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Since October 1995

Friday 11th July 1997

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International:

Here is an extract of the story run in the Courier Mail today:

"Ms Hanson claimed last night the Labor Party was behind violent protests against her One Nation Party.

"She said she had used the Internet to establish that Labor was linked to groups such as Militant Australia and Left Link, which she said were behind organised and often violent protests at One Nation Party functions.

"Ms Hanson said it took only five clicks on the Internet to move from the ALP's home page to pages describing the militant groups.

"The Courier-Mail followed her directions last night and confirmed it was possible to move from Labor's pages to pages discussing Militant Australia and Left Link.

"But there was no evidence Labor was officially linked to the groups."

Now can you imagine the howls of protest and interviews that would have filled this News Limited broadsheet if five clicks from One Nation's Home Page highlighted links to extremist right wing organisations?

You would have had every man and his dog from Bob Hawke to Ipswich Cr Paul Tully claiming that this was the proof that One Nation was a front for rednecks, racists and the flu epidemic.

The story is hidden under one about Education Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone who said the "redneck rantings" of Ipswich Independent Pauline Hanson could discourage foreign students from studying in Australia.

Remember the interview I had with Hajime Katijuma? Here is a small extract:

SB: What about Japanese parents sending children here?

HK: Despite what Ms Hanson might say parents will still want to send their children to Australia for an education.

But lets not let the truth get in the way of a good story for Vanstone, who said, "Pauline's pinhead policies such as restricting foreign investment and restoring trade barriers would throw Australia right out of the global ball game."

Ms Hanson's spokesman said yesterday that Vanstone was a failure who had been unable to provide answers to Australia's unemployment crisis.

About 400 Australians will today escape from war ravaged Cambodia on Hercules C-130 aircraft. The evacuation was the biggest since Australian citizens were evacuated from the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen square in China.

The evacuation was ordered by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer after Prime Minister Hun Sen ousted First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh in a bloody coup taking the capital Phnom Penh and much of the south.

Norodum, who has fled to France, still holds much of northern Cambodia - an area which is expected to become the new war front.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation Official home page.

Political:

"There has been criticism, as you all know, of the trip that John Howard has taken, or other ministers have taken, in going to other parts of the world on government business.

"I want to say here and now that I think it is fundamentally important that ministers go overseas to sell our country and take our message because sure as hell they're not going to come here to hear it."

Hop-a-long Lord Mayor Jim Soorley, currently enjoying a rate payer paid holiday in Amsterdam said that the media should stop accusing all politicians who travel of rorting the system.

He said it was "very Pauline Hanson" to tarnish everybody with the same brush because of one or two individuals.

You say:

I read in your newspaper an apparently endless commentary on the sayings and doings of Pauline Hanson. I am informed that she is a racist, is dividing Australia with her One Nation Party, is wrecking our trade with Asia, is guilty of poisonous diatribes and so on.

But nowhere do I read a report on what Ms Hanson actually says. I consider that, in the interests of objective reporting, we should be told exactly what what this person is saying, so we can make up our own minds.

J C Bowling, Bald Hills

Subject: Family evening with Pauline Hanson

Scott,

All of us who join you as Pauline Hanson's supporters envy your opportunity to share an evening with your family and hers. It must have indeed been heart-warming.

Sincerely,
john hamilton

Subject: Downer's idiocy

Somebody ought to tell Mr Downer that the average Australian family doesn't really want to be $1000 a year better off if it means their neighbour loses his job. We can do without such 'prosperity' thanks all the same, Alexander.

No social welfare benefits can substitute for a job and an earned wage. The first brings dependence and justifiable resentment, and the second brings self-reliance and dignity. But the stupid country is charging full steam ahead to the abyss.

I can't wait till the next election.

Antonia Feitz

Dear Michelle Corcoran,

Life can seem pretty straightforward at 17. All you have to do is force everybody to want the same things, and have the same values and the same opinions, the world would be just perfect wouldn't it? And what your teachers have told you to believe is just right, isn't it Michelle? It's all so simple. Why won't these fools see?

When you reach 18 and maturity, you might start to suspect that people have been lying to you, people you thought you could trust, authority figures, your teachers, media heroes, even parents maybe. Some of them mean well but have been sucked in the way you have, some of them do it deliberately because they want a piece of your arse. They want you to rush in and buy every crappy product they mass produce, they want you to give away your freedom, your country, your culture, your future and follow the herd: right into their hands.

Part of growing up is learning to distrust these authority figures, distrust the 'popular' opinion, get all the facts and weigh them up for yourself. 'New' and 'popular' have never meant 'true'. The most popular and progressive opinion once was that the world was flat. If the authority figures had gained their way "flat earth denial" would still be a crime. In many ways the people who have influenced you still think the world is flat, and that everybody else but them is a fool.

Here's a hint: never believe the big media when they tell you 'this is what the vast majority of Australians believe'. They are insulting your intelligence, and trying to influence you to follow the sheep.

All the best, Michelle, and I was impressed with your ability to write coherently. Many 17 year-olds aren't so fortunate.

Cheers,
Graham Strachan.

Business:

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Have a good one.

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