Monday 7th April 1997
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Issues - timed calls for Internet use.See which Senators voted timed calls in. Tell Communications Minister, Senator Alston how you feel about timed calls.
The long awaited release of the Registry of Members' and Senators' interests by the Liberal Party has revealed some shocking, in fact apalling, breaches of public trust. While the politicians have been publicly slamming the smoking of cigarettes, and by implication the manufacturers, they have been wined, dined, courted and funded by the very same companies.
For example, Prime Minister John Howard's parliamentary secretary, Nick Minchin, was entertained by Rothman's at last years Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne... this just three months after he wrote a dissenting report to the Senate committee arguing that the tobacco industry was already heavy regulated. He also criticised the move by the Senate to ban smokers from working at Edgell-Birdseye.
Assistant Treasurer, Rod Kemp, was a visitor of Phillip Morris at the same grand prix, while Health Minister Michael Woolridge's medical colleague in Federal Parliament - Andrew Southcott - accepted tickets from Phillip Morris to attend the Michael Jackson concert in Melbourne. Employment, Education and Training Minister Amanda Vanstone was one of Philip Morris' guests at last years AFL final. Bob Haverson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and his wife Maggie were Philip Morris' guests at the Three Tenors concert in Melbourne and also the Philip Morris box at the Formula One Grand Prix. Administrative Affairs minister David Jull acceptred travel and hospitality with Philip Morris at the 1996 Indy Carnival on the Gold Coast just four weeks after the Federal election. Queensland Senator Ian Macdonald was a guest of Philip Morris at the 1995 Indy Carnival race.
Australian Medical association Federal President, Keith Woollard, said he was dismayed by these "freebies". "The mood of the people is moving against the tobacco industry and I think these politicians should be judged harshly," he said.
But wait - there's more - no it doesn't stop there - in fact that is only the start... so get angry real angry...
Let us first remember that the cigarette companies have been exposed by one of their own Liggett and Meyer as liars and cheats... knowingly providing an addictive, harmful drug while proclaiming innocence for decades.
The bottom line is that cigarette companies have given Australian politicians who represent you over Au$250,000 in the last year. To be more precise:
| Cigarette Company (donation to) | Liberal Party | Labor Party | National Party |
| Philip Morris Group | Au$50,000 | Au$50,000 | Au$45,000 |
| Rothmans of Pall Mall | Au$60,000 | Unknown | Au$25,000 |
| WD and HO Wills | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
OK, so here are our hard pressed, overworked (and overpaid) Federal politicians being entertained by cigarette companies. One can only wonder how much of their "busy time" is taken up being entertained by the head honchos of media companies, banks, telecommunication companies etc... This while the self same companies are ratting around Canberra getting in the ear of the committees and bureaucrats who then advise our representatives on what decision they should take. Matters that effect you and me in the real world - and you got to believe that the soft sale approach to your political representative while at company funded functions is being lobbied very hard in the halls of Canberra.
Is it any wonder that the Federal politicians are so out of touch with the general Australian population, is it any wonder that the Independent parties are going to clean up at the next Federal election....
Take this little exercise in self gratification that took place on prime time television yesterday. You might recall that the heat is being put on Independent Senator Mal Colston by the Democrats move to have him dumped as deputy president in the Senate.
Administrative Services Minister David Jull speaking on Channel 10's Meet the Press raised the issue of years of Labor Government inaction about Colston's inappropriate claims saying, "Most of the irregularities (travel claims by Colston) happened between 1991 and 1995 now either the Labor administration were blithering incompetents or they had some reason to hide this.
"Back in 1983 Labor accepted Mal Colston's explanation of sloppy bookkeeping for his first case of misclaimed expenses. It promised to monitor his activities - something it seems not to have done."
Senator Gareth Evans later in the day on Channel 9s Sunday Program sat there like (in Paul Keating's words about John Hewson) a Tony Barlow doll all dressed up with no place to go and said the following about Jull's comment, "Well its one thing to treat him as we did then as a young mistake maker it is another thing now to look at him as an old lag with years of accumulated form."
And later from John Howard, "....everything to do with doing in the eye a bloke who ratted on your party."
So if we look back a few months and see how the Independent Member for Oxley, Pauline Hanson, was canned by the Labor Party for buying a television set from funds provided to her you begin to realise just what is going on in that place called Canberra.
In summary the place is run by lobby and interest groups who have the ear of the decision making bureaucrats who tell the politicians what to vote on because they are too busy fighting each other when they are not being entertained.
Oh yes, and what is it that former Labor numbers man Graham Richards now does? He works as a "consultant" for Channel Nine - read that as Kerry Packer.
Coslton's son Douglas yesterday said it was time for his father to fight back saying, "It's reached the point where they (Labor) have decided to call our bluff and they might find that we have information."
The comment came as:
Extensive political commentary and links can be found on Palmer's Australian Politics page.
it bloody stinks.
Kasper.
Bollag once a Swiss banker and former head of Dow (Chemical) Bank and now a private financier is central to investigations by the AFP into whether Bond concealed assets between 1992 and 1995.
It is expected that Bond and Bollag's lawyers will put all stops to prevent any questioning taking place... and with two crates of documents and 7,000 written questions there is a lot to be gone through. Bond, currently serving time in Perth's Karnet Prison Farm, will be represented by his criminal lawyer Andrew Fraser from the Melbourne firm of Galbally Fraser and Rolfe.
Bond himself once said in 1994, "We had to have another person inbetween that held an option over when the debts were paid back (in the Queensland Nickel project)... and we found one Jurgen Bollag, banker, nerchant banker, formerly chief executive of Dow Bank."
Have a great day..
Business:
Alan Bond's mysterious Swiss banker who allegedly helped him hide millions of dollars while in bankruptcy is to be interrogated by Australian Federal Police (AFP). The Public Prosecutor in the district of Zug (a small tax haven and Switzerland's wealthiest canton) will call one of their citizens Jurg Bollag in for questioning under oath.Personal trivia, from the global office:
Another magnificent day in paradise with sunny skies and warm temperatures.
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