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an Aussie's viewpoint on Australia's first daily Internet newspaper.
Since October 1995

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Wednesday, 11th February 1998
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Archive of weekly features: [The Canberra Column] [Economic Rationalism]
Day by day reports on the Constitutional Conventional reports by Peter Mackay

International:

THE NEW ‘FREE MARKET’: OLIGOPOLY .

Extract from this week's article by Graham Strachan:

Time now to consider whether economic rationalism really is ‘neo-classical free market economics’ risen from the dead, or whether it is something else. It will be recalled that a genuine free market was a market of potentially unlimited numbers of small/medium sized businesses (entrepreneurial not corporate), competing on a more or less equal footing, in a marketplace which newcomers could freely enter, and in which none could control price, supervised by a sovereign government. In such a market consumer demand would inspire entrepreneurs to start business and develop new products which competition would then ensure were of highest quality and sold to the consumer at the lowest possible price. That was the theory (1)

The "I'm so sorry Pauline" web page continues to attract media attention.

Yesterday afternoon I was phoned by then interviewed live by the presenter Mike Jeffries of 2GB (Maquarie Radio) in Sydney about the "I'm so sorry Pauline" web page. What I find quite remarkable, and expressed these feelings during the interview, is what is treated as newsworthy. For example, this "sorry" page offering an apology to a very special person who is being abused by the media right now was seen as more newsworthy than the threat to our sovereignty. A real threat through the negotiations by the OECD with the multinationals through the multilateral agreement on investment (MAI). An international treaty which is being covered up by the mainstream media.

The bland response was, "Well it's Pauline"... the obvious obsession by the media with Pauline Hanson makes the lie of the bleats by the loony left that she is an attention seeker.

Political correctness and illicit ministerial affairs.

Queensland state government ministers were accused by the estranged wife of state Natural Resources Minister Howard Hobbs, Marilyn Hobbs, of having illicit extra-marital affairs with "young female staff". The female staff then accompanied the ministers on tax payer paid trips around the state and overseas according to Mrs Hobbs.

Her husband was implicated as one of those involved.

The state's Premier, Rob Borbidge, then said that where this had occurred female staff found to be engaging in extra marital affairs with ministers would be moved to other departments.

All seems pretty straight forward up to now - but now enter the politically correct "Office of Women's Affairs" executive director - Meredith Jackson.

She has called the claim that female staff were having extra marital affairs with ministers at tax payers expense as "sexist and insulting"... yes that's right sexist.... what are we supposed to report? That the ministers were having extra marital affairs with "things or people or persons"... that opens a whole lot of damaging doors. Were those persons male? Are the ministers involved queer?

Mrs Jackson said she found it offensive that female staff were being put under the spotlight and being accused of having affairs with ministers, "I'm very concerned about the whole thing and I think it's become quite sexist with the attention being focussed on female staff.

"It really casts a terrible shadow over every decent woman working in an advisory role."

Not a big field I might add, as of the 59 ministerial advisers only 13 are female.

Packer's stooge and Liberal heavyweight, Michael Kroger,
appointed to the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) board.

Michael Kroger the banker who would have scored millions if Packer had secured Fairfax last year, was known to be lobbying to his Liberal mates to get Packer the prize at this time. Kroger's prize was the proverbial 30 pieces of silver he would have got as the banker dealing with the transaction.

Now Kroger, remembering his ties with Packer, has been put in a position of influence on the board of the independent ABC.

Is it any wonder that this country is going to the dogs?

The big lie behind the MAI

Extract from this article:

The potential impact of MAI lies in the rapidly changing global political economy. The annual revenues of the 500 largest corporations in the world are some $10 trillion, around twice the size of the gross domestic product of the United States, the biggest economy in the world today. In a single year -- 1994 -- the Global 500 revenues increased by 9 percent and its profits soared by a colossal 62 percent. But notwithstanding such huge profits, the Global 500 in that same year eliminated 262,000 jobs.

Political:

The Day of the Models

I had fondly imagined, when this Constitutional Convention began, that public interest would wane after the opening ceremony. After all, I have found that my love of constitutional history is very close to self abuse, so rare is it to find another kindred spirit. There are a few of us around, and we haunt musty old bookshops for the biographies of our founding fathers, correspond with a few scattered souls, and come together for the odd conference or public lecture.

So it was with some surprise that I noted that, far from shortening out of existence, the queue for places in the public gallery is growing steadily longer, with visitors to Old Parliament House happy to wait an hour or more for the chance of watching twenty minutes of debate.

Not that loitering in Kings Hall is much of an inconvenience. Two large screen televisions show the events inside the chamber, and the hall itself is alive with movement, as the media chase the delegates, and the delegates chase each other. At any given moment there are a half-dozen household names on public display.

Even the old Senate chamber is filling up, getting more crowded in the afternoons when visitors opt to take the weight off their feet rather than stand in the queue. The way things are going, the seats on the floor will fill and the overflow will move up to the public galleries.

Personally, I cannot think of a better place to watch the debates without actually being in the old Representatives chamber. The red leather cushions get a bit uncomfortable after a few hours (and I speak from personal experience), but the rich red leather, the dark wood panelling and the sheer vintage grandeur of the Senate chamber combine to create a sense of place that is entirely appropriate to the debate projected on the big screen before the President's chair. In the darkened chamber the ghosts of old Parliamentarians are very close.

And the stage has been set for a wonderful climax to the convention. In an often heated debate this afternoon, the rules were laid down for the final voting over which republican model will be put to the people.

Every time I look, another model has appeared on the table. In no particular order, I find:

The ARM Model: A two thirds vote of a joint sitting of Parliament appoints a Head of State selected by the Prime Minister.

The Direct Election Group Model: A two thirds vote of a joint sitting of Parliament selects three candidates from public nominations to be put to the people for preferential election.

The McGarvie Model: Three "elders" appoint and remove the Head of State on the advice of the Prime Minister.

The Hayden Model: Candidates who receive the support of 1% of voters via petition are put forward to the people for optional preferential election. The winner is appointed, and may be dismissed, on proven misbehaviour or incapacity, by a majority of a joint sitting of Parliament.

The Hill Model: Essentially a more elegant ARM model, with dismissal by a majority vote of the House of Representatives alone.

The Bolkus Compromise: The Prime Minister selects a candidate from a list of public nominations. This candidate is approved by a majority of a joint sitting of Parliament, otherwise as per the Hill Model.

I have no doubt that more models will emerge overnight.

With the signatures of ten delegates required for a model to be accepted for consideration, there is a theoretical maximum of fifteen models (out of 152 delegates). However votes for late-comers are hard to come by, as the ARM and the Direct Election Group have forbidden their delegates to endorse any model but that of the bloc.

After much discussion (and head-scratching), the voting process was approved on Wednesday afternoon. In the first round, all eligible models are considered and voted upon. Each delegate may vote for only one of the models, and their name and vote will be recorded against a roll.

The model gaining the least support will be released into the wild, and the next round will contain only those remaining. This process continues until only two remain. The next step (Round 4A in ConventionSpeak) sees these two models pitted against the status quo. Round 4B sees the two survivors go forward for an elimination vote.

This takes up Thursday morning. The afternoon is used to knock the preferred model into shape, and Friday is devoted to tying up loose ends.

At this stage, it is difficult to predict how things will go in the final vote. Certainly there is a good deal of horse-trading going on now, and even more as models are successively eliminated on Thursday morning. The supporters of each eliminated model are bound to receive fabulous proposals to pitch in with one or other of the survivors.

There is also going to be a great deal of brinkmanship and "strategic voting". This is where the monarchists, who are presumed to support no change, will vote for a "least worst" model. The Round 4A/4B shuffle is designed to reveal this strategic voting, and theoretically has no other purpose, though a great deal of suspicion was thrown around as to what it really meant.

I see the voting progressing smoothly through four or five preliminary rounds as the "minor" models are examined and eliminated. The crunch comes when only three models remain, presumably a direct election model, a Parliamentary appointment model, and the McGarvie Model. At this stage, each will have the support of one of the major blocs, and the votes of the non-aligned delegates will be crucial.

I cannot see a Parliamentary election model being eliminated (though the growing distaste for Malcolm Turnbull might well see the ARM's model given a pounding), so it really comes down to either direct election or the McGarvie Model being killed off. Despite the threats, I doubt if more than a handful of delegates will vote against their stated platforms. The rabid republicans have suggested that they will vote for the status quo rather than anything less than a direct election model, but I am sure that when crunch time arrives, the republicans will vote for whatever republican model remains or abstain, rather than retain the Queen.

We then have the 4A intervention, which will expose the real level of republican support, as the monarchists will vote for the status quo.

The moment of truth arrives in Round 4B, when one model is voted out of existence, and the other is declared the winner. I'll stick my neck out and predict a victory for the ARM model, going by the observed uniformity of thought, their superior organisation skills and their bloc discipline.

It will then be chopped to pieces in the afternoon's debate, when those who originally supported something else will attempt to modify it in their preferred direction.

All in all, it will be a day of high drama, and I hope that the ambulances are lined up outside the door.

And the queue for the public gallery will probably stretch a couple of times around Kings Hall.

You say:

Subject: Iraq

The story so far is that Saddam is a dead-set "Bumhead". This might be and probably is the case, BUT I would like to know who made the Americans the World's Police Force???

God help Australia if we ever give the U.N. or the Yanks the shits. It's no wonder little Johnny is screaming "How high??" as Dirty Bill yells "Jump!!"

from
Wags

Subject: Comments on Australian News of the Day

Dear Sir

If Richard Borowski lived in the middle-east he probably would have a better understanding of the real situation with regards Iraq than sitting in his nice comfy armchair in front of his computer here in Australia. There is no doubt that the situation which is already out of hand needs to be resolved. Of course we all could just sit here pontificating and continue to play with words whilst the opportunity to change a possible horrifying thanatological future passes.

Oh yes, my opinion is based on living, working and surviving in the middle-east for some five years and not by the so called mind numbing mass media or as a robot clone mouthing platitudes of the New World Order.

Barry Sampson Searle

Subject: Yesterday's Trevor Blencowe

Dear Sir,

And still they come ! Yesterday we had a tiny visit in these pages by a person called Trevor Blencowe. I must confess that I was absolutely blown away by the depth of research that Trevor must obviously have carried out in order to have been able to summarise all the problems facing Australia in to just one line. For those who missed Trevor's masterpiece, I will repeat it here :

"Your pathetic website must take great pleasure in Abo bashing. Have you not got anything better to do, or is this just a CONVICT thing !".

Unbelievable commentary indeed. As a daily reader of "News of the Day", I don't seem to be able to recall any "Abo Bashing" at all. I have read numerous article that verify the fact that Aborigines (not Abo's) receive privileges far in excess of other Australians. Other items have pointed out the realities of the giant land grab by "some" Aborigines and their greedy lawyers. To Trevor, this must be what "Abo bashing" is.

As to the suggestion of a "CONVICT thing", Trevor, I think you are confusing that with the "convict mentality" that exacerbated the relationships of employees to their employers, that is "the worker" looking upon "the boss" as his enemy.

Allan W. Doak

Subject: re Ernest Henry mine

Dear Sir,

You may be interested to know that there is a rumour here in Townsville that the Aboriginal land claim made on the Ernest Henry mine (MIM Holdings) has been withdrawn. It seems that the senior management of MIM (Mount Isa Mines) wrote to the federal government explaining that the continuation of this claim may result in MIM closing down operations in Australia.

I am not able to get you a copy of the letter, but I believe copies have been distributed to all MIM personnel down to section manager level.

Perhaps this rumour may be worth your investigation.

Regards
Jason

Subject: Constitutional Convention

To the editor,

Dear Sir,

Citizens' Initiated Referenda (CIR) is not a political party, is not involved with any political party, and espouses no political cause other than the rights of all of us to have a more direct say in what is happening in government.

It brings democracy back to the people where it belongs.

One main objection to its introduction is the cost, yet, the very expensive Constitutional Convention would not have been necessary if CIR was in place.

My homepage supports any political party which endorses CIR as one of its policies. Any political party without CIR, excludes the voice of the people.

Pat Sturge

From: Stuart Anderson sanders@fl.net.au
Organization: DVA
To: global@gwb.com.au

Subject: what a lot of effort for a load of crap

Your bigoted little diatribe makes me sick

Then why read it?

Editor

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Good rains overnight with more expected today.

Have a good one.

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