Sunday 3rd November 1996
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Independent member for Oxley, Pauline Hanson, has claimed that she is right behind Parliament's bi-partisan motion opposing racial discrimination - saying that is what she is fighting for.
The motion supported the rights of Australians to be treated with equal respect regardless of colour, race or creed.
"How can the House possibly move this motion and still have a separate portfolio for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, which is clearly based on race?" she said.
Ms Hanson repeated her view that immigration should cease until the unemployment rate fell to 5%. She denied saying that she wanted all Asian immigration stopped, instead saying that she "wanted the balance restored". She went on to call for a referndum on race issues with her campaign still causing international ripples...
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating joined the debate while in Jakarta calling her views irrelevant and rooted in ignorance.
Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett warned that the debate may have a negative effect on the Sydney 2000 Olympics, a claim which was subsequently "laughed off" by a spokesman from the Chinese Olympic Committee who said, "I don't think so... we haven't even heard about the debate anyway."
In today's Sunday Mail there are several reports on Ms Hanson - all linked with "racism" and not reflecting the issues that she has tried to raise.
The one that raises my ire is the report of a group of visiting Singaporian students being verbally abused when they walked down the street... a report that was linked specifically to Ms Hanson. Now you might recall Prime Minister John Howard's comments yesterday about the manner in which the media is reporting on the issue.
The media did not report on what happened to my "white" 14 year-old step-daughter yesterday when she was walking down the popular Brisbane Mall in the heart of the city with a group of two non-Aboriginal teenage girls and three boys because it doesn't fit their agenda...... A group of Aboriginal and part-Aboriginal youths coming in the other direction without procvocation yelled abuse at them. One of my daughter's group, a young "silly" girl, told them to "Piss off" and leave them alone. Without any further comment the Aborigines set apon the two smaller boys in the group beating them up and leaving them lying dazed and bewildred on the ground in the Mall..
The boys were punched and kicked and now have fractured jaws and one, wearing Au$700 glasses, had them broken.
Now if the roles had been reversed this would have been reported in the papers as headline news with, no doubt, a link to the damage that Ms Hanson is doing to race relations in this country. The Aboriginals would probably have been on the evening news showing their cuts and broken glasses....
As it was when they went to the Police to report the incident they suddenly discovered that there were three other complainants in the line who had suffered some sort of abuse or attack by the same group in the Mall. The Police told them that there was nothing that they could do as the Aboriginals would simply claim that they had started the incident by racially taunting them.
I will leave you to make your own mind up on the incident but I can tell you that most Australians can tell a similar tale involving incidents with Aborigines... and this is a key issue which is touching a very real chord when Ms Hanson talks about racial equality in Australia.
Political:
Queensland Senator Bill O'Chee, part Irish - part Chinese, spoke of his Chinese ancestry then proposed a four-square deal for Australians in an address to Parliament last week. The points were raised in response to the Hanson debate.
He spoke of four truths that underpin everything in our society:
| Do you feel that Liberal Politicians reflect the views of the people they represent? | Yes: 4 | No: 57 |
| Do you feel that Labor Politicians reflect the views of the people they represent? | Yes: 5 | No: 69 |
Federal Treasurer Peter Costello once again raised the anti on the banks saying that they should reduce their home loan interest rates.
The National Australia Bank has introduced a 6.99% 12 month "honeymoon rate" with its home loan variable rates still way above at 9.25%.
The report concluded that the number of people now on the poverty line was increasing in line with the number below the poverty line with incomes of less than Au$22,000 per annum which was now showing a distrubing rise.
"A lot of families out there are really struggling, and all it really takes is for something to break down or a medical bill and it can really push them over," said the author of the report Elizabeth Orr.
Yesterday the Internet kid joined me at the home of a Ipswich based couple who care for orphan koalas... we got some beautiful pictures which we will put on the web later this week.
Last night we dined out at a restaurant that will remain nameless... because the service and the food was appalling. We won't be going there again... The company, however, was great - we enjoyed the wine (at least) and the conversation.
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