market turmoil on Wall street and in European markets are such that many big corporate "leveraged takeovers" are falling apart, It is believed by some economists that "the world monetary system is actually in the process of disintegrating".

The Australian public has been brainwashed for many years to believe that the Reserve Bank acting as an arm of the Government, through the manipulation of interest rates, has been the source of controlling inflation in this Country. Very interesting when you consider that the Reserve Banking organisation in this country as well as many other Country's is in fact privately owned, The board of the reserve does have government appointed representation on it but the majority of the board are foreign bankers who represent the Big International Banks and therefore their vote always prevails. Any time the Federal Reserve vote's for an interest rate rise within days and sometime hours the Big Banks lift their rates which in itself is intrinsically inflationary, and of course means another borrower is forced to default on his loan. Do they care? of course not.....

The only answer to this looming crisis is for the Australian Government to take control of the Federal Reserve system and enact a Bill to temporarily stop the outflow of capital from our shores, that way we may have a chance of riding out the storm. We are in the position of having much in the way of mineral wealth, but at present it is controlled mostly by foreigners who pass a pittance to Australians and grab the Lion's share for themselves. 

The Howard Government has continued Labor's failed 70's style economic policies and brought us to the brink of economic collapse, if you do not believe this, then why are you struggling to make ends meet?   

31st July 2007

In the aftermath of the release of Gold Coast Dr Haneef, it will do no good to comment on the apparently farcical investigation conducted by the AFP, given that the interpretation of  the Government's Anti-terror laws leaves much to be desired.

It is however, important though to comment on the actions of the Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews. For Minister Andrews to arbitrarily declare a revocation of Dr Haneefs visor because he does not meet a citizens test, coming as it did following a Magistrates decision to free Dr Haneef on bail, it is clear that this was not to enable deportation of the Doctor but to keep him locked up in an immigration detention holding cell rather than in a jail cell, this action must be viewed as a misuse of executive powers. An opinion expressed by Julian Burnside QC in an interview with the ABC was, Quote; "The idea of cancelling a visa is designed to enable the authorities to remove a non-citizen from the country. He (Andrews) did not do it to remove him, but in order to keep him in jail pending his trial. So if he did that without intending to remove him from the country, that looks like an abuse of power for a very clear motive." " What the Minister did, by the stroke of a pen, is to act on secret evidence to throw this man in jail for two years. Now if executive power can be effectively used to jail a person for two years, our democracy is at risk." " Any government which thinks it can simply take control of the law into its own hands and exclude the proper function of the courts and the legal system, is heading towards dictatorship".

I have repeatedly tried to warn through this page the continuing trend of the Government to usurp the rights of the people and consolidate power into its and corporate hands, the above account should serve to highlight the blatant disregard of personal rights John Howard's Government continues to enforce.

 One Nation strongly advocates the adoption of Citizens Initiated Referendum laws to place the burden of honesty on Government, as it is obvious any safeguards and restrictions, (of our Australian Constitution and the failure of not having a recognizable Bill of Rights which would normally restrain Government, a Bill of Rights which would clearly spell out, not the rights of the people, but what the government must not do to oppress the peoples rights) are not being followed by politicians in the Australian Political arena. The comment below is just one example, as is the Queensland Premiers recent announcement of forced Council amalgamations against the will of local residents.

25th July 2007

 John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull have clearly shown their contempt of the Australian Constitution with the announcement that the Federal Government will take control of the Murray Darling River System using so called External powers.

The External Powers of the Executive were never meant to be used in such a manner to oppress the rights of the States of The Commonwealth of Australia, but unfortunately this was previously done with the federal Government’s over-riding of the proposed Franklin Dam in Tasmania using a tame Judge, so they probably think they can get away with it again.

The Federal Government of John Howard has almost succeeded in turning our ‘Westminster Democracy’ into an ‘Oligarchy’, Government run by a few for the benefit of a few.

This of course has been the fate of previous democracies that have allowed their Government to become too powerful.

The Australian Constitution grants in section 100, which says, "The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of trade or commerce, abridge the right of a State or the residents therein to the reasonable use of the waters of rivers for conservation or irrigation.

It is becoming obvious to some that John Howard is perpetrating this injustice to fast track a move to privatisation of our major water resource before his Government is brought down in the next election, it is pleasing to see the Victorian Premier has announced his challenge to the take-over. 

 The only way to combat a move to Oligarchy is to make sure minor party political representation is elected to act as a brake upon the dictatorial tendencies of Government excesses.

9th July 2007

The latest polls on the two party system are running true to form, fluctuating a little from day to day, one day showing liberal preferred the next labor preferred, which could also indicate and probably does that there is little to choose from, and so it should given that both majors support a similar holistic approach which has nothing to do with benefit to Australian citizens and everything to do with supporting international big business. We only have to look at the tax burden imposed upon ordinary wage earners and small business as opposed to foreign companies who pay little tax on the money paid out of Australian pockets for such things as food and fuel, the majority owned by foreign companies. It is time for a shake up of our Tax regime and only One Nation is offering an alternative fairer tax policy to replace the present system. Who is listening!!!!

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson declared, our troops are in Iraq to defend the takeover of Iraq'i oil, Howard and Costello quickly denied this. Even the current Iraq puppet government has concerns about an American sponsored Bill which would give the distribution of Iraq's oil to a western company, (see this information on the net,) you will not see it on our mainstream media. This bill is blamed for the increase in violence in Bagdad recently and one must wonder if these so called insurgents are in fact fighting to oppose a foreign invader or are trying to protect what is their country's own assets.

Violence will never solve these problems and the longer we support such a tragedy the more likely we are to generate threats here at home. The Howard government sent our troops there based on lies and flawed intelligence as is now admitted, IT IS TIME TO BRING OUR TROOPS HOME and ask for forgiveness from the people we have been partly responsible for killing through our involvement.

If Howard was at all a genuine legitimate leader, he would stop bowing down to foreign interests and start thinking about the people of this country.     

26th June 2007.

No levy for rain water collected in residential tanks.

Natasha Robinson writing in the Australian newspaper outlines a leaked email from the Federal Government's water reform commission chairman, Mr Ken Matthews, which has ruled out recommending a levy on rainwater collected by owners of residential tanks. Yet!!!! The Victorian Water Minister, has said any future privatisation of water would inevitably lead to a levy on collected rainwater. People are being encouraged to install water tanks by rebates being provided by authorities and at present most local and state governments believe people should be able to collect rainwater freely without licences, (read fees) But, it should be obvious that if the collection of rainwater ever impacts on a private company's water supply volume leading to lower revenue and profits they would certainly see this as competition and lobby to have private water collection controlled through fees.

Therefore it should be clearly noted that any privatisation of a water supply is a dangerous and insidious regime, and it is being promoted by international banker Liberal Malcom Turnbull's 'National Water Grid'.

18th June 2007.

Unfair Bank penalty Fees maybe Illegal.

Consumer watchdog, 'Choice', says penalty fees that Banks are charging customers are unfair and may be illegal. Choice believes many of these fees are unlawful.

But, who monitors and regulates the Banks. Themselves!!!! The Keating Government de-regulated banking in Australia and was responsible for establishing self regulation, I wonder if that had anything to do with the Commonwealth Bank excusing repayment of a very hefty loan his pig business owed? surely not!! Today, that has evolved into a banking regime that is heartless and there are dozens of complaints received by Choice about penalty fees, according to Choice's manager of Policy and Campaigns, Gordon Renouf. He says "Banks are addicted to penalty fees" Self regulation will not stop this iniquitous habit.

One Nation would see Bank regulation legislation enacted to force the banks to justify fees in relation to costs incurred, currently the banks gain more than $3.2 billion each year from fees, it is not logical to expect average customers to monitor their accounts as well as they should, partially because, who understands banking? Only bankers, and they are unlikely to tell us how to avoid fees and charges are they?

This initiative from One Nation is one reason why the major parties have declared us "persona non grata" as of course have the mainstream media who are backed by banks. With the major parties pressuring bureaucracy to resist in particular the re-registration of our division. The AEC are now telling us, in writing, the Queensland Division of One Nation did not exist in 1998 when 11 of our State candidates and one Federal Senator were elected.  I am sure that our supporters and the many thousands who voted for our candidates will be surprised to hear that. Not to mention all the reporters who wrote stories about the Party then. I believe it was reported we received millions of dollars of free publicity because the papers misinterpreted the mood of the electorate. Hence the current blackout.    

4th April 2007.

A CHALLENGE TO HOWARD AND RUDD.

THE CHALLENGE is to open debate on TAX REFORM. We are committed to the introduction of a debate and trial of an EXPENDITURE TAX to replace the existing cumbersome and rorte driven Australian Tax Regime.

 A 1% expenditure tax would mean a boost to income resulting in more disposable income for everyone which in turn would increase spending power to retailers. This tax would replace both income tax and GST with no need for any reporting. YOU PAY TAX AS YOU SPEND. No new technology is needed, the programs are already in place at the banks.

The establishment press has already given this issue a work over, but has not been able to sensibly discredit the system so the only other thing is to ignore it and see it doesn't get any mainsteam press attention, and the Treasurer will only scoff on how it will not work without explaining, why not? Is that good enough for you the voters in this an election year?

Just imagine paying for fuel without Government taxes and levies, that's about half price on today's rip off. Even big business which today pays little or no tax is unlikely to object too much as they will be saving millions on infrastructure costs, and small business will benefit for the same reasons. Who else cares apart from us????

Have you noticed that fuel prices are back up to the levels they were when public pressure forced the companies to drastically reduce prices a month or two ago? We need another public protest, phone your radio stations to complain, you can bet Howard will act, it is an election year after all and he cannot afford any more bad publicity.

The way things are shaping Kevin Rudd is a shoo-in as the next PM. 

28th March 2007.

AUSTRALIA’S EXPANSION OF URANIUM MINING.

Announced by John Howards’s Coalition.

And with most of the Labor Party about to support it with the overturn of their three mines policy. It is understood that Kevin Rudd will bring this issue to the next Labor Conference.

Howard has flagged a value adding initiative for downstream enrichments and fuel fabrication which is a follow on from the policy put forward by former Prime Minister Harold Holt before his untimely death.

However high commercial and technological barriers could make market entry difficult, and is unlikely to be the true reasons for the announcement.

Much more likely is the attractiveness of high demand and skyrocketing prices and the government’s support of multinational miners such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton etc; just as they are the primary miners in our iron ore deposits.

Australia has 38% of the world reserves of Uranium and Howard is about to hand it over to overseas interests, just as he has with most of our primary and industrial resourses.   

You could stop this by not voting for either of the major parties.

One Nation would keep Australian resources for the benefit of Australians.

26th March 2007.

Prawn Fishing Industry.

 Once again we are seeing a viable local industry being destroyed by bureaucratic mismanagement.

 The plight of prawn fisherman is a disgrace when they are being forced out of their chosen work environment mainly by the adoption of flawed science employed by the Australian Government to restrict the number of days a trawler can work, unrealistic catch quotas and ever rising fuel and other costs.

 The only benefits from these restrictions are going to overseas fisherman who now have access to our markets partly driven by demand but which is also creating a climate of higher prices at the retail end, which ultimately does not benefit the public. This can only be seen as the Government supporting foreign interests against the well being of Australians.

 It is absolute madness for Australia to downgrade local primary production which has stood the country in good stead for 200 years.

 If elected to the Senate in the next election I will do everything in my power to reverse the current policy of Federal Government decimating our Primary Produce Industries.

22 March 2007

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has come out in the press crying foul about disgraced Liberal Senator Santo Santoro who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, although to listen to the lib's it was only 70 plus honest mistakes, John Howard says he feels 'let down' and well he should, another of his cronies caught out. Downer is asking "what more is expected of the ex-minister, he resigned his job (as minister) what more should he do?

Well, according to the press now we hear he is flagging his intention to resign from parliament, a decision I heartily applaud.

13th March 2007

The National Party is criticised by one of their own once again as reported in the Australian on 12th March; Ex National Party senior official saying he was tired of the "doormat mentality" of current National sitting members and that nationals were, "too willing to compromise their beliefs for the sake of the Liberal-led Coalition, particularly on issues such as the sale of Telstra".

This goes right to the heart of the current malaise besetting our Federal Parliament, with Party Politicians no longer willing to go against the Party Machine, a charge that One Nation has laid many times in the past. One Nation Candidates and Members have a given right to put the needs of the electorate before Party Politics and that is the most glaring difference between all other parties and most aligned Independents and us, apart from the most sensible raft of policies of course, some of which have been adopted by the majors already.

Once again from the Australian, reporter Richard Herbaj, "Sydney based Islamic leader Fadi Rahman, told the Australian that the extremist clerics who were preaching messages against paying taxes were also staunchly opposed to Western ideologies, including the Australian way of life". So here we have Australia's national daily newspaper bleating on with issues which do worry other Australians but are which issues only raised by a minority of hardliners, if we can believe they are really said at all, I mean do you still really believe what you read from any of our major newspapers, particularly now that nearly every piece of daily news can have a totally different slant when you read what is said about the same issue on the internet. It is no wonder the owners of daily's are trying desperately to produce internet versions that are just as biased.

Something like the racist charges in the news against One Nation a few years ago that are now adopted with acclaim by Howard and his mates on the other side. I have taken the trouble to attend an open day at the Gold Coast Mosque recently wearing a One Nation logo'd shirt and I found no attitude from Muslims to justify the claims of the Newspapers, in fact quite the contrary. Those I listened to and spoke to were open and recognised the same dangers as we do from extremists. Could it be that the Australian public is being manipulated to shift the focus from the real dangers of bad government by incompetent politicians, the old divide and rule logic? 

1st March 2007

Concern is emerging from our farming community on the continuing crippling burden of GST taxation and now the rumor of a rise in the present rate of 10% to a possible 15% following the election this year. So far we have no concrete evidence of this happening but the rumor mill is alive with the possibility. My advice is to ask your local member and Senator. If either sides of the parliament does this it will probably be the final nail, after the loss of  water allocations.

One Nation would fight against such a move.

19th February 2007

Insider trade risk in water is the headline in The Australian "Insider trading by governments could compromise John Howard's proposed national authority to manage the Murray-Darling basin, a leading water economist has warned". Economist Mike Young made the statement and suggested at least three management systems would need to be in place to avoid this. Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said addressing this issue would be a 'basic compliance issue'. Well we now can be assured by an ex multinational banker- now government Minister, that all will be well under his and honest Johnny's plan, and if that set your mind at rest you seriously need help. The whole agenda of a national water grid managed by Canberra is about profit to corporate shareholders who will eventually end up with a controlling interest just as they have with all other iconic public utilities in Australia, the facts speak for themselves.

A defeat to their plans may become a reality if Peter Beattie goes forward with his plan to bring water south from North Queensland Rivers and catchments, as was announced today and as we have also advocated for years, ie; 'The Bradfield Scheme'.  It can only make any sense to conserve this water at its source and then divert it for use where it is needed and this need not be robbing the local northern communities of their water. This scheme calls for the building of badly needed new dams regardless of present costs as any costs will be repaid in benefits for years to come. It is the only sensible answer to our southern water shortage, as well as ensuring Canberra is not able to centralise State's control of water resources as is guaranteed by the Australian Constitution. One other benefit is that to have this water traveling inland instead of into the sea, some of  it will surely seep into the great artesian basin along the way.       

13th February 2007

Abu Omar al-Baghdad, an Iraqi insurgent leader reportedly said after the 2006 American Congressional election which handed Senate majority to the anti-war Democrats. “We order you to withdraw your forces immediately”. He also said the allies may leave with only what they could carry by hand, leaving all other equipment behind. The newspaper ‘The Australians’ intrepid reporter, Richard Minter, commented on February 13^th 2007, in critising the American Senator and Presidential nominee Barack Huessein Obama’s plan to withdraw all US forces by March 2008, that quote, “Once Australia and the US leave, they can demolish democracy and create an Islamic dictatorship as brutal as Iran or Saudi Arabia, even setting a withdrawal date is victory for the enemy terrorizing Iraqi civilians and a blow to its embattled democratic government”.

Now correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Saddam Hussien elected as President of Iraq at an, (as democratic as you’ll get) election, by the voting public of Iraq, and didn’t, the western military forces backed present government of Iraq just hang him?

So whose democracy is Minter talking about, the Iraqi peoples or his conqueror brand. On top of this he, Minter, generalizes the countries of Iran and Saudi Arabia as being brutal dictatorships.

I have not visited those places, perhaps Minter has, but I do receive reports that paint a very different picture of life there. Their health services are good, there is not much poverty and most families have a house and most have a job, in cities most enjoy many modern facilities including clean water, electricity and sanitation. All of the things that the allied war in Iraq have managed to destroy almost completely.

It should be remembered that this is their country and their brand of democracy and whilst not suiting many westerners, it may just suit them fine. The sooner we get out the better and I would suggest they would have a very good case for monetary reparation charges in the Nuremberg Court against the so-called coalition of the willing, who started the war there.

8th February 2007

Japanese whaling season will start soon in our territorial waters. The Japanese say it's for scientific reasons, they have been studying these whales for centuries they would have us believe. All I can say is if, after all this time they haven't learnt enough they must be dumb. Everyone I know is satisfied that this is a scam to keep whale meat on Japanese tables and our Government condones it. Our Government spent our taxpayer dollars to have our Navy pursue a Chilean fishing boat thousands of miles suspected of taking 'Patagonian Tooth Fish' illegally from Australian waters, yet our Government allows the Japanese to openly defy our laws by taking Whales from Australian Antarctic waters even though they have been told not to. Mind you we have little trade with Chile and much with Japan.

It is time the taking of whales in our waters was viewed as an act of piracy if not an act of war, and our Navy should be blowing these boats out of the water, we could call on the Americans if it is declared an act of war and they would then be bound by the ANZUS treaty to assist us, just like we have in the middle east over the last few years. The David Lange New Zealand Labour Government dumped the Yanks years ago on this treaty.

So Howard wants to finalise a 'national water authority' under his banker mate Turnbull, watch for it to then become a saleable package sold to foreigners to charge us for our own water.   Watch also for Howard to resign, elevate Costello to PM with Turnbull as Treasurer, then everything left worth anything will finally be sold. If people haven't yet recognised the pattern of building up a social dilemma of unrest to keep their mind off what is happening below the surface then heaven help us.

31st January 2007

A huge boost to suppliers of bottled water is about to explode in Brisbane, with the help of Peter Beattie.

Peter Beattie has decided that the people of  Queensland will not now have the opportunity to vote in a plebiscite to decide if they want treated sewage to be used in their fresh drinking water supply. Now, unilaterally, they will have it pumped into the Wyvanhoe Dam and supplied as town water, no choice! There is an alternative. Fraser Island has millions of litres of clean drinking water running into the sea, more than enough to supply Brisbane's daily needs. When I raised this last year media journalists contacted me for a story. I told them all I knew. Not one word was printed!!

You need to know why no one in Government will talk about Fraser Island's fresh water supply!!!! We hear about the consumption of treated sewage in other Cities, well good for them, but is this what you want? I know I don't, but then where I live we are dependant upon rain water tanks. No town water supply is available, so I personally will continue to drink rain water. I raise this issue not for me, but for the people of Queensland who are not being given a choice, ie no choice to reject a possible vital health disaster given that not all person who use our sewerage system are healthy, eg, hospitalised patients carrying diseases including hepatitis and aids.

Do you really want to risk your health and your childrens' health to a beaurocratic decision of such magnitude, particularly given the alternative, Fraser Island fresh water!!!

30th January 2007

Labor leader Kevin Rudd, has unveiled his early learning program whereby 4 year olds will be able to undertake early learning to supposedly enable them to gain a better future education at a cost of $450 million. That is, an extra one or two years left to the ministrations of education professionals who presently preside over the worst education outcomes in the history of education in this country. Time and again we hear of our underachieving youth, how their education levels are such that on entering High School some can barely read or write, what a total tragedy, and now the Labor party proposes to increase the time children spend in an incompetent situation.

Does this not strike some as a subliminal furtherance of the written communist-socialist doctrine designed to remove parental upbringing at an early age to enable thought control by the State???

I know that modern economic factors have been created to force many mothers to enter or re-enter the workforce to enable the family to make ends meet rather than to allow them to remain caring and shaping their children to grow up without state involvement, the alternative being subsidised childcare facilities, but this latest announcement should be soundly condemned by all who truly care for the future of our children. It was not that long ago that a one income family could comfortably buy a decent car as well as a family home and still have a savings account for a rainy day. The Liberal Minister also flagged a similar program in answer to Labor's announcement. Think on this when voting.       

25th January 2007

An interesting expose on TV recently on the so-called democratic acceptance of the West Papuans of Indonesian rule in their country, the person giving the interview left no doubt that the Papuans were subjected to brutal retaliation by the Indonesian soldiers if they dared to protest about the military takeover, and of course we saw the arrival of Papuans claiming refugee status here on the grounds of brutality. Not much has been heard since from the Media of their plight so we have no knowledge of their current condition. This event supported by our Australian Government and particularly the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, is a blot on our History and akin to the acceptance of the Whitlam Government's support of the Indonesian invasion of Timor in the past. 

I am calling for the removal of American troops and their instillations from North Queensland, John Howard has a duty to uphold the protection of Australian citizens and having the escalated presence of American military personnel in Australia can only increase our vulnerability, on top of our illegal involvement of the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, where will these war-mongering megalomaniacal fanatics stop, after we are wiped out perhaps?? I must ask, who will benefit from our involvement in these conflicts? Perhaps only Wall Street Neo-Con Bankers and their sycophants, Halliburton and others, certainly not us and certainly not the citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq.

If you believe the Government's media rubbish about bringing democracy to these Countries you are not thinking!!!

17th January 2007

So, the penny has finally dropped on Fuel Prices with the ACCC now conducting an enquiry into why retail prices remain high as oil costs fall.

I have warned repeatedly that the fuel distributors have been ripping us off and our Party has been running a campaign for many months to try to get the ACCC to act. Unfortunately the ACCC does not have any authority to regulate fuel prices as this was taken from them and held in the Federal Treasures Department, who can say why, except we can speculate that it was to allow the fuel companies a blank cheque for profits to accumulate. You should be aware from reports that the fuel companies fall back on something called WORLD PARITY PRICING every time someone queries fuel prices at the pump, what you may not be aware of is that Australia is almost self sufficient in producing oil for fuel, we do need to top up with imports but we need not be tied to world parity pricing, that is a manufactured profit making event only, the ACCC has advised me that if we go off world parity we could face a shortage here because unscrupulous producers could sell our low cost oil overseas and leave us short, but I am sure this could be legislated against. One Nation elected to the Federal Parliament would lobby for this to happen. It is in your hands to elect us to parliament.

Please have a look at the full fuel story on the link on our front page, and also in our policy list.     

16th January 2007

Malcomb Turnbull is reported to be asking the Queensland Government for clarification of their intention to sell the new recycled water pipeline to a private company. I would like the Queensland public to ask why should tax-payer dollars be spent to create something which will be sold off for a one-off amount of money rather than for the State Government to continue to receive revenue from the ongoing provision of this water over the long term. It is just short of fraud to be participating in the sale of public owned utilities created using public money!! When will you wake up? Do you not realise that every time a public utility is sold off the charges for that former service go up. Government is supposed to be for the greater good of the greater community, not to enable profits for private companies, but sadly this is what is happening. 

6th December 2006

The Australian Immigration Department has again shown its true biased colours in requiring the English family who successfully established a business in Manly Queensland, to sell up and return to Britain on the grounds that their business which employs 7 Australians does not have a $200,000-00 turnover. My understanding is that this stipulation is not shown in  business immigration paper-work and intending business immigrants are not told this before coming here.

It should be obvious that this is nothing more than a blatant attack upon White Anglo-Saxon immigration and another step in the domination of multiculturism, Australian style, I urge all Australians to write to the Immigration Department at, 3 Lonsdale Street BRADDON. ACT. 2612, or Fax 02-62480479, to protest this decision. It is important to note that this couple have not cost us one dollar in welfare since arriving and they do not receive Medicare either. It is ludicrous that we should have such a shallow attitude towards persons from European backgrounds when other non - Europeans have been flooding into the country for decades under the guise of a now world recognised flawed policy of multiculturism. This country was settled by our European ancestors and it is our offspring that will pay for our mistake in allowing such a dilution of our European Heritage. For those who wish to live in a multicultural society I would say to them to get out and find such a place somewhere else, not here!!! Perhaps somewhere like Iraq or on the Indian - Pakistan border.   

28th November 2006

The AWB (Australian Wheat Board) investigation saga has come to an end. THE FINDING OF THE COMMISSIONER; under his terms of reference, The Government didn't know about the Bribes to Saddam!!!!!  Well, the people that believe that probably also believe in the tooth fairy! Because, if the Government ministers didn't know it would brand them as the most incompetent administrators ever to draw wages, and pretty good wages at that. Commissioner Cole has recommended that further investigation should be carried out and possible charges laid against persons working in the AWB, now that's all very well but wasn't the law changed recently to make the upper echelon of companies responsible for the actions of their underlings, how come that doesn't apply to Ministers of departments? 

It is of great interest to take part in the Nine MSM email poll which asks the question " Did the Government Know?" and then ask for a vote of  "Yes" or " No" and so you vote, then up pops the numbers with a heading "Do you believe the Government was unaware kickbacks were being paid by AWB"? So if you voted "Yes" to the first question "Did the Government Know" you in fact voted that the Government was Unaware of the kickbacks.!!!!

How is that for a neat piece of Media manipulation.

14th November 2006

If Globalisation is about free markets, then it is bad news for agriculture. The economic text books tell us that free markets only work in a genuine market place, where a large number of independent sellers face a large number of buyers with no group or individual on either side having the power to set prices.

Certainly that is never so in the market place for agricultural products, either domestically or internationally. Farmers are price takers. This fact of economic life explains why farmers have been caught in a perpetual price squeeze since the end of feudalism. Australia has chosen to allow its domestic agriculture policy to be driven by international trade policy. Don't let anyone tell you that this change is a consequence of globalisation and that our government has no control over it. The choice was ours and our farmers are paying a terrible price for what amounts to a policy about-face.

Globalism, became known as the "Washington consensus" reflecting the views of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the US treasury. Its purpose was to totally corporatise economic life in the name of efficiency. Every economic activity is required to survive independently as a profit centre in its own right. No provision can be made for activities which contribute to broader economic activities, or to social or community objectives and thereby contribute only indirectly to efficiency, Behind all of this stands the somewhat utopian idea that fully deregulated market economies can deliver the best outcomes for society.; Some went further, insisting that this kind of globalisation would usher in the end of the nation state, which has been the way our world has chosen to organise itself, at least since the industrial revolution.

Strange isn't it, the socialists and communists were saying the same thing ninety years ago, it is no more realistic now than it was then. ( taken from a report from Colin Teese, a former deputy director of the Department of Trade) 

This is the ideology of the Liberal coalition and Labor economic rationalism in this country, and every effect felt by the farming community will eventually have an impact on us all. The only way to break this cycle is to elect a One Nation member or an Independent, and withdraw your support from the major parties.     

9th November 2006

I appeal to the Australian people and voters to think about the way you are forced to live today struggling to pay a mortgage and personal credit card debt or hire purchase debt, as there is no doubt that most people today are facing just that, you are now also facing a hike in interest rates on that debt from today.

Would you be satisfied if you knew that the Federal Government could assume all of that debt and reissue it at interest rates of as low as 2 or 3 per cent to you without disruption? This could only happen though if you demand through your elected representative that the power to issue Australian money is taken away from transnational bankers and retained in the hands of the Federal Government as is stated in our Constitution. The Federal Reserve Bank has today raised interest rates, we are told this is to combat inflation. Are you satisfied to have a private banking organisation holding this power over your economic future? Because that is what the 'Federal Reserve Bank' is, a private multinational organisation. Only the government can truly control inflation.  

In the 1950's Australia's economy grew at a fantastic rate, based on our ability to supply and export primary produce and secondary industry products, ie; manufacturing using our raw products here and creating commodities from our steel, aluminium, and plastics etc. We rivaled any country in the world for personal wealth, we still do, except it is now in the hands of foreign owners instead of Australian industrialist who spent their profits here either in expanding their industries and so providing jobs or investing in our infrastructure for the benefit of Australians. 

 This is achievable only if you vote for candidates who give a solemn promise that they will curtail the trend of the Neo-Liberals and new Socialist Labor who are doing the bidding of foreign bankers, and take the control of Australia's economy into the hands of the Federal Government by the return to a gold standard. If we do not take these steps now we will soon have no country to pass on to our children, a government is meant to manage our economy in our best interests, I defy anyone to tell me that my best interest lay in the hands of foreign bankers who are duty bound to return profits to their shareholders, I ask, where is my/and your best interest in that? 

6th November 2006

Media Release.

  6^th November 2006.

  Mr Rod Evans, Senate candidate said, “One Nation challenges the Howard Government to be realistic and brave far beyond the current program of deluding and confusing the Australian public with a new plan to hide the social curse inflicted on our society by the totally false policy principles that multiculturism stands for.”

  Mr Evans was responding to Mr Howard’s consideration to drop the word ‘muticulturalism’ in the revision of “Ethnic Policy” as reported in the Australian on Saturday 4^th November, ’06.

  Mr Evans said, “Multiculturalism is a proven failure around the world. It is now demonstrated as a dangerous principle in the world of terrorism. With a consistent policy of assimilation in 2007, One Nation will be active and vigilant in assisting the will of the people in determining the Australia they want to live in.”

  One Nation will support a renewed tough interviewing process, taking this stage out of the hands of private immigration agents and we will support sending back those who are assessed as being not able to enrich our society or those lacking the skills required to contribute gainfully to our society.

  Mr Evans said, “We are currently facing the evils of ethnic leaders who are openly preaching things which are abhorrent to mainstream Australia which neither Liberal or Labor can bring themselves to positively deal with, stemming from a flawed direction both support.”   

  One Nation calls on the Howard government to include all minor parties including One Nation in the revision process it is reportedly undertaking.

2nd November 2006

Democracy John Howard Style.

In Question time in Federal Parliament last week, Kim Beazley accused John Howard of being "Poll Driven". John Howard said " I went into Iraq despite the fact that 80% of Australian polls were against it, and I was right.

In February 2003, One Nation issued a Media Release titled, "One Nation Says NO to War in Iraq" prior to our troops being dispatched calling for us to stay out of Iraq. Emerging truths now prove we were right. 

Network Centric Warfare versus Network Centric Defence

A concise discussion paper on future Australian Defence Policy.

Is it not time that Australians decided as to the strategic direction its military policy should take, rather than present itself as a subservient (belligerent) nation subject to the dictates of the US. Should we, like New Zealand and many other (genuinely free/democratic) nations, become less reliant on the US - even becoming non-aligned? Surely, only then can an effective policy be drawn up for the defence of Australia by our national forces. The present course courts disaster.

  Australian military personnel have always observed the Geneva Conventions in times of conflict and, as a consequence, they have been regarded throughout the world with the greatest respect. However, though recent government policy has severely tarnished this country’s image, the military forces remain highly regarded - and rightly so. As defence spending is a major item in the nation’s budget it is not unreasonable to expect the public to have effective input into how this should be spent and whether or not the resources should be spent fighting other people’s wars. An in-depth commission should be established along bi-partisan lines and should include public submissions.

  Aims. Australian citizens are entitled to enjoy a safe and secure environment in which to live. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) as its name implies, should first and foremost be for the defence of Australia, answerable only to the democratically elected government on behalf of the citizens of this country. 

  Tasks. Similar to the strategic priorities of a number of non-aligned countries, our armed force should only be deployed to:-

1       Defend Australia against armed attack

2       Maintain Australian territorial integrity

3       Contribute to peace and security in the world

4       Assist Australian society in times of severe peacetime difficulty

5       Not be involved in overseas 'adventures' without UN approval.

  One could be forgiven for assuming that Australia’s present defence policy was written by Greg Sheridan of The Australian newspaper on behalf Dick Cheney and the Washington Neocons who were responsible for creating The Project for the New American Century. Their policy of “Might is Right” has been an unmitigated disaster and this country should never have been involved.

  Although a continent, Australia’s population only exceeds that of the Greater Mexico City metropolitan area by just over one million, yet is acting as though it were a (surrogate) superpower.

The following countries compared by population, area and total military strength.

Sources; BBC – CSIS – Swiss Army - Swedish Army

The above statistics are self explanatory and, in seriously addressing our state of preparedness for any clandestine attack, worth close scrutiny. Australia must now face the unpleasant fact that, because of its backing for the illegal, US led, invasion of Iraq, it is now classed for the first time in our history as an aggressor nation and because of this, and other factors, has greatly increased the threat of a terrorist attack on our shores

31 October 2006

Global Warming and The Kyoto accord, is receiving much main-steam publicity at present, and yes so it should, but it should not be presented to the people as a foregone conclusion. There are many measures our government could take to clean up our polluting industries, and some measures are being undertaking, albeit slowly, such as cleaning coal before it is burnt as some companies are doing in new facilities, particularly Victoria, also the collection of emissions from smokestacks to be buried underground for dissipation which some parts of Industry is currently investigating. What is needed of course is incentives to push this along and it should not need another international agreement to make it happen, all it should need is a competent National Government. The Kyoto Accord is widely held to be not so much about agreeing how much or who should be forced into ceasing pollution of our planet, but more about how much money the traders of the world can make by trading Carbon Credits which is nothing more than legal extortion with countries being penalized on their emission output balanced against how mush forestation they have for the natural conversion of CO2 into oxygen. This is a flawed proposal in part because CO2 is the least dangerous gas known to man, much more dangerous are the chemical additives which are added to fuels that are known carcinogens along with dangerous food additives which are supported by all governments. This should be the main thrust of the debate, not just relying on a godless agreement for the sake of a multinational trading conglomerate making money!!!

The Australian Government should immediately commission the building of Geo-Thermal hot rock generating plants and a massive expansion of solar generation which are the most sensible alternatives available in a country which has more sunshine per annum than any other continent on earth, in the meantime switch over from coal to gas for the existing plants. Nuclear generation can be a long term aim, but right now we need action in the short term, not to satisfy an agreement, but because it is the right thing to do for the legacy we will leave our future generations. Do not be fooled by rhetoric, Kyoto is another means to print money. 

Marine Parks, we have the greatest area of ocean frontage and an outer sea boundary of any country in the world, we produce the least harvest from that ocean than any country in the world in comparison. Our fishing industry is hamstrung by over zealous beaurocrats and government agencies who seem determined to lock us into unviable restrictions  which are not based on any local scientific sustainability data. We produce half of the output of seafood as that produced in New Zealand which has a fraction of ocean area. We spend 1.8 billion dollars a year importing seafood into Australia and our fishermen are restricted to an annual catch of  9 kilograms per square kilometer on the Barrier Reef, the acceptable world wide scientific sustainable levels are around 4000 kilograms per square kilometer, the restrictions we face are based on a report on a coral reef in the Bahamas, no similar report has been produced for the Barrier Reef, the collusion between between Government and the green movement is fashioned on lies and political collusion; Environmentalism gone mad which do not address any environmental problems. Australian Fishermen and Anglers are being penalized for no good reason.            

25th October 2006

Premier Beattie of Queensland defending his stance of no daylight saving. He is reported in the Courier and also on TV that to adopt daylight saving here would create a situation of subjecting our children to a greater risk of skin cancer!!! Of all the daft reasons I've heard about daylight saving that has to take the cake!!!!               It's a bit like the curtains will fade quicker, or cows will be confused and reduce milk will flow. This is from the Premier of the State who shouts loudly we are the smart state, sorry Peter, if that's the benchmark of Labor political brains we are in trouble. On the other hand, he must be commended for announcing he will institute a super fast broadband phone system in Qld' using power-line distribution, now that is smart, providing the government holds onto the business end of the stick and doesn't sell it off as a corporation later, the way Suncorp was sold by the Nationals. If taxpayer money is used to finance this network no government should be able to sell it in the future.  

18th October 2006

A program shown last night on SBS (which I believe can be purchased on disk from them) about the manipulation by the American Vice President Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz and alleged lies told to the American people to convince them and their Senate to vote for the invasion of Iraq, even though the CIA was saying there was no justification for an invasion and Iraq had no connection to the 9/11 bombing. Their intelligence was that it was carried out by insurgents under Alquaida who were based in Afghanistan. George Bush sanctioned the CIA to give money to rebels in Afghanistan to begin fighting against the Talliban there. Australia was joined in. 

Then came the invasion of Iraq, the program dwelt heavily on statements from eye witness accounts of discussions at the white house and pentagon which can lead the viewer to conclude that there was no justification for the Iraq invasion and it was more about an internal power struggle in American politics and of course in the best interests of multinational oil businesses. Last night again on question time from the Federal Parliament we saw the Foreign Minister state he was, "guilty of supporting the invasion of Iraq", so does this mean he was simply lead by the nose or does it mean he and the Prime Minister were privy to the flawed intelligence but went along anyway, committing Australian soldiers to battle in a country which was not our enemy but in fact an important market for Australian products. Not withstanding the bribery allegations regarding wheat sales. The bottom line is that our soldiers are still there engaged in a war that more and more, seems to be nothing more than a political beat up and a program of taking control of Iraq's oil by the original protagonists, not to mention the millions of dollars gained by Halliburton and others in supplying armament and rebuilding with both Cheney and Wolfowitz involved with that company through the CFR, Condalesa Rice is also a member of the CFR.  

(the following is from a critical web site) " Bush is a dumb puppet whose strings are being pulled by intelligent people like Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Advisor Condalesa Rice" ...
www.cunepress.com/cunemagazine/articles/feature.htm - 25k -

 Have the Australian public been equally manipulated by our Parliament and the media?  

I would vote for an immediate withdrawal of Australian troops from the area!       

11th October 2006

The Question of Banking.

At present a person wishing to buy a house or property applies to a Bank or lending finance institution, to borrow a certain sum of money, most lenders will need the applicant to put down a deposit of their own saved money.

The Bank then approves the loan and credits the person or pays direct to the seller the agreed amount of the loan. The person now has a debt to repay, the loan plus the interest applicable.

Did you know that the money loaned out did not exist before the agreement was reached.  

The bank through legislation has the ability to create money at will, this ability should only be in the hands of the Government, as is written in the Australian Constitution at section 51 xiii. The Government is the only authority which may change the way the Banks create money.

Wouldn't you be happier if the debt you owe is to your government rather than a foreign money lender?

 In the unhappy event of you not being able to continue to pay the loan and the Bank foreclosing and seizing the property, the Bank then owns the property, probably to sell it, none the less its ownership (a real asset) is with the foreign Bank, they now own real property which they paid for by creating a debt owed by you out of nothing. (This is the basis of 'fractional reserve banking'.)

Obviously the Banks do not see themselves with any moral obligation to assist you, they are in the business of money lending only to return a profit to their shareholders, not to dispense compassion.

There is provision for State based Banking to undertake such a role also.

One Nation would support the re-establishment of a Government Banking Organisation to compete against the foreign lenders in the housing market and industry establishment. The question of the huge amount of personal debt accrued by Credit Card users must also be addressed.

9th October 2006

Federal Education Minister, Julie Bishop push for a 'back to basics' national school curriculum to combat the trendy 'leftist' outcomes system which has unfortunately corrupted our current education system for far too long and has contributed to the illiteracy of the least two generations of state school students is to be commended and is supported by this candidate.

One Nation has consistently called for a school curriculum to be based on factual information, we were hoping that as education is a responsibility of the States it could be implemented by the State Minister, but obviously not, to date, therefore the next best is a National Curriculum.

Tax.

In today's Courier; a full page devoted to Taxation reform, We continue to call for the 1% electronic tax to be a part of the debate, government could reap a tripling of revenue income under this system whilst granting all sections a dramatic tax reduction, the only ones who will object will be the multi-nationals who currently do not pay tax, and who use legalised loopholes such as the double tax agreement and other methods available only to them, but not Australian owned businesses.    

3rd October 2006

Recent updates on our 'Rights Watch' page tell a compelling story. (click on   'Industrial Relations Review' - link on our front page.

2nd October 2006

Glenn Milne, Journalist, writing in the Australian on the 2nd Oct' writes about the possibility of a referendum coinciding with the next Federal election to strip the states of water management. Such a proposal is to be understood from recent utterings from John Howard to be a distinct possibility.

This is of course is what the recent beat-up in the press on water and its mismanagement is all about, John Howard and his cronies are intent on centralised government at any cost, as is Kim Beazley, as can be seen from his 'Nation Building Agenda' in his campaign.

Do not be fooled into thinking it is for Mr or Mrs John Citizens benefit. It is simply about power, the people who live and vote in this country don't matter a damn to them, if they did we would all be sharing in the wealth of the Nation, do you? or is it the transnational owners of international companies who mainly reap the greater benefit. It certainly seems so when you look at the amount of taxes the public pay as apposed to the amount international companies pay, this of course, along with other fees and levies is the way the government collects revenue to pay for its own expenditure. Of which, the greatest expenditure of revenue seems to be the interest payments on what is called overseas borrowing, even that going to international companies in the guise of the Banks who extend the loans to the Federal Government.

A vicious circle, one would think. 

Believe it or not, not one cent needs to be borrowed overseas for government expenditure, if money needs to be borrowed to top up a revenue shortfall it could be arranged within the Federal Treasury Department of the Federal Government without a bank being involved. This is allowed for by our Constitution, and has been done before successfully. Makes you wonder why it isn't done that way doesn't it? It also points to a lack of true responsibility and allegiance to the people by the politicians. Why do you allow this to continue? Your vote could change the way we are exploited, and only you can do this by denying the major parties at the next election.    

25th September 2006

Media release

 The Editor.

  In response to announcements made by Bob Katter, Queensland Federal Politician, backing a re-run of the failed former Alliance, under his announced new name, “The Beast”.

  One Nation is on the way to endorsing candidates to federal seats in the next election. Several are already endorsed including candidates endorsed for the Senate. One Nation calls on Bob Katter to abandon the plan and to work with One Nation to again bring together the one million Australians who supported One Nation at its beginning.

  One Nation is forging ahead is spite of plans by the Federal electoral commission to deregister all minor political parties ahead of the next federal election which allows the major parties to consolidate their ‘two party only’ choice.

This move by the electoral commissioner is due to changes to the Commonwealth electoral Act Enacted by the Howard government and supported by Labor.   

If One Nation is deregistered along with other minor parties, it will force them to again re-register under new guidelines, for the second time since 2004. This time in spite of a ruling by 3 Chief Justices in the appellant hearing which quashed the jailing of Pauline Hanson and David Ettridge, and on our relationship to other One Nation entities being all part of one Party. 

This action when carried through will place enormous financial strain on all minor parties and will probably see the demise of some. It is understood by many that this is designed to target One Nation primarily. No other minor party has had such an influence on major party policy as can be shown by the adoption of many of One Nation initiatives now being upheld by John Howard, as has recently been reported by mainstream journalists.

One Nation is already a structure capable of covering all the voter’s needs Katter is chasing.

18th September 2006

Federal Parliamentary Secretary Malcom Turnbull has attacked State Governments for deferring investment in infrastructure and imposing restrictions to protect their dividends from water utilities. 
The Business council of Australia, endorses Mr Turnbull’s reform strategies.

While the State governments deserve to be criticized for not planning for increased demands upon water services. Mr Turnbull’s planning is typical of a big-business solution, and we thought he went into politics to serve the people!!
The governments have a duty of care to the people who elected them to supply basic services to the population, that’s their job description, or it should be!!
Obviously, not under these proposals, Mr Turnbull’s response is clearly one of ‘forget governments responsibilities to the people, lets package all public utilities into a saleable corporation and sell it’.
The sell off by politicians of public utilities in many countries have brought on calls of fraud and corruption, and rightly so, look at Argentina as a case file. Workers there have taken over closed up factories themselves to enable them to continue to earn a living. What used to be government services to the people have disappeared and costs have risen dramatically.
Australia is treading the same path with its sell off mentality, is this what you want for the future of your children? 
The BCA says if prices are increased we could then afford all the wiz-bang fixes to get things back on track, it does not consider the extra hardship imposed on citizens to pay this extra cost. Why would they care?. They will have another commodity to sell to those who can afford it. Who suffers the most? Of course it is those who already struggle with existing costs, not those from the big end of town and certainly not pollies.
One Nation calls for a complete halt on the sale of any public owned utilities. It’s time for a serious wake-up, to do nothing makes you just as guilty!!!! 

18th September 2006

It is pleasing to see John Howard's Government coming out with yet another of One Nation's policies regarding the commitment migrants to our Country should adopt. One Nation has always called for more stringent conditions to be placed on persons who wish to join our society, we were dismayed how, for so long, it appeared that government support of multicultural values were eroding our unique society, now we see and support the about face John Howard has shown, however, we do have reservations on the treatment of genuine refugees being denied their human rights by this Government. 

8th September 2006

The decision taken to lift Federal Politicians super payments to 15% from 9% is an obscene misuse of public funding, and is supported by both the Coalition and Labor.

We understood that when the 9% was agreed for politicians elected after the 2004 election those who had formerly been paid 15% would then drop along with the 9%ers, and all would be paid at the same level, now it appears that rather than that happening all of them will go to 15%.

Federal politicians already are paid sufficiently and have just received a huge boost to their expense allowances in postage and printing.

This Candidate does not support this move while it is obvious that most politicians are not putting the interests of Australians first.

 One Nation has also developed a policy to restrict the amount of public funding paid to Political Parties following an election, to $500,000-00 for a State election and 1 Million dollars following a Federal election. 

Think how many new hospital beds that would help pay for.

Why should political parties be rewarded with excessive public funds when, faced squarely, they do not contribute anything to the growth of the country nor do they pay taxes, they just act as catalyst for individuals to form a collective, just like a trade union really.   

6th September 2006

Recently there has been some mention on TV about CNG (compressed natural gas), with surprisingly, a call to enable this commodity to be used as a motor fuel to help combat the high prices of petrol.

At the moment the only drawback to using CNG in cars is the lack of a distribution network and that it would compete directly with LPG sales as an alternative fuel source, given that LPG is distributed by the same people who control the distribution of petrol to service stations.

LPG is a commodity that is supplied and distributed by foreign owned oil distributors as is petrol, who are then  able to set prices, whereas CNG is taken straight from Australian ground cleaned and distributed for home cooking and heating at present. We have an efficient supply pipe line extending to many parts of Queensland and through other states so it would not be a major problem to establish motor filling stations in various locations.

This is the gas that is being sold to China on a 25 year contract for 3 cents a litre, so it would seem that an investment in filling stations would be a very viable business opportunity with a company being assured of a good return on its investment.

However there does not seem to be any interest shown by our government to exploit what is a home grown product to compete with exorbinently priced petrol. CNG is used widely in other countries as a motor fuel.

It appears that our government is quite satisfied with not even telling people that this alternative is available. The widespread use of CNG as a motor fuel would immensely benefit our environment as it is as clean a fuel as we can get, this is proven by us burning it in our homes in stoves, hot water cylinders and heaters with no detrimental effects.

Of course it would mean that the foreign owned oil distributors would have competition for the sale of their products. Is it possible that this is why we are not given the encouragement to switch to a safer, cleaner local product, of which Australia has an abundant supply.

One Nation will encourage a public debate on the subject if we are elected to the Senate and lobby for CNG to be made available as a motor fuel.       

15TH August 2006

John Howard has announced another of One Nation's long standing policies for a rebate to motorists who convert their cars to LPG of $2000-00 or $1000-00 rebate on purchases of new vehicles fitted with LPG conversions. He is to be congratulated for this effort.

He refuses however to remove the crippling government excise levy applied to fuel costs or to pass legislation which would re-regulate the sale of domestic sourced oil.

The announcement that it would cost about 3 billion to remove excise therefore cannot be done, is negated by the Treasurers statement that we have a 6 billion surplus of funds. Surely this reported surplus is meant  to be spent on the citizens of the nation, not as a government nest egg.    

He and the Treasurer continue to say they cannot do anything about world parity pricing while it should be obvious that parity pricing is permitted only through current legislation, anyone who believes when he says he can do nothing deserves to pay the current prices. 

The truth is that Liberal government legislation is allowing the exploitation of the Australian motoring public for the benefit of multinational owners of  oil and fuel companies.     

7th August 2006

A NEW ECONOMIC VIEW

  One Nation has long held the view that a prosperous Australia cannot continue to follow a Global Economic Policy that anchors the value of our local currency to the fluctuationsand vagaries of trading markets.

We recognize that any change could greatly worry those who profit from those fluctuations, but we see this as nothing more than Government by corporation, with our own politicians supporting a regime of multi-national corporate traders. One Nation is proposing that we should look closely at a proposal that would see our dollar anchored by the value of our natural resources and export trade, we know how much we have sold to overseas traders in the last 12 months and we know how much is projected to export in the next 12 months, from this we can easily formulate a fixed value for our dollar. It is envisaged that a review would take place each 12 months or sooner if required.

Alternatively we could reinstate the gold standard for our dollar as hasbeen done recently in some European countries. We can stop the contrived slavery caused by a floated currency. This would mean, in simple language, that our dollar would always be worth $1-00 within our borders, it would give logical credibility to the costs associated to production of a manufactured or primary product and it would give confidence to our business people and farmers.By using such a formula it no longer matters how much a product costs to produce because the return from such a product would be set at a pre-determined percentage of costs, which of course would flow on to wage determination. Imported goods will be subject to equalization tax.Any threat from international traders or financial organisations to cease trading here would be an idle threat as those same traders know that we hold the minerals and resources they need to trade to the rest of the world. Over many years the Liberal/National/Labor coalition has sold off the extraction and trading of our natural resources to multinational companies to do with what they will, it is time we turned this around and regained control of raw products. We only need to look to the measures taken by Malaysia during the so-called Asian meltdown of a few years ago.

This proposal would not exclude international trade in any way, it would only mean that Australia and Australians would regain control of such things as minerals and energy, etc’ and we would have to do this with as little pain to the present managers as possible.

Simply put, we propose to buy back the farm. One Nation would return credibility to “a fair days pay for a fair days work”. We do not support the latest phase of destruction through the new Industrial Relations Bill, particularly the removal of “unfair dismissal”, no matter which way it is cut, to be fired from a job without any reason or any good cause is still “unfair dismissal”, although we do support the right of business to fire a person who cannot or will not do his or her job satisfactorily, but, we believe there should be easy recourse for the employee to have such a decision reviewed.

To the bosses we would say you have a responsibility to your workers and to the workers, we would say be mindful of your obligation to perform your work to the best of your ability.  

We say this in the belief that a balance can be achieved given good will on both parts, a large part of this proposal is meant to encourage bosses to enlarge staff levels (hire more people for greater productivity) but, with the continuance of guaranteed levels of worker protection.

2nd August 2006

Federal Government failing our Farmers and Manufacturing.

  The chief executive of Australia’s largest manufacturer of Steel products has called for a reversal of free market ideology to save Australian manufacturing industry. 

Mr Kirby Adams, speaking at the American Camber of Commerce, July 14^th, said “In Canberra I might be labeled a ‘protectionist’ for expressing those views. But I do want to protect Australian shareholders, Australian jobs and future jobs, and Australian exports” “Isn’t that why we employ our governments”? “To protect us.”

  A veteran trade negotiator has defended government subsidies to farmers and warned of the disadvantages farmers are likely to face from bi-lateral trade agreements, such as the recent one with the United States.

  A recent Senate inquiry, headed by Senator Bill Heffernan, criticized the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) for a series of major failures in managing an outbreak of citrus canker in Queensland.

Again in Queensland, a number of sugar cane farms have been quarantined by discovery of sugar cane ‘Smut’ disease.

Senator Heffernan had previously delivered a rebuke to the handling of foot and mouth contaminated beef imported from Brazil by Watties, and subsequently buried at Wagga Wagga refuse tip.

Now the federal Government has allowed imports of unprocessed pig meat from countries suffering the exotic disease, ‘post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome’ (PMWS), that is killing millions of piglets overseas.

The problem derives from Australia’s ideological commitment to free trade.

Even though the World Trade Organisation specifies that quarantine is not a trade issue, politicians and bureaucrats persist in arguing Australia cannot have zero risk in quarantine (as now they do) because it will damage trade negotiations. Under WTO rules the Federal Government is entitled to apply the “precautionary principle”, but it hasn’t. The world seems to be turning away from WTO and negotiating bilateral agreements instead, even though it is unlikely this will achieve anything more than the same failures of the WTO.

Despite the setbacks, our Government has not given up on its policy of cutting Australian farmers adrift.

The National Party appears to wholeheartedly endorse this policy. Trade Minister Mark Vaile at the time of negotiations with the US gave a comment that, “everything is on the table, including quarantine” His signed agreement bears this out.

  It appears there are forces, with the sympathetic ear of governments, State and Federal, who believe that cheap imports serve our economy better than adequate quarantine protection, or that Australian farmers are worth saving.

26th July 2006

25 Years of Market deregulation

Economy report.

  The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released data on total output recently, broken down by market sectors, with comparisons between 1980 and 2005.

  The gross domestic product (GDP) of the Australian economy is up 126%, which means it has slightly more than doubled in a quarter of a century.

But are we happy with the changes  which turned us from a producing economy into a spending economy with the unfortunate consequences which flow from these changes? Overall, the economy has grown 126% since 1980. But the tax take on outputs has been growing somewhat slower at about 110%. This points to less people employed to pay the tax.

To gain a true picture of how healthy our economy really is this growth must be looked at and compared with the country’s outlays.

  Education outlays have risen from about $20 billion to $37 billion, that is by 83%- well short of the 126% of GDP. 

Manufacturing, agriculture and fisheries are all lagging badly on GDP; manufacturing by only 45%, agriculture  by 77% and fisheries and forestry by 85%. More recent figures suggest manufacturing is actually declining still.

The greatest growth factor has undoubtedly been in communication, property and computers. Property, including house sales, is up 255% followed by finance at almost 200%.

Quite obviously the biggest expansion has been in communications and finance. But do we want an economy dominated to this extent by these two factors? We did manage equally well without the domination of these two sectors in former times. The domination of the financial sectors is a direct consequence of financial and market deregulation. With it has come the available funds to finance a quite undesirable housing and consumer spending boom fuelled by imports.

All of this, together with an upsurge in speculative trading in various forms of financial paper, has been financed by offshore borrowing. All of the equipment associated with computers and mobile phones is imported. We should ask, are we getting the returns we are entitled to expect from all the extra outlays in the areas of finance and communications?

  On education we are outlaying about two thirds of what we were spending 25 years ago on education. Taking population growth alone, the amount spent on education is totally inadequate and though it is not the only reason why we have a shortage of skilled workers it is the major contributing factor. These statistics demonstrate precisely how and in what direction the slavish commitment to relying on market driven economic policy will steer our economy in the future.

  It should be obvious that our Government is failing its duty to the people of Australia to maintain output spending on education, manufacturing and, more particularly, on health to at least the level of GDP. They are not!! and this must be addressed.

Leaving our manufacturing industries exposed to the full blast of  import competition and denying them the advantage of properly trained staff, is a formula for strangling the growth of manufacturing, both for import replacement and export. In fact, the rigorous application of competition policy denies manufacturing the profit margins needed to train staff themselves.

  History shows, that countries with enduring and solid manufacturing industries maintain a healthy economy. Australia must not remain or become a quarry for Globalist interests.

  Similarly with agriculture. Demanding that our farmers survive without help, against subsidized import competition, will result in further decline in agriculture output.

  Perceptive commentators have already identified this unhealthy association of market and financial deregulation and ever-increasing indebtedness, which is clearly borne out from these statistics. The government seems not to be concerned with either manufacturing or agriculture decline and has, over a number of years, abetted this down-turn. This particularly can be said of the Nationals where most of the concern should be voiced.

  One Nation is the only political party to be taking a stance which would see the implementation of  protective measures for our manufacturing and farming industries through the introduction of import equalization policy. If this country continues along the road it is currently traveling, there must soon come a point from where it cannot recover.

24^th July 2006.

Australian fuel prices highest of all fuel producing countries.

Arab OPEC Cartel countries have just announced a 25% reduction in domestic fuel prices that are already less than 10 cents per litre. (ABC Online)

The question is if Arab countries can put the interests of their people first, why cannot John Howard look after Australians in a similar manner, rather than local fuel distributor companies?

One Nation is the only Party proposing the elimination of OPEC parity pricing for fuel sold on our domestic market along with the abolition of excise on fuel.

stop press....     Peter Beattie announced, following an emergency Cabinet meeting on Sunday, that he would consider a proposal for a pipe line from North Queensland to bring water from the Burdekin Basin's high rainfall area, as proposed by Cairns Mayor Kevin Byrne last month. Although, he also said it may take 50 to 100 years to be feasible.

How's that for progressive thinking.

20th July 2006.

I urge all people to read the above with care and to go onto the Queensland Governments web site at www.qld.gov.au to access more information.

As you know by now the south east corner of the state is mostly under water restrictions, as is many other parts of our country, but the main pressure on the Beattie Government is that the population explosion in the south east has overstretched the available infrastructure particularly with water.

So the leader of the 'Smart State's government has decreed that we must build more dams close by.

To say this upset the Rathdowney residents somewhat is an understatement and given that Beattie must remember the defeat of the National's over the very same issue and in a nearby area, so Mr Beattie pulled the pin on that one, and moved it a little further out.

The main problem to this though seems to be that it is a minimal rainfall area even in good times. (perhaps, not so smart after all)

So then we go to the Mary River near Gympie, and after advising several hundreds of residents the new dam will flood you out he then tells them, "well not so many because we'll lower the dam wall height".

This area is one of the most productive farmlands anywhere in Queensland particularly in Dairying, does that matter, NO, not to Mr Beattie.

People of Queensland!!!!!

there is enough water running into the sea every day to water the greater Brisbane area from Fraser Island. 

Why can't we capture and pipe it over? someone asked me.

the simple answer is, it has been given away under a debt for equity World Heritage Protection swap. Swap for what? no one seems to know. Phone the Premiers office and ask!!!!! I suggest.

The Australian Constitution in section 100 says, "The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of trade or commerce, abridge the right of a State or the residents therein to the reasonable use of the waters of rivers for conservation or irrigation.

Remember the Franklin Dam proposal the Commonwealth blocked in Tasmania, through the use of World Heritage legislation. I have to ask are the people of Queensland prepared to fight for their constitutional rights or will we just lay down like Tasmania did.  

More dams in the south east corner are false economy and not the answer.

The only sensible answer to the water shortage, and not just Queensland, is to implement the Bradfield scheme which has been around for about 80 or 90 years. Not one Government in this country since has been responsible enough to even get it started.

I suggest only One Nation is prepared to undertake such a massive project.

People must  loudly protest the Wild Rivers Conservation act as that could serve to place another block to stop the Bradfield scheme.

think of all the jobs this would create apart from building a piece of infrastructure not seen since the Snowy Scheme, and we all know what they tried to do with that recently!!!!

People protesting, stopped that and peoples voice could also make the Bradfield scheme a reality.

18th July 2006.

NSW Liberal problems.

ABC's program on the NSW Liberal Party falling victim to a takeover from Right Wing activists at executive level was to say the least very interesting.

I wonder if these "activists" have their sights set on the federal arena also, presumably so, a spokesman decried how fundamentalists would use stand over tactics to enable them to take over branches and bleated on about how branch stacking was the way they did it.

Another admitted that branch stacking was endemic in the Liberal Party, and even though the conservatives have been using this tactic for years to get their candidates pre-selected they are now experiencing what happens when it is used against them. Ho-hum. comment. Welcome to the dirty side of politics.

'Migaloo' the white whale.               

Let's go with the call, and 'Adopt' him as a State icon and local tourist symbol.

White whale Migaloo aids research

Migaloo the white whale continues to surprise marine researchers, helping them understand whales' migration patterns.

It was spotted off the far north Queensland coast near Cairns on the weekend. A tour boat was treated to a 20-minute display by the albino whale, which was being kept company by two female whales.Wally Franklin, who heads a whale research program in Hervey Bay, says Migaloo's distinct colour is helping researchers find out more about how far and for how long whales migrate north.

"It's not unusual for humpbacks to be that far north," he said."There are a small number that travel north of Cairns."What's very interesting about Migaloo is the fact that he is so distinctive and people are able to spot him."He's actually giving us information that we otherwise would find difficult to get."

Middle east War.

Israel acting in self-defence, says Howard.

 Prime Minister John Howard has blamed Hezbollah for starting the current crisis between Lebanon and Israel sayin gthe group provoked the Jewish stateinto "self-defence" by going across the border and seizing soldiers.

Hezbollah has shot rockets at targets in northern Israel, including the town of Tiberias.

Russian President has called Israel's response as "disproportionate".

Mr Howard has echoed comments by US President Bush, who said the violence started because of the kidnap of the two Israeli soldiers. It is understood that the kidnap was undertaken to swap some of the Lebanese prisoners the Israelis have locked up, something that Israel says it will not comply with.

Long time Middle-Eastern correspondent, British "Independent" newspaper journalist Robert Fisk, told Tony Jones of ABC's Lateline, every time they (Israel) are told by some various guerilla group to surrender prisoners, they refuse to do so, and then they do. In 2004, they said they would not release any prisoners and then released 1050 for one Israeli spy and the bodies of three dead soldiers. In 1985 they released 495 prisoners and I'm sure they'll end up releasing some more in return for the two captured soldiers. It would be nice to turn off the rhetoric.

Tony Jones: It is hard to work out who actually are being targeted. Israeli's spokesman is saying that Israel is being very surgical in the strikes into Lebanon, Is that your experience from what you have seen on the ground.

Robert Fisk: Well, he's either not being told the truth or he's lying. On the ground, I can tell you that the slaughter of innocents continues and the Israelis are well aware they're killing many civilians. They can see from their photo reconnaissance what they're doing. For example, on Saturday, the Israelis themselves ordered 20 villages to leave their homes close to the scene of the soldier's capture on Wednesday. They left their homes in a convoy of vehicles and were immediately bombed by an Israeli American-made F-16 aircraft and were incinerated - all 20 burned alive in their cars. The civil defence headquarters in Tyre, which is known to be a civil defence headquarters, was bombed. 20 more civilians died. In a house near Nabatiye, eight children were killed and two more killed but they were actually annihilated. They simply evaporated in the bomb explosion. One baby lost its head. Terrible, terrible scenes. These pictures are widely been shown in the news on this region. The Israelis see them themselves, they know exactly what they're doing. It is clearly a collective punishment of people, as well as damage to infrastructure.

 TONY JONES: The Israelis are taking terrible civilian casualties. The question is, how can this be stopped?

ROBERT FISK: Well number one, all civilian casualties - I know. First of all I think the exchange rate for death in this fearful war is about one Israeli dead to six Lebanese dead. It needs to be remembered. Yes, I've seen the pictures you're talking about. They've already reached Beirut and there are casualties in Haifa as well. A great tragedy for those people who've died, there's no doubt about it. How do you stop it?  

TONY JONES: If you were to look at it from the Israeli perspective, as you say, the Security Council resolution 1559 called for the disarming of Hezbollah. In fact, the opposite has happened. There are hundreds if not thousands of missiles, increasingly sophisticated missiles, now in southern Lebanon. Aren't the Israelis within their rights to go in and disarm Hezbollah, which threatens them, if nobody else will do it?

ROBERT FISK: Well, it sounds good but they can't do it. You see, the problem is it happens with all armies. I've seen it with the British in Northern Ireland, with the Americans in Iraq. The generals have these wide-sweeping ideas. "We have to do this," "We have to disarm this," but the Hezbollah is one of the most efficient, hardened, ruthless guerilla armies in the world. To do what you're suggesting, and what the Israelis claim they can do, you'll need to send about 100,000 troops into Lebanon and they'll be eaten up just as they were in 1982 with massive casualties. And the Israelis don't want that. They're not going to be able to disarm the Hezbollah. Back in 1996, the Israelis said, "We demand and insist upon and will not stop firing into Lebanon until the Hezbollah is disarmed." Then they had a ceasefire and the Hezbollah was not disarmed, of course, and it's not going to be disarmed now. This is rhetoric for the benefit of folk like you and me to print in our newspapers and say on Australian television, but it's not going to happen.

TONY JONES: As you say, the Israelis are denying they've lost one of their aircraft, is there anything in Beirut which would have the capability of shooting down - or anyone who would have the capability of shooting down an Israeli jet?

ROBERT FISK: Well, this is the question, you see. I've been asking the same in my paper the Independent. The Hezbollah clearly were able to shoot at that warship with a teleguided missile on Friday and hit into Midships and kill four sailors and it was almost two miles out to sea. If you can hit a warship at two miles, you can probably hit an F-16 at one mile. If, in fact, the Israeli Air Force is vulnerable to teleguided missiles, then this changes totally the balance of military capability in the skies over Lebanon. But obviously, at the moment, we don't know what it is. As I recorded and as you've just said, the Israelis say they haven't lost a plane. I think they said they haven't lost a jet, but we don't know whether it was a helicopter or not. But certainly something came out of the sky and it's widely assumed that if the Hezbollah can hit a modern naval vessel out at sea at that range so perfectly, militarily speaking, dead at Midships, then they can bring down an aeroplane. At the moment when Israeli aircraft fly over Beirut you see them drop phosphorous and this is to mislead heat-seeking missiles which the Palestinians used to use, say, back in 1982. But this wouldn't have been a heat-seeking missile. This would have been a teleguided missile, not even wire-guided. That would have been a much higher technology and we know that - I know as a fact from Beirut that the missile that hit the Israeli ship was made in Iran.

TONY JONES: That would be extremely worrying, because the types of missiles that have been used by Hezbollah appear to be much more sophisticated than anyone expected and they're reaching further into Israel and this partly explains the power with which Israel is responding?

ROBERT FISK: Well, it also explains the cruelty of Israel's response to the original capture of the two soldiers and the killing of three of its soldiers. Partly accounts for the firing of the missiles into Israel by Hezbollah. It depends on where you start the story. Up until now you see, up until this point, whenever Israel have bombarded Israel they've left the slaughter of innocents behind them. We're standing at 143 or possibly more Lebanese dead now and Israel apart from a few Katyusha, low-range Katyusha rockets over the border was comparatively safe. This is no longer the case. The whole balance of power in this region is changing because now the Israelis find they are dying in quite large numbers as well. Obviously every death, whether it be Israeli or Palestinian or whether it be Lebanese, is a tragedy. But what is clearly the case is that in the past when the Israelis could bomb Lebanon with impunity, those days have gone.

comment. The tragedy is that the only powers, including the UN, that could intervene in this conflict are apparently unwilling to take any action apart from words about how tragic the situation is.

What do we do say, nothing? in case we upset the dominant military power in the region or its allies. I think the time is overdue for John Howard to be putting a time frame on when Australia's troops should be brought home, given that no evidence has been found to justify our involvement through the ANZUS treaty we have with the US.  A further comment from Robert Fisk was that no Christian army has ever defeated a Muslim one in the area. A point to consider carefully.

  Energy.

It appears John Howard has been reading more One Nation releases recently with his address covering Australia's future energy requirements.

He said, how the country was in need of national water and energy bodies, and I note that another little piece of Queensland's autonamy was stripped from it with the federal government decision to apply the National Competition Policy to third party companies wanting to gain access to Queensland's gas pipeline system without the Queensland Governments regulation.

In fact the Parliamentary Secretary to the Federal Treasurer Mr Chris Pearce, has approved schemes covering access to gas pipelines in Tasmania and the Electricity grid in Western Australia for 15 years without any regulation or oversight from the ACCC. 

Comment. So much for the Fed's gaining its authority from the States, This is nothing more than blatant centralisation and no doubt more money into corporate wallets.