Friday 1st May 1998

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Subscribers get free access to the monthly "The Strategy" on-line from April 1998.

Recent stories exclusive to  (how to) subscribe/rs of the Australian National News of the Day:

The Internet and the DEATH of the MAI - 30th April  
Launch of Pauline Hanson's re-election campaign - 29th April  
Second One Nation protest surprises Bob McMullan - 28th April  
Sultan of Brunei buys up big tracks of Australia - then negotiates Indonesian "settlements" 25th April
Maritime Union of Australia win in the Federal Court 22nd April
Just who is behind the dock war? 19th April
One Nation Birthday Party on Pauline Hanson's farm 10th-12th April
One Nation state and federal candidates meet in Toowoomba 4th -5th April
Hindmarsh Island Bridge case thrown out by High Court 2nd April
The Hindmarsh Island Bridge farce revealed 31st March

Current topical links (available to all readers):
[Links to the MAI]
[Queensland One Nation State Election website] [One Nation Federal Web Site]
Archive of weekly features (available to all readers):
[The Canberra Column] [Economic Rationalism]

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

The great Australian sell-off

Government:

Between 1989 and 1997 Australian state and federal governments have sold off over Au$60 billion's worth of public assets largely to multinationals who pay little or no tax.

The list of the victims can be found here.

Business:

And if that is not bad enough look at the household Australian names now in the hands of multinationals:

Australia continues to lose control of many of its best-known brands, as foreign investors increase their holdings in our food, clothing and other industries, according to figures for the last six months of 1997.

The figures in the latest AusBuy bulletin showed Australians paying out more than $15 billion to foreign investors and lenders in the second half of 1997, including dividends to the growing number of foreign-owned companies making everything Australian from Vegemite to Tim Tams. Since 1990-91, overseas interests with a stake in Ausralian businesses have earned $180.6 billion in interest and dividends.

Mr Harry Wallace, the president of the Australian Owned Companies Association, which produces Ausbuy guides and bulletins, warned that it was not enough to simply try to buy Australian-made if the profits were going offshore and fuelling Australia's current account deficit - totalling $133.8 billion in the seven-and-half years to 1991.

He said foreign ownership levels in Australia were high compared with other industrialised countries. He cited a 1995 Reserve Bank study, which found that the level of foreign ownership in 1992-93 was equivalent to 16.3 per cent of GDP, against 4.2 per cent in Canada.

The death of the MAI

I love to see bureaucrats crawl, fawn, to be shown what they are.. when it is an international bureaucrat the pleasure is even greater. Don Johnston the OECD Chief had to do just this after the MAI was effectively put to sleep...

Don Johnston, who showed his slimy side on a recent Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme, faced a barrage of questions on whether "period of assessment", the language of the ministerial communique, meant the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, which has been a magnet for anti-globalisation pressure groups, was dead. He denied there was a real delay, pointing out that ministers had also authorised the MAI negotiating committee to resume work in October and reach "a successful and timely conclusion" on differences ranging across culture, environment and labour protection.

However, Senator Rod Kemp, Australia's Assistant Treasurer, appeared unconcerned about the latest delay, saying it was clear "significant issues" needed to be resolved, and this would take time. This reflects Australia's recent cooling to an MAI.

Let us remember Kemp and Downer were the guys who called Pauline Hanson "uninformed and ignorant" when she blew the whistle on the MAI in January this year.

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Written at the U.N. in 1948:

Full document available from this link

WHEREAS recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Latest Clinton joke doing the rounds in the US.

Clinton was walking around the white house with a pair of ladies panties on his arm. Everyone was looking at him and wondering what he was doing now.

After about an hour one guy got brave enough to ask him what he was doing with the pair of ladies panties on his arm and Clinton replied: "It's the patch, I'm trying to quit."

You say:

Don't you just LOVE it!!!

Here they are, the high-paid bureaucrats for OECD; the PR firms for the multinationals; the bought and paid for "economists" at the think tanks and name universities; the "journalists" for the establishment news organs....

an expensive group...charged with the job of making certain that real democracy is forever irrelevant; for further entrenching the interests of the folks who get richer even as they sleep at the expense of those who get poorer even as they work; for putting a legal gloss on fraud and swindle.

So what happens? Proving the old saying that there is as good in the ranks as ever came out of them, "ordinary" citizens empowered with a better communications device took the lies of the "elites" and destroyed them one by one.

Marchi is wrong--this is NOT a problem of "communications." This is an example of how a tiny amount of light can gum up the works of the most carefully crafted lies. Your problem, Marchi, is that the facts are not on your side. The more people know about your pathetic "globalism," the more they detest it. You guys were crafting an agreement in SECRET--Just what sort of "communication" works under those circumstances? Just remember, the "benefits" that Ms. Barlow accurately called "pathetic" were probably inflated garbage in the first place.

So apparently, what Marchi calls "better communication" can only be grander lies. Imagine the dilemma facing those overpaid frauds--they can craft greater lies, but they are up against a system that can refute their claims at nearly the speed of light.

The frauds will be back--what else can those folks do? But somehow, it seems appropriate to celebrate the battle won even if the war is forever.

Congratulations to everyone.

Time to go on offensive.

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regards
jon

Subject: Comments on Australian News of the Day

Dear Sir,

What a great victory we have all had , with the defeat of the M.A.I.!

It was with the greatest pleasure that i read of the defeat of this pernicious ,secretive attempt to impose, carte blanche, the will of Multi-national corporations, on the people of Australia. Democracy has overcome the bureaucracy !!!

It is indeed a Historic event, where the Internet has allowed us to , firstly ,become aware of, despite the best efforts of the Disinformation Cartel...(media), this MAI, and then to pass the information on to each other ...all over the world. It is a fascinating illustration of how, when we, the people became aware of the implications of the MAI, we rose up in protest, defeating something which would otherwise now have us well and truly ,under its control, had the secret, backstage manipulators got their way!

We CAN beat them!!

Let us now turn our attention to the preservation of this most precious instrument, our Internet, because you can be sure that the defeated ones will now be focussed upon its emasculation.

Expect with certainty, that it will occupy their fullest energies.

Globalization has not been stopped

The puppet masters have just now, realised what a powerful tool we have built with our information exchange, so, as it stands between them and their agenda, they will seek to subvert and weaken and eventually destroy its effectiveness.

We MUST be Vigilant!

Oppose ANY proposal that restricts the FREEDOM OF SPEECH on the Internet!

Expect....underhand and backdoor attempts to achieve restrictions........they will not come right out and say they want to restrict it............the attacks will be cloaked in issues such as Crime....Pornography ......Cultism.....Fraud.......Environmental Damage.......Privacy........Copyright ..and the like .

Remember...we are dealing with the DECEPTION SPECIALISTS ! Remember ..the MAI !

Yours in Freedom and Democracy
T Benge.

Subject: MAI ON HOLD

The following A.A.P. article appeared on P11 ot the Sydney Morning Herald on the 30th of April 1998.

"Global investment liberalisation put on hold.

Paris: A controversial global investment and liberalisation pact has suffered another setback, with industrialised nations at a meeting here opting for further "assessment and consultation".

This week's annual Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ministerial meeting had pledged to conclude a Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) which would help free foreign investors from national government restrictions and allow them to sue governments for discriminatory policies.

However, it was put on hold until negotiations in October.

The proposal was launched about three years ago.

France's junior European Minister, Mr Pierre Moscovici, backed by Canada, claimed the Paris decision amounted to a suspension of talks. He is under pressure to protect the French film industry from being swamped by Hollywood blockbusters.

But the OECD's Secretary General, Mr Donald Johnston, insisted: "It's not really a delay."

He said governments could use the next six months to persuade politicians, non-governmental organisations and the public of the importance of the MAI.

Australia's representative at the OECD council, the Assistant Treasurer, Senator Kemp, said there were deep divisions between the countries and it would take more time to resolve them.

Senator Kemp said the Federal Government could see a benefit in an "appropriately worded" MAI, as it would provide greater security for Australia's overseas investments, but Australia would sign the treaty only if it was demonstrably in the national interest.

The United States signalled this month that it was displeased with the MAI, saying it was in no hurry to pass the treaty. (Australian Associated Press)"

Ron from Swansea

Subject: Death of the MAI

Congratulations..

Peter Cook

Subject: MAI

The Perth Branch of One Nation party strongly opposes the signing of MAI agreement until the details of this agreement are published in full a all the details revealed to the public of Australia and the people are given the right to express their opinion. The Australian press should be made to publish true and accurate details of this agreement and not the revised version.

Martin Lebedinsky
George Robb on behalf of Perth Branch-One Nation

Subject: Feedback

Having read your banking pages, the operative words appear to be "we failed to check". Getting the best deal on any loan requires heaps of research, time and effort.

You cannot realistically expect a Bank to put its profits last- a reference to trusting the Banks to "do the right thing"

NOELLA NAWEENA NOESHKA KRELEGER - student
The University of Western Australia

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Another perfect day in paradise.

Yesterday morning my wife and I re-affirmed our wedding vows. Pics below...

Have a good one.

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