Saturday 7th June 1997
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Amongst the most greedy the National Australia Bank simply raised their monthly "account keeping fee" to Au$10 from Au$8. Not bad for an account, which on average carries two maybe three entries per month. I have been fortunate enough to be able to organise to move my NAB home loan to another major bank ANZ - where the monthly accounting fee debacle is not levied.
Bank competotors point out that the "fee" can be posted to the outstanding home loan adding several thousands of dollars in interest to the loan over a long period of time".
The price of STD telephone calls in Australia is set to fall by 80% once de-regulation comes in according to a leading telecommunications analyst, Paul Budde. Speaking about his report, which was released just three weeks before deregulation comes into play, Budde said, "As the Productivity Commission report indicates, we are nowhere near where we can get in terms of price falls."
Budde said that 40% of Australian companies already use another telecommunications company in preference to Telstra when using the international service.
The Packer family is believed to be holding talks with Microsoft about forming a possible alliance which could allow Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) to take a big stake in the Australian division of Bill Gate's company.
Earlier this week Microsoft's Australian boss, Mr Petre, said that PBL were exploring options with Microsft but that no deals had, as yet, been signed.
Pauline Hanson's One Nation Official home page.The original booking was taken out by the Pauline Hanson Support Group - the owners of the convention centre cancelling the booking after the trouble associated with protesters who disrupted previous One Nation launches around Australia.
for Hanson's Adelaide meeting.
Dear Sir,
Although I am not a Singaporean citizen, I will defend the truth. The message you post on your site today (6/6/97) concerning discrimination against Malays in Singapore is a biased, twisted and distorted view.
Without listening to the Singaporean opinion, how could you pass a judgement saying "Seems like the issue of multiculturalism is not restricted to Australia alone..."? There is no alleged racial discrimination here as observed by a foreigner like me. I am sure many Aussies living in this country will make identical statements. Everyone living in this country is given equal rights and opportunities. There are rewards for the hard-working people, be they Malays, Indians or Chinese. Why should the lazy bones get a fair share? There are impoverished Chinese as well as Malays living in Singapore! If this nation is indeed that "pro-Chinese", why did the government sue the opposition party leader for his Chinese chauvinism? It is very unwise to surf on the Internet looking for exotic but irrelevant stories to justify whatever happens in Australia. If you are interested in the cultural and ethnic fabric of the Singaporean society, you should spend more time in the library and find out the facts for yourself.
Sincerely,
Dr Wan Kai Tak, Singapore
"Asian" migration to Australia.
There is much food for thought with regard to the " swamped by Asians" comment. In fact we are considering having "Asian Immigration to Australia" as the next topic in our Home Page. We think Australia needs to be more specific with the words "Asian Immigration." Basically we feel the term refers more to the Chinese Race. They are the ones that are more affluent and have very little loyalties to the countries of which they are citizen. They are the ones that would emigrate readily. We noted with interest that in the case of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, 99% of the emigrants from these countries to Australia, are of Chinese stock. Very few Malays would emigrate no matter how much wealth opportunities there are in Australia. Should you extend the same analysis, to the Philippines and Thailand , the same result will probably show. We do not have to mention Hongkong and Taiwan as the countries are basically all Chinese. It is thus time that Australia change the term Asian Immigration to Chinese Race Immigration. The move would endear Australia more to the Asian Countries, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia and would alienate fewer Asian countries. Asian Immigration is a cover, the Chinese Race readily hides under.
Referring to the "shortage of workers"in Malaysia comment, the answer is "yes"and "no." Yes, if the viewpoint is taken form pure economic analysis. Malaysia needs many skilled and unskilled labourers or factory workers. At the higher end, Malaysia needs many IT professionals and engineers. The answer is "no" if you take into account that across the country, you have thousands of traditional Malay farmers and Malay fishermen who would not give up their traditional occupations for mundane jobs. These people value freedom and religion above all else, generating much chagrin between Politicians and Businessmen. The former is motivated by Power and the latter, by Greed. These are the very attributes regarded distasteful by Malay farmers and Malay fishermen.
Aimi Abas, Singapore
We will try to obtain the breakdown of migration by country from the Australian Bureau of Statistics as we do not believe that the majority of Asian migrants to Australia are from China.Editor.
Subject: few comments
Australians are well treated by the Japanese only because they come to
Japan as tourists and not as immigrants to flood the country. If the
latter was true, the Australians would receive similar treatment to the
one which the Koreans get who have been residing in Japan for
generations, and are still exposed to open racism. If I was to compare a
Japanese to a Korean, they would appear to me exactly same looking, and
their cultures are also very similar. And yet, Japanese treat the
Koreans as inferiors and discriminate against them. They are also
opposed to any interracial marriages, and when a Japanese girl once
married a Canadian who I knew, her entire family turned against the
couple.
If the Asians tell us on every occasion that it doesn't matter what race
will inhabit which country, then how can they explain the Chinese
government's decision in the mid 1960s to expel all Moslems from China,
and I don't think I even have to start describing what's going on in
Tibet. Another interesting question to ask is why did China's gov't
refuse to give the Chinese citizenship to the East Indians living in
Hong-Kong. Why did the Indonesian gov't set up the policy of bringing in
settlers to the already overpopulated Java from other Indonesian
islands? It's obvious that the Asians fully understand and appreciate
the importance of one's race, and they make multiculturalism such a hot
topic for as long as they're the minority.
Peter Sarich
Subject: Comments on Australian News of the Day
I don't know what kind of 'research' the Foundation for Aboriginal and
Islander Research Action does, but it can't be very effective if Les
Malezer thinks that history shows no cases of atrocities being committed
by blacks. The entire history of North Queensland is a running account
of attacks by blacks and reprisals by whites. From the massacre of the
German Strau family in the early days of the Palmer gold rush, to the
massacre of the Wills family at Cullen la Ringo with literally hundreds
of instances in between, what is described is a war. It was duly fought
by both sides in the way they thought most appropriate at the time, and
like all the wars in history it is best forgotten.
This would be the first war ever in which the descendents of the victors
have to be persecuted because their ancestors won. It's time to end this
'inherited tribal (White Man's) guilt' nonsense!
Graham Strachan
Subject: Gratitude
DEO GRATIAS
There has been so much emphasis placed on the word,`sorry` in the last
few weeks, it is about time we saw the other side of the coin and looked
at words like, `thank you`.
With all the millions that have been poured into ATSIC why hasn`t anybody
shown even the faintest sign of appreciation to the taxpayers who provide
these endless, mostly wasted, funds? Must the gift horse always be
looked in the mouth and greeted with a swelling chorus of: GIMEE! GIMEE!
GIMEE!
It`s not as though white Australia really owes aboriginals some horrific
debt. If England hadn`t taken possession of Australia then some other
country most certainly would have. People who lack state-of-the-art
weaponry have no chance of holding their country against invaders - ask
the Eskimoes, they don`t inhabit the artic circle by choice, they were
driven their by superior weaponry. Most of us white mob were conquered
by Mongols at one stage of the game but I for one have no intention of
asking the descendants of Ghengis Khan to say sorry. Let bygones be
bygones. History is just that, HISTORY, not a lever for compensation.
In fact as far as the aboriginals are concerned England might very well
have been the considerably lesser of two or three evils. Take a look at
Indonesia`s treatment of the Timorese and ask yourself what hopes would
the aboriginals have had of surviving with that invader? And what even
remoter possibility existed of either Indonesia or Japan fostering a body
like ATSIC and providing it with billions?
How about a little, ta! Thanks-a-bunch, instead of recriminations and
abuse. Everyone was harsh on one another in the good-old-days, people
were sentenced to seven years hard labour and transported to Van Diemen's
Land for stealing a loaf of bread. Take the gifts of today in the spirit
they are given and at least show some faint sense of appreciation even
though no obligation is called for. And for the sake of all indigenous
people do not allow your leaders to go overseas rubbishing Australia -
there is a limit to the number of times that anyone should bite the hand
that feeds them. Be grateful for small mercies my old Mum used to say
and if you can`t thank anyone else thank god and the British system of
justice.
Bill Lambe (Senior)
Yesterday things went from bad to worse in the first Ashes test against England. The Australian team now have a deficit of over 330 runs on England's first innings - and there are still four English batsmen still to come.
Former Australian coach Bob Simpson got into hot water during the week and is now expected to be sacked from his position as a representative on the International Cricket Council's referees board after he wrote a column for the Daily Mail on Wednesday. The article claimed that Taylor's continuing presence in the Australian team had the potential to destroy it.
Have a great day.
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