International:

One Nation National Director, David Ettridge, said yesterday that the party's performance in the Queensland's state election next year would be a useful litmus test for the party's performance in the next Federal Elections.

"We have to do well in Queensland to satisfy our critics, what happens in Queensland will be preliminary bout and will act as a catalyst to let others know what we are about."

Ettridge will be meeting with Queensland branches in Gympie on Sunday to appoint a steering committee to take One Nation into the state elections. I will be there to record this historic event.

Yesterday the Queensland State Labor Party secretary Mike Kaiser accused Coalition State Premier Rob Borbidge of "cuddling up" to Pauline Hanson saying, "This (refusing to put One Nation last on the How to Vote cards) is a total cop out, and what it says is that they would prefer One Nation candidates rather than Labor people in parliament."

National Party state director Ken Crooke summed up the situation rather well when he said that the decision on how to mark preferences would only be made 10 days before the election and traditionally Labor candidates went last.  

David Oldfield, Pauline Hanson's political adviser, yesterday blamed Paul Keating's Asia policy for the dramatic effect on Australia's exports following the collapse of the currencies in neighbouring Asian countries. Oldfield said that the terms of Australia's current international treaty obligations were designed to meet foreign needs rather than those of Australia.

"We have very much been dragged  into Asian markets. It is clear we have been to reliant on Asia and the rest of the world. If Australia is willing to give up jobs so that others can have them, then that's exactly where we are heading."

Prime Minister John Howard appeared to agree, in part, with Oldfield saying, "The first (thing about the Australian economy) is the ill wisdom of arguing that Australia's only economic future lies with the Asia Pacific region, and I say again that my philosophy is an Asia first philosophy, not just an Asia only philosophy.

"And my critics who have argued that I am wrong have been demonstrated to be wrong.

"And the other point that's been driven home to us of course is that there is nothing better, there is nothing superior and nothing beats having the domestic fundamental rights."

It is a strange, but undemocratic media fact of life that if you stand for something "they" (the elite) don't like or feel threatened by you are "tagged". In the case of Pauline Hanson's One Nation the racist tag became the most obvious avenue for distortion and half-truths - this when Hanson has called for "ALL Australians to be treated equally".

Some of the most strident and vocal people of influence supporting this racist line in the Australian community have been the well-connected in the Jewish community. One wonders why... because Hanson has never raised any issue that is anti-Semetic yet she has now been so tagged by those with influence to cast this deception through the Jewish community. This brings me to a very interesting observation in an article in none other than B'nai B'rith International Jewish Magazine which under the heading "Jew against Jew" parrots the comments we made yesterday on the topic of entrenched racism in the Jewish political system.

"This polarization is nothing new. It has been a source of increased concern since the "Who is a Jew" imbroglio of the late 1970s and 1980s illuminated the growing rift between the Orthodox and non-Orthodox. Yet the gap has grown wider of late, the religious extremes driven farther apart by changes on the left and the right — from the Reform movement’s acceptance of patrilineal descent to the increasing influence of the ultra-Orthodox on those who subscribe to centrist Orthodoxy....

"Rabin bristles when he hears arguments about the need for a majority of Jewish Knesset supporters, saying such arguments are anti-democratic and tantamount to racism."

Now I know that Rabin was assassinated and I know that Benjamin Netanyahu now runs Israel.... but can you imagine, for one moment, a politician of Asian extraction being allowed in the Knesset - when the fight between the Jews (the chosen ones) themselves in these "hallowed halls" is seen by their own people as "racially motivated".... This is a very topical issue as the very public fight between Orthodox Jews and the well-placed American Jews for power in the Knesset is raging right now.

So what is it then that the "elite" Jewish community are trying to hide (or cover-up) here in Australia when you have the Australia/Israel Review continually slamming Hanson, incorrectly, for "racism" while it is a blatant part of the political system in Israel.

It is disconcerting when you realise that Leibler (the man behind the Australia/Israeli Review) is one of Australia's wealthiest men and could be using the anti-Semetic "tag" against Hanson to protect his Central Oligarchic Grouping (COG) in the halls of Canberra. His lobbyists would be threatened by the One Nation Party if the party gains the balance of power in the federal parliament and with Leibler's and other COGs decreasing influence would come more equity for ALL Australians.

Here are some of the more outlandish comments about Hanson and One Nation made by self-confessed fascist David Greason amongst others in the Australia/Isreali Review:

"On a pragmatic basis alone, it is counterproductive to employ a tactic that only brings one's opponent more favourable publicity. This is not to suggest that opponents of Pauline Hanson should ignore her completely, or abstain from public demonstrations, but I fail to see how chucking water-filled balloons at old age pensioners furthers the anti-racist cause. (Notice I didn't write "urine-filled condoms". This little touch of media-inspired dramatisation has all the feel of a classic urban legend. Common sense alone tells us that the filling process would be a ghastly and improbable event.)" - David Greason - note Greason is apparently sympathetic to the views of  Miltant's Steven Jolly - the organiser of the violent Dandenong protest in which urine filled balloons were thrown at guests.

"Inside, Hanson told the crowd that the "majority of Australians do not accept the culture of gangs and crime and drugs that many new Australians are used to living with" and later spoke darkly about what to do when "Asianisation is forced upon us". Then she told the press off for falsely depicting her as a racist. I wondered if I was the only person there who had passed Logic 101 at school, but when the crowd started cheering I concluded that yep, I probably was." - Michael Kapel.

"Enter Pauline Hanson. Now Pauline fits the bill perfectly. Sad home life, not too bright, sufficiently abrasive to alienate anyone foolish enough to work with her, barely literate and incapable of building a party organisation. And, I must say, for some time, it appeared that this diabolical plan was working." - David Greason.

An interesting angle on the unsavoury methods of the elite (both well-known and not so well-known) is covered in the article, "Australia your elites are revolting", by Helen Darville, the lady who wrote the controversial book "The Hand that signed the paper".

Here is an extract:

"Both Wark and Lasch (in Australia and America respectively) identify a sharp social divide between "elite" and "populist" opinion on multiculturalism and economic issues. This is best exemplified by the mainstream media's mud-slinging treatment of Hanson and her simultaneous surge in popularity. Clearly, a large number of people (according to polls something in the order of 25% of the Australian population) believe nothing of what they read or see concerning her in the media."

Political:

A major split formed in the Federal Coalition in parliament yesterday when three National Party MPs crossed the floor and joined Pauline Hanson and Kalgoorlie Independent Graeme Campbell in a vote for tougher changes to the Wik legislation (Howard's ten point plan) currently before the Parliament.

The MPs, De-Anne Kelly, Bob Katter and Paul Marek joined the independents in a Kelly-inspired 41 amendment to Howard's 10 point plan were prepared in consultation with the National Farmers Federation. The Labor Party crossed the floor and joined the Coalition in defeating the motion.

Mrs Kelly said, "We are looking at a very even-handed set of amendments that do not bind Aborigines and pastoralists together forever in a dual ownership situation. What we have done (in the proposed legislation) is to give people separate private property rights."

Business:

The Australian Stock Exchange picked up almost all of Tuesday's losses yesterday when Wall Street rebounded after initial falls. The turn around came when IBM, the computer giant, told the New York Stock Exchange that its shares were so cheap that it would consider buying up US$5 billion worth of their own stock... the impact was quite dramatic.

Yesterday there was panic buying with the paper value of Australian shares rising over Au$20 billion.

In Hong Kong shares rose a dramatic 18.8%.

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Another beautiful day in paradise.... soft rain overnight.

The rainbow coloured lorikeets now inhabit the large gum outside the Global Office in such numbers that the squeak.. squeak tune that they sing has become a constant noise in the background from sunrise to sunset... the little fellows are so gorgeous that their vocal love of life is a small price to pay..

Have a great day.

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