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6th October 1997 - two years old this week!
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International:

A full report with 50 pictures of Pauline Hanson's One Nation Prosper Australia rally (Saturday 4th October) is now on-line. See the arrests, the assault on police, the fashion stakes and the rabble which they call protesters.

Quote of the event, Mr Carnegie (trade union official), "People here (protesters) represent all that is good and fine in this country of ours today. People who support Hanson represent all that is bad."

So you thought that land claims started and stopped with the Australian Aborigines?

Forget it! The Indonesians on Timor are currently making claims over our territorial waters and their resources through article 35 of the Draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. Here it is:

"Indigenous peoples, in particular those divided by international borders, have the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation, including activities for spiritual, cultural, political, economic and social purposes, with other peoples across borders.

"States shall take effective measures to ensure the exercise and implementation of this right."

The Indonesian claim on Australian waters is colloquially referred to as the "Banjo Shark Fisherman Claim".

You would never have heard about it before and you won't find it on the Internet but, believe me, it has the Aborigines in northern Australia worried as they could lose their native title rights to the resources of the seas off Queensland to the Indonesian boat people who have, until now, been fishing illegally in Australian waters.

What makes it worse is that Howard's ten point plan on Wik opens the door for the Indonesian fishermen to do this. Now you might wonder how a group of illegal Indonesian fishermen know about this loop hole - they don't.

It is money crazed Australian lawyers who will do anything for a quick buck and who are now looking for new claims which they can get the Australian tax payer to finance the legal costs for.

And here is another tasty treat that you are not supposed to know about, but it's going to hit us in the face very shortly. It is the Australia' 1995 National Report to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Here is an extract:

"The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have called on Australian governments to "honour its obligations under international human rights instruments and international law" (Eva Valley Statement). At present there are no international instruments in force dealing with indigenous peoples and the environment. The Australian government is currently giving consideration to ratifying ILO Convention 169, and has also been actively involved in consideration of the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

"Through its development cooperation program, Australia is funding a large number of overseas' activities to improve the welfare of indigenous people. Among these are a community health project in Irian Jaya, equipment and training to Namibia, support for UNICEF in Laos, and a pilot community health project in New Caledonia."


Making the news" -
an indepth exposé of media and political collusion at the highest possible levels in Australia.


Political:

Howard reshuffled his cabinet yesterday. There were some winners and some losers but the systemic abuse of democratic rights of Australians will continue unabated - of that you can be sure.

ie More of the same.

Opposition leader Kim Beazley is warning his troops to prepare for "power" - God save Australia if that should happen!

Beazley told the New South Wales conference that Howard had blown his credibility, "Losing one minister might be written off as an accident. Losing seven ministers is not just careless, it is a demonstration of complete incompetence.

"We were no saints in government - you don't get everything right in politics - but we sure had far higher standards than this government."

This from a party that is promoting the Boycott of the Sydney 2000 Olympics... yeah I guess they got that one right too!

email the editor

You say:

Prosper Australia - rally (about 50 pictures)

Subject: Prosper Australia.

Hi,

On Saturday I attended the Prosper Australia meeting, and as this was my first attendance to a Pauline Hanson meeting I was finally able to compare the media's reporting of events with the actual facts.

The Sunday Mail's report by Michael McKenna and Sid Maher revealed more of the same old biased journalism. These two journalists lied about the numbers of protesters and supporters, claiming there was 500 for each side. I figured that the supporters outnumbered the protesters about four to one and at the close of the meeting the police figures revealed that the protesters only numbered 300 at their peak. The supporters were numbered at about 1100.

Although some of their reporting was accurate, other parts of their article showed their hatred for Pauline Hanson and the One Nation supporters. They even resorted to using a bad photo of Pauline Hanson to portray her in a negative way. Perhaps Mr McKenna and Mr Maher should review the Australian Journalists Association Code of Ethics about reporting honestly and with fairness.

As for the protesters, well they were of the same feral appearance as the members of some minor political extremist groups. It seems these extremists will do anything to get media coverage including violent protests under the bogus banner of "anti-racism".

And that anti-Australian, anti-church, anti-family, anti-charities and anti-equality tyrant, old Jim Soorley, failed with his obstructions against free speech.

In all it was a good day.
Peter.

Mr Sid Maher of The Sunday Mail does not apparently know what journalistic ethics are, or so the growing evidence and claims confirm, - or if he does, he does not apparently practice them. He has already been discredited after writing a contrived article about this company a few weeks ago, The wimp declined the right to reply to my accusations.

Interesting that in yesterday's "paper" they carried two pictures of international swimming star Kieren Perkins with his baby daughter Georgia on the front cover - and from Perkins composure the picture/s taken by Steve Pohlner were intrusive at best.

However, what is of more concern is the comments by the new Press Council boss, Professor Pearce, who expressed concerns about ABC's Media Watch presenter Stuart Littlemore and was satisfied with the standard of reporting by News and Packer.... one wonders who elected him!

Subject: Prosper Australia

Dear Sir,

Please accept my heartiest congratulations on a piece of world class journalism, in your text and photo coverage of Pauline Hanson's Oct. 4, 1997 Brisbane "Prosper Australia" rally.

Good on ya, but
keep your powder dry!

john hamilton

Subject: re Mr. John P. Darcy

May I respectfully suggest that Mr. John P. Darcy actually get hold of a copy of the Australian constitution and study it as I have for over a year?

If he does that, he might then reconsider his ridiculous comments on state borders etc.

He might also consider studying recent high court cases involving UN and other international agreements and treaties as well as the relevant commonwealth acts pertaining to foreign affairs etc.

Jason E. Cole

Subject: Congratulations!

Appreciate your guts in representing real issues for Australia.

I am concerned at the lack of support by the media. Many groups from NESB support One Nation. I have Indonesian friends who think that we should be doing something to protect our jobs and industries from Asia. Malaysia and Indonesia have been under much pressure from the Chinese for many years and have legislated to control the number who may hold business licenses and attend university in those countries in order to give their own citizens a fair go.

Regards,
Greg Bond

Subject: EskiAbo

The day I see the United Nations Wallah's saying the 'sovereign' nations for either Eskimo's or Abo's can select whatever financial system they like, and it will be acceptable by the clearing houses of the West, then I will believe they are truly sovereign, and the UN is fair dinkum, otherwise, I see the whole thing as a typical scam, to get the 'sovereign' nations into an unpayable debt, that will guarantee the 'sovereign' lands end up as assets on some bankster's ledger.

Ormond

Subject: Comments on Australian News of the Day

Pauline Hanson's latest press release makes a puzzling reference to the evelopment of the Nunavut Settlement area of the North West Territories of Canada, and implies some connection between the Nunavut Claims Agreement and something extant in Australia. "There is an undeniable link between the events in Canada and Australia".

This press release and her comments in Parliament on Wednesday must puzzle many. She states:

"It is crucial to realise that the underlying blueprint and inspiration behind the creation of a separate indigenous nation within Canada and the impending creation of an Aboriginal nation within our own country is the United Nations Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."

The Nunavut Land Claim by the Inuit Taparisat had its beginnings before 1971. Hardly any one who was not an Inuk, let alone the United Nations, was involved with the Tungavik Federation in the many stages towards the Land Claims Agreement of 1992 and the setting up of the Nunavut Planning Commission. The 1983 report, coming after the 1982 Constitution Act, encouraged autonomy for Indian first nation people, but not so much for the Inuit who comprised a majority of the 20,000 people in the eastern North West Territories. Articles 17 and 18 of the Land Claims Agreement set out the purposes of the agreement. These include preservation of wildlife sanctuaries, parks and space for migrating birds and other fauna, archaeological areas, Inuktitut language, customs and crafts, and resource management. The document covers complex issues vital to the preservation of a unique wilderness area which does not have an Australian counterpart. The Inuit communities plan to preserve their Inukitut language and resource skills, while contributing to the management of Nunavut.

She says in her speech: "This (agreement) will be formalised in 1999, and will in effect leave Canada with another country bigger than the state of Victoria within its borders."

The press release confuses the meaning of the word "nation", used in the tribal context of "first nation peoples" and suggests that Nunavut will be a separate nation as in the national state context. Perhaps Pauline Hanson, when studying the Land Claims agreement, was confused by some of the terminology, although most words are clearly explained in the list of terms and are usually understood by senior school students.

She quoted in Parliament: "A hunter-gatherer people, with a stubborn sustainable development philosophy and no visible modern industrial economy, are taking over one-fifth of the world's second largest nation state ..."

This statement is puzzling. What does she think the Inuit could do with their land, if not use it for sustainable development? Would not another onlooker say: "Thank goodness a subsistence people with sustainable development skills is responsible for caring for one of the world's biggest near wilderness areas".

Nunavut is an area of 2 million square kilometres of often frozen sea and landfast ice, rugged land and islands with permafrost and muskeg, separated by the Land Claims Agreement from the rest of the North West Territories. By 1999 the Inuit will have completed exchanges including surrender of claims, rights, titles and interest in other areas outside Nunavut. The northern territories of Canada will then become three instead of two - Yukon, N.W. Territories and Nunavut. While the Aboriginal people in Australia may be interested in the Nunavut process, there is no resemblance between Nunavut, much of which is non-ecumene, and physical or social conditions existing anywhere in Australia. School students studying Indigenous cultures or Environment have for the last ten years or so chosen the Nunavut project as an example of environment contrasting with Australian paterns.

Yvonne Cook

Sport:

High drama at Bathurst yesterday with the Brabham's eventually being pronounced winners.

All the reports and results are on-line.

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Another perfect day in paradise.

Have a good one.


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