Saturday 5th April 1997
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Issues - timed calls for Internet use. Sir William urged all levels of the population to make themselves fully aware of the issues related to the republic debate and said that the nation's educators had a duty to ensure that students understood the constitutional implications.
His concern was centered around the two sides of the argument starting to attack each other as "un-Australian" or "disloyal" saying that the country's best interests were served by democratic debate.
"Otherwise, the unbearable cost of constitutional deliberations and decisions could be national divisiveness and disunity," he said in Brisbane yesterday after receiving an honorary doctorate from Griffith University.
"Obviously, the issues which must be addressed by the Australian people in the coming years can only be intelligently considered and resolved if there is a general basic understanding of relevant competing considerations and arguments," Deane said.
"Hopefully, Australia's education authorities and teachers will take steps necessary to ensure that any student who passes through any of our school systems is given at least basic instruction about our Constitution and the system of Government which it embodies.
"I am confident that Sir Samuel Griffith's (the nation's first High Court chief justice and pioneering draftsman of the current Australian Constitution) example will be followed and that the discussion and decision on the constitutional questions which will arise in the coming years (will) be marked by mutual tolerance, respect and understanding," he continued.
The withdrawal of official National Party support for the meeting followed Ms Hanson's decision to form her own party called One Nation last month. The move by the National Party backfired.... as it showed the tremendous underswell of support that the average Australian has for her policies.
The meeting attracted over 1000 supporters and gave real hope that a number of One Nation candidates could be successfully elected at the next Federal election.
Queensland State Premier Rob Borbidge said, "For those people who think that the support she's attracting is exclusivly at the cost of the National Party, I would suggest that she is attracting an enormous amount of blue-collar support from Labor as well."
He went on to say that the failure of the Federal Coalition to act decisively on the Wik decision was playing right into Ms Hanson's hands.
"John Howard won't have one Pauline Hanson, he'd have Pauline Hanson's from one end of Australia to another," he said.
Borbidge went on to say that Ms Hanson was drawing crowds because she was saying things that Australians wanted to hear. (ie She is listening to the average Australian's concerns and responding to them). For example Ms Hanson said yesterday that Australians were "sick" of politicians saying one thing but doing another.
She said that while she was planning to concentrate on the launch of her One Nation party for the next Federal election she would consider running candidates in the state election.
"If I can get my party up and running and get the financial backing and help from people out there, then yes I will run (candidates)", she said. About 400 people are booked to attend a Hanson dinner at Goondiwindi on Wednesday - just 3 days after the National's central council meeting.
Extensive political commentary and links can be found on Palmer's Australian Politics page.
In an address to Griffith University where he was being conferred with an honorary doctorate (yes they do seem to be handing them out like pancakes at a school ahletics meet) Argus said that he believed that the government wanted to increase competition in the banking industry.
"It will want to do that by reducing current restrictions on the operations of foreign banks here. I would totally support that initiative.
"I believe it will also want to reduce restrictions on the operations of Australian banks - particularly in the area of mergers. I would obviously support that.
"My vision is for Australia to have a banking and financial sector that is among the most efficient and competitive in the world. I see an industry that also has medium and small niche service providers. I see an industry with the scale and financial resources necessary to support the technology and product innovation required by Australian consumers.
"Now all of this will require the Federal Government to respond favourably to the findings of the Wallis inquiry. And that is why it would be unfortunate if they passed up that rare opportunity."
What a load of political cods wallup. A thousand viable technology based companies have been financially starved out of existence by National Australia Bank because they did not meet with the "financial systems accreditation" spewed out by a computer. Hundreds of Australian innovations, patents and inventions go off shore each decade because the Australian banks - including National Australia Bank refuse to back them. Millions of Australians live in abject poverty because they have been allowed by the banks to get into a controlled level of debt where the cycle of interest payments massively detracts from their lifestyle while padding the bank balances of the bank's well-to-do shareholders. And the biggest corporate scumbag of them all is none other than National Australia Bank who made over Au$2 billion in profits - largely screwed out of these very same battling Australians.
Oh, and guess who is one of the major beneficiaries of a rising share price...
Good news yesterday with a good mate being cleared by the magistrates court of a defamation action brought against him by an Ipswich City Councillor. The councillor is now up for his legal costs (amounting to a five figure sum) and Alan Bryant can now enjoy his koalas and his semi-retirment once again.
Our thoughts are with you Alan in what has been a stressful time. Keep up your good community work mate..
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