Thursday 14th November 1996
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Jacko (Michael Jackson) is currently in Australia to perform at a number of concerts. He will be in Brisbane on Tuesday and will try to fit in a visit to the young boy who is currently recovering in the Royal Brisbane Children's Hospital.
Attorney General Daryl Williams yesterday announced that the government would proviude additional funds to get Skase, the fugitive businessman who conned thousands of Australian mums and dads out of life savings through the failure of his profile company, Qintex, in the 1980s.
Speaking from his Spanish hideaway in Majorca last night, Skase said, "This is the Williams and Donnelly dumb and dumber show.
"It is now the 65th month since Donnelly was appointed and he is still where he started, not withstanding the fact that the best part of Au$15 million has been spent pursuing me.
"Nothing has been recovered, nothing will be recovered because there is nothing to be recovered."
Mr Howard said that he had had the chance to discuss her views with her in Parliament House but had only exchanged courtesies in the corridors.
"The more attention you pay to people in a situation like that, the more likely it is that you'll get further speeches."
Ms Hanson caused more than a bit of angst when whe referred to Filipino born Rose Hancock-Porteous, the widow of the late Land Hancock, as "you Asians".
The exchange occured after the filming of Foxtel (PAY TV) show, "Beauty and the Beast".
Speaking of Paul Keating who berided her recently Ms Hanson said, "Since he's been in the debt has gone to Au$190 billion, he's kowtowed to the Asian countries, and overseas countries, he's stated we're going to be part of Asia."
Subject: Pauline Hanson (again)
Thanks for your response of last night. You may be interested to know
that the East Timor conference incident was publicly deplored by the Bar
Council here, as reported by the New Straits Times today (one of about
six English-language dailies in Kuala Lumpur, I might add: this in a city of I
think about 1.5 million).
Sure there are a lot of things that Australian and other expats don't
feel comfortable about in Asia but we must remember that these countries
have made staggering strides in the last few years. Given the pace of
change - which utterly defies gravity - there will not only be economic
change but deep social changes over the next few years and there is a
very real danger that Australia will become isolated from this region if
simplistic ideas of the Hanson type are allowed to become part of ruling
Australian attitudes.
So what happens to us if Australia does become a pariah in the eyes of
South East Asian nations? I hate to think. Long term, with a small
population, just how do we survive if frozen out of trade blocks and
isolated culturally? Will the Yanks help (maybe reduce the wheat
subsidies!) Or will Europe take pity on us? Just remember that we don't
actually have a good reputation as a reliable supplier and there are a
lot of other places to go to get the same or better goods that we have
to offer.
Australians that have not travelled to Asia and even those have not been
there for the last five years will most likely have a totally inaccurate
view of what Asia is like, where it is going, how the people think, how
they live, what their aspirations are, etc etc. Tragically, there are
many Australians who don't even want to know.
One thing I have found in over 20 years of travelling to Asia on
business (and currently almost a year of residence here) is how little
people differ no matter where they live, no matter what colour they are.
It actually took the living-here phase to make me realise that despite
frequent travel I still had the same prejudices that we all have had
built into us. We don't choose these prejudices, we grow up with them
and because of that we think they represent a correct attitude. How many
of us actually choose our religion? And doesn't this accident of birth
bring with it a whole set of off-the-shelf prejudices, just for
starters?
Given the same set of circumstances people no matter where will react
the same. They laugh, they cry, they feel for the same things. Emotional
responses are universal even though perhaps more reserved in some
cultures. By and large they have the same sense of humour, the same
sense of right and wrong, and the underlying intentions of all the
religions are amazingly similar.
So what goes wrong? It's the concentration on differences as a point of
issue, the refusal to seek common ground because it might disturb some
preconceived set of ideas, the refusal to take a step back and see if
there might be a bigger picture. There are a lot of Australians who
remember the hostility to earlier immigration and who would be only too
proud now to say "I was wrong". And please don't forget that the only
people in Australia who aren't immigrants (or are only a generation or
so away) - are what is left of the Aborigines.
So what it comes down to is fear. Fear of being overrun? By 5% of the
population? That's a bit like Tasmania declaring war on the rest of
Australia because someone left them off the map.
Or is it fear of losing your job because Asians will work harder,
longer, and put up with a lesser standard of living to lift themselves
and their families to a higher standard of living than they perhaps
could have attained in their own country - at this point in time. Now I
think we're getting to it.
The Italians and Greeks fell into such a category in an earlier wave of
immigration but because the economy was more buoyant in those days there
were low level jobs that they filled and so plugged a hole in the labour
market. But initially they weren't too welcome even though along with
thousands of other Middle and Southern Europeans they provided the
labour force to build things like the Snowy Mountains scheme.
One or two generations on it's a different story, and it's one of the
things that Australians should be proud of. We haven't been "swamped" by
immigrants - not even the 30% of present Australians that were born
overseas. Australia has absorbed these people, and even though there was
awkwardness and suspicion at first the end result has been: More
Australians! The country has a great capacity to mould people from
differing backgrounds, in an atmosphere of personal freedom that is not
always present in other countries. So maybe that's why some Asians would
like to come to the Land Down Under? If so they have the best of
motives.
We Australians are no longer sure of where we're heading as a nation,
but wherever it is there is little point in looking backwards. We have
all heard the buzzword of the forthcoming Asian Century and I can assure
you it's very real. Before we pull up the drawbridge we really ought to
see what might be in it for us, and if we bother to talk to them we may
find that Australian people of Asian origin could hold the key to
helping us come to terms with our gigantic neighbours. They ought to
know: they've come from there.
There's no argument that there are a lot of aspects of Asia that don't
suit Australians but it is entirely up to us to choose how we handle the
situation. "Handling the situation" does not include making life
miserable for those Asian people who have already settled in Australia,
coming with the same hopes and aspirations as ourselves or our own
forefathers.
It's easy to vilify people because they are "different"; it's infinitely
harder to have the guts to question the integrity of your own attitudes.
If we are to decide that it's best to restrict Asian immigration for the
time being then let's make sure we are doing so for soundly based
reasons, not morally bad ones. And make sure we haven't simply focussed
some of our own frustrations on a minority group who provide a ready
excuse for our own failures. Hitler was good at this.
Ian Simpson
The new bank involving Suncorp and the QIDC will hold number one spot in Queensland in terms of the number of depositis, home lending, general insurance, third party insurance and motor insurance.
The bank will open its doors in about three weeks time. The merger hit a glitch earlier this year when St George Bank tried to outbid the government for Metway Bank.
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