Report from Queensland

Mr. Charles Pinwill, League State Director for Queensland, sends this assessment of the current political situation in his own State:
Queensland Liberals in Crisis
"The Queensland Liberal Party, in coalition with the Nationals to form Government, has 20 State M.L.A.s. "Irrespective of the recent crisis, the Liberal Party is in deep trouble and on the figures looks likely to lose half its representation. State wide, they attract less than 20% of the vote, are a non-event outside of Brisbane, and in the recent Federal election slid by over 6%. "With a swing of just 6% against them they would lose 10 of their 20 members. Any informed observer would have to agree that 7 will go in the coming Queensland election. "At the time of writing, Dr. Lew Edwards has been deposed and replaced by Mr. Terry White as Liberal Leader, with Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen - as a result - threatening to break the Coalition.

"Mr. Terry White is a mixed bag from our point of view. On the plus side, he made the best statement of them all on the question of the High Court decision on the Franklin Dam, and its threat to Federalism. On the minus side, he had made a deal with the worst elements among the 'trendies' in the Liberal Party to achieve leadership and in that sense 'has the devil to pay'. "Whatever Premier Bjelke-Petersen may do, he faces an election in the next 4 months. His Government will almost certainly survive it. His National Party will have a much greater representation, as against the Liberals, but the Coalition will lose a degree of its numbers advantage over the A.L.P., with its new Leader, Mr. Keith Wright, at the helm.

"The greatest danger to conservatism is that the Queensland Premier may lose much of his present authority in Queensland. However, a more likely result is that the Liberals will take the fall, responsibility, and recriminations. They will be little more than a 'cricket team' of 11 to 13 members. "On the optimistic side, with the Coalition surviving with a workable majority, and the Liberals in galloping retreat, the State Treasury may well go to the Nationals.

With an A.L.P. Federal Government, especially once it goes on the back foot over a faltering economy, and Joh Bjelke-Petersen, in, hopefully, a 'go-for-broke' determined mood, it may well be his best opportunity yet for his State Bank, and pressure on the Federal Opposition for flat rate taxes, a referendum on Constitutional reform to protect the States, and similar measures.

"The relationship between the Premier and Mr. Terry White, anything but clear at the time of writing, and occasioning much speculation, is not as significant as it might seem. It can only alter the date of the election, and even then by only a couple of months. Mr. Keith Wright is much the most able exponent whom the Premier has had to face. He is regarded as the next Premier in Queensland, but Joh isn't going anywhere for the moment. Only an outright defeat, or a very close thing, which destroys his authority, can change this.

All Queensland supporters must work hard against this. "If the result is better than this the National/Liberal numbers ratio will move from under 2:1 to close to 3:1. Under the Coalition agreement the Liberals will have to surrender portfolios ... The Treasury?? "Ironically, Mr. Keith Wright made his first speech in the House on the need for a State Bank, and has firmly committed his Opposition A.L.P. to introducing one (of some sort) if victorious in the coming State election.
A State Bank for Queensland seems to be a likely outcome. Whether it is a Socialist or a private enterprise, Queenslanders' Bank will be decided by this coming election. "Queenslanders should look to assisting the Queensland Premier in any of his vulnerable seats, especially if the National candidate is a reliable conservative.

BUNFIGHT ON BANKING

The State Bank of New South Wales has issued a writ for payment and damages against the Commonwealth Savings Bank. The State Bank, whose manager is Mr. Nicholas Whitlam - son of Gough - is complaining because the Commonwealth Savings Bank has refused to hand over a half share of the profits made in NSW. This it is bound to do under a Savings Bank Agreement provided the Government of New South Wales does not enter the savings bank field. A similar agreement exists between the Commonwealth Savings Bank and the Queensland Government.
Please note - nothing in the Savings Bank Agreements with NSW and Queensland prohibit the operation of a Trading Bank, with conventional credit-credit powers. Some opponents of a State Bank in Queensland have claimed that it does, but they are wrong.

Mr. Whitlam, in an extraordinary maneuver, which started in 1981, appears to have been trying to get Savings Bank facilities for the State Bank without breaching the agreement with the Commonwealth Savings Bank. This was done when the State Bank bought up the fixed capital of the Rural and Building Investment Society, based in Tamworth, NSW, which, oddly enough, operated under an Act of 1903 which does not make provision for public examination of accounts. The State Bank then contrived to have the R & BIS 'swallow up' the State Building Society, which operates under a 1967 Act, requiring public inspection of accounts.

"I don't believe there is any b----y difference at all between many of the operations of a building society and a savings bank", says Vern Christie truculently (National Times, August 5-11, 1983). Mr. Vern Christie is the managing director of the Commonwealth Banking Corporation, who is responsible for "the controversial decision by the Commonwealth Savings Bank to refuse to pay to the State Bank of NSW a half share of its NSW profits for 1981-82 due in September last year under an agreement which stretches back to the early thirties.
The sum: $13.8 million, plus interest ..." This is the reason for the writ from the State Bank of NSW.

Meanwhile, there is a mounting groundswell for the establishment of a State Bank in Queensland. There is increasing interest in the recently published "Case for a Queensland State Bank", by Jeremy Lee, written in answer to the National Party State President Sir Robert Sparkes, whose opposition to the establishment of a State Bank is widely known. In his booklet Mr. Lee answers a statement of Sir Robert's point by point, and also gives the background to the current controversy between the Commonwealth Savings Bank and the State Bank in NSW.
(The Case For a Queensland State Bank - Jeremy Lee, $3 posted from all League offices, or the Institute of Economic Democracy, Ravensbourne, Queensland 4352).

MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

A Commonwealth Government Advertisement (National Times 5-11/8/83) announces a review of the operation and administration of the Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs (AlMA). Quite apart from its unfortunate name - 'Multicultural Affairs' sounds as if it could just as easily be 'Inter-Racial Adultery' -the personnel and terms of reference of this august body is mind boggling. Chairman is Moss Cass. Other Committee Members are Eva Cox, Professor D.L. Jayasuriya from the University of W.A. and Alan Matheson, Ethnic Liason Officer with the ACTU and Chairman of the Australian Council of Churches Commission on Community Relations.

Both the Government and AlMA start off from the following accepted premises:
(a) that Australia is a multicultural society;
(b) that each ethnic community has the right to retain its own culture, language and lifestyle;
(c) that all residents (Note: not citizens) should have equal rights and opportunities to achieve total participation in Australian society.

The review will examine the statutory functions of AlMA, and see whether any changes in function or administration are required. Submissions are being solicited, and a questionnaire "to assist people and organisations wishing to make written submissions" is available, from the Secretary, Committee of Review of the AlMA, GPO Box 236E, Melbourne, Vic.
It would be interesting to know what AlMA has to say to the majority of Australians who reject the multicultural society and have never been asked for their agreement to this sabotage of traditional Australia. It would also be interesting to know whether this tax funded body will take submissions in any language, or whether they insist on English?

BRIEF COMMENTS

Professor Lauchlin Chipman is an academic who has impressed us with his corrosive criticism of the multicultural society, and "modern" education. We are disappointed to learn that he is an atheist, as reported in The Sun (Melbourne) August 15th. Professor Chipman is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Woolongong, N.S.W. He spoke at a recent "Right to Life" Conference at Xavier College, Kew (Melbourne suburb), here attacking the concept of euthanasia (mercy killing). He stated that to alter the law to allow those, whose life has become an intolerable burden, to prescribe their own death is not the answer.

Professor Chipman pointed out that if voluntary euthanasia were legalised it would not be possible to determine if the consent were genuinely voluntary and not the result of pressure from callous relatives ("Nothing splits a family like a fiver!"). Again, many elderly people could exaggerate, in their own minds, the notion that they were a burden on their children, etc. Professor Chipman mentioned other issues, but the foregoing should suffice.

We accept the Christian view that man does not have the right to take his own life, which was given to him by God, who will end that life in His own good time.

Dame Leonie Kramer, former Chairman of the A.B.C. let a few good volleys go at her address to the Royal Commonwealth Society. She is now Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney. Dame Leonie (rightly, in our own view ... On Target) remarked that it is essentially immature for a nation to disparage its origins. The current disparagement of the term "Anglo-Saxon" is an example of such immaturity. ("If we want to think of ourselves as grown up, ... learn to live with our past".) Australians are the inheritors of British cultures and institutions and, most important, of the English language. "There is one thing, and one thing only, which determines a country's cultural identity, and that is its language". (Mr. Grassby please note).

HUMANISTS ON OFFENSIVE

Mr. Jeremy Lee Reports
A letter from the Humanist Society of Queensland (Box 2041, GPO, Brisbane) dated 24th June 1983, has been posted to P & C Associations throughout the State. Its contents are self-explanatory:
"We write to enlist the support of your organisation in voicing a protest against religious instruction in schools, both as it is today and as it is to be under the proposed new regulations. May we ask your association to consider earnestly the following points:
(a) Religious instruction, which is instruction, only is NOT education. It is indoctrination.
(b) Education is supposed to help in leading children to value the democratic ideals of free speech and a fair chance for all to be heard. Indoctrination in one religion flagrantly breaches these ideals.
(c) Ours is a pluralistic society where many religious views - e.g. Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist - as well as non-religious views - e.g. agnostic, atheist, humanist - all co-exist, and therefore the state is clearly violating the United Nations Declaration On Human Rights in teaching only one religion and excluding other religious and non-religious views from the curriculum.

In view of the above, we urge your association to act democratically to protect the rights of others, just as you would wish your rights to be protected, and you can do this by writing letters to the Premier, the Minister for Education and your own local State Member requesting them to proceed no further with the plans for One religion religious instruction and Bible readings in any of our State schools...."

The point to be noted is that, if Senator Gareth Evan's Bill of Rights is imposed on Australia, the instruction of children in the Christian faith will be declared a violation, in accord with the parent document - the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. It must be hoped that concerned Christians will do a little letter writing of their own, to parliamentarians in all States, and also to their own church leaders, so that Christian forces can be mobilized before it is too late.