Letter to the Editor.
The Queensland Times, Saturday October 11th 1997.
It is quite despicabel of "Former One Nation Party president" Reg Bishop to label the Returned Services Laegue and the Vietnamese Association as "gutless" for not attending Pauline Hanson's One Nation rally in Brusbane last Saturday (QT Oct 7).
The extreme right wing views espoused by Hanson bear an uncanny resemblance to those philosophies proclaimed by Hitler during the 1930s leading up to World War II. Why should the veterans of that war want to associate themselves with Hanson and her party? Political affiliation is not a criteria of the RSL, nor was it a criteria during the 1960s when young men were conscripted and troops were sent to Vietnam.
Memorial services such as ANZAC Day, Long Tan and Victory in the Pacific have always been fully supported in a bi-partisan manner by all political parties, as were the Australia Remembers commemorations in 1995. Australians of all political persuations recognise the debt of gratitude the country owes to its returned servicemen and to those who paid the ultimate price and gave their lives.
Pauline Hanson and her party are to be condemned for seeking to exploit veterans for her own political gain.
Anne Scott, Raceview.