From ‘The Advertiser’ of 4th October 2008
ALARM OVER PUSH FOR 4-YEAR TERMS
While the global financial crisis dominates politics, other issues go almost unnoticed. One is the push by Special Minister of State John Faulkner to introduce fixed four-year terms for the House of Representatives and the Senate.
This is something that should cause alarm, especially among the citizens of Faulkner’s home state, New South Wales.
They know what it is to be stuck with a dud government for four long years with no way of getting rid of it.
In March last year, NSW voters were conned by a clever election campaign into re-electing Labor for a fourth four-year term.
They realised almost immediately what a mistake they had made.
Since then, there has been a leadership change, with Morris Iemma dumped in favour of the little-known Nathan Rees.
But it’s the same government, and it’s on the nose mainly because people know they’ve repeatedly been let down over public transport, hospitals and other essential services.
The party’s own polling shows an anti-Labor swing of between 20 per cent and 25 per cent since the last election.
Core voters in heartland seats have deserted. Yet they won’t get a chance to take a baseball bat to this dysfunctional mob until March 25, 2011.
In the meantime, the state suffers.
Memo Senator Faulkner : If we’re to look at fixed terms, lets also consider the kind of recall system that operates in California and 17 other American states.
A recall election is a system by which voters can petition for a referendum to throw an incompetent official or government out of office.
Arnold Schwarzenegger became Governor of California after his predecessor , Gray Davis, accused of budget mismanagement, was ejected in a recall election.
NSW voters would dearly love the chance to sign a recall petition and have their very own Terminator sweep in now, rather than being forced to wait another two-and-a-half years.
Note : One Nation supports CIR
ONE NATION OPPOSES REPUBLIC (Media Release 22/09/2008)
The new Federal Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, has been given a golden opportunity to demonstrate to the nation that a future Liberal Government would respect the majority wish of the public that Australia remains a constitutional monarchy.
One Nation’s South Australia president, Stan Batten, said that all Mr. Turnbull had to do was reject an invitation by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to join him in over riding the opposition to a republic by the public in all States in the 1999 referendum.
"Mr. Rudd is showing contempt for a large proportion of his own supporters in Labor electorates who voted against a republic and want to keep the constitutional monarchy system that is the basis of the Australian Constitution with a non political monarch," Mr. Batten said.
"One Nation supports the system that we have for several important reasons". Mr. Batten said the current issue was for Mr. Turnbull to rise above his well known personal preference for a republic and tell the public that he respected and accepted their majority opposition to terminating our traditional form of government".
"Apart from there being no valid reason for becoming a republic, such a change would mean rewriting the Australian Constitution, changing our traditional flag and removing the Queen and all references to the Crown from all government procedures and conventions throughout the nation".
"This would be a huge and totally unnecessary disruption to all forms of government, and therefore the public, at astronomical cost and a monstrous act of vandalism, expressly against the wishes of the public".
"Our politicians generally already have a reputation for imposing change, leaving developing disasters until they become a crisis and then coming up with answers that hurt people", Mr. Batten said.
"Mr. Rudd’s unwelcome and unwanted invitation to revive the republic debate is an obvious opportunity for Mr. Turnbull to show that he is a man of principle and integrity who accepts that his job is to serve the will of the people".
ENDS.
Letters to The Editor "The Advertiser" 19th September 2008
Right To Referendum
In response to Dean Jaensch's column about lying politicians, there is a simple solution without going to "political consumer protection'. We don't need more bureaucracies.
Introduce a Citizen's Initiated Referendum (CIR) which will enable electors to hold politicians accountable and will restore democracy to this state and country.
Members of the public have a right to have a say in decisions that affect them and CIR will restore honesty and ethical behavior by elected representatives.
Peter Stainer, Athelstone.
Pay For Wasted Vote
The honesty of politicians when they make promises to the electorate (Dean Jaensch's column, The Advertiser, 17/09/2008) is something we should watch closely. Spin may be replacing reality in the political sphere. If the political fairytale does not fit the facts, has the electorate any other resource than waiting for the next opportunity at the ballot box?
If we value our vote, perhaps we should look for some other way for electors to say to a political candidate or party : "You misled me and, as a consequence, I want compensation for my wasted vote."
Leonore Bienert, Happy Valley.
NOTE :It is important to note that One Nation supports a form of CIR that enables the public to have a say in decisions that affect them.
Media Release 29th August 2008
GOVERNMENT'S PLAN TO RAISE EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS MUST RETURN TO
BASICS The Federal Government’s grand plan to
raise educational standards at state schools is praiseworthy but cannot
succeed unless it goes back to basics in a number of areas, says One
Nation’s candidate for the September 6 Mayo by-election, Mathew Keizer. The problem for most politicians is that they have forgotten or don’t
know what basic education means and federal MPs need a member who does
know and can tell them. "Nowadays there’s an obsession with computers even though many of the
politicians in the federal parliament were educated without them and
left school knowing far more than today’s school leavers," Mr. Keizer
said. "A wise and educated teacher would achieve far better results with
today’s school leavers from most government schools teaching them with
slates and using a blackboard under a tree". "Children need to have some idea of what the world is about, the
countries in it, where they are, their histories, in addition to being
able to read, write and understand elementary arithmetic and
mathematics". Mr. Keizer said today’s children were disadvantaged by a lack of
discipline at schools, unnecessary distractions, like being told about
the rights of the child charter created by the United Nations, and
irresponsible laws that prevented teachers from even touching juvenile
delinquents who disrupted classes. There were also absurb beliefs that children knew what they should be
taught and be asked what they would like to do instead of being directed
and that allowing children to call teachers by their Christian names
created a friendly teaching environment. "This is unproductive and harmful nonsense because teachers have the
responsibility of shaping a child’s mind for its future and need to be
accorded proper respect, with children standing and silent when they
enter a classroom and being addressed as sir or miss", Mr. Keizer said. ENDS Media Release 27th August 2008 AGED PENSIONERS AT A DISADVANTAGE The Federal Government seems to be committing an outrageous act of
discrimination and injustice against aged Australian pensioners by
paying them about half of what is given to foreign refugees, says One
Nation’s candidate for the September 6 Mayo by-election, Mathew Keizer. A family of four refugees could receive more than $100,000 a year,
according to reliable but unconfirmed figures being widely circulated
around Australia. One Nation had been trying to get official
confirmation of the money being paid to refugees but without success so
far. "The figures we have are so unfair to the Australians that the
Federal Government is supposed to represent and ridiculously high that
I’m not surprised they are being kept secret," Mr. Keizer said. "We understand that a single refugee receives an allowance of $1890 a
month with additional social assistance of $580, totalling $2470 a
month, or about $600 a week". "A family of four can receive $9880 a month, or $113,685 a year". Mr. Keizer said a single Australian aged pensioner, who might have
contributed taxes for 50 years, could only receive a maximum payment of
$1012 a month. There was nothing wrong with helping refugees but the Federal
Government needed to be reminded that its first obligation was to the
people it represented and there was an obvious need for the Commonwealth
Parliament to have an MP who would speak out against absurd and
irresponsible excesses. "If these figures are correct, the Federal Government is saying to
refugees in effect, come to Australia and we will set you up financially
at the expense of our taxpayers, instead of looking after them in a
hostel with an allowance up to what an aged pensioner can get," Mr.
Keizer said. ENDS
Media Release 14th August 2008
ONE NATION CANDIDATE SLAMS GOVERNMENTS DECISION
The Federal Parliament urgently needs an MP prepared to speak out on
hidden and taboo issues that politicians seem afraid to mention, says
One Nation’s candidate for the September 6 Mayo by-election, Mathew
Keizer. Most people could only wring their hands in despair at the
hopelessness of some government decisions. The Federal Government’s carbon pollution reduction scheme proposals
were a good example of how politicians would increase the costs of
living for everyone while failing to solve a pollution problem. "In this case the government is planning emissions trading, which
means purchasing a permit to pollute, and a penalty on farmers for the
methane gas emitted by livestock, to raise about $20 billion annually in
a scheme that cannot stop pollution," Mr. Keizer said. "Despite the absurdity and huge cost of these proposals, not a single
MP has been heard publicly saying we should be concentrating on
replacing oil with a clean fuel, which would end the pollution problem
in itself". "One clean fuel source is algae and we already have the technology to
mass produce it in bulk". Mr. Keizer said most politicians seemed to think higher tax was the
answer to everything, instead of adopting ideas that could solve water
problems and fuel for transport and electricity without pollution. Most federal MP’s were also silent on various social issues, such as
a government education system that was mainly producing semi-literates,
a slap-on-the-wrist justice system for criminals that now encouraged
boat people and illegal immigrants and a bureaucratic and labour cost
structure that was sending our manufacturers overseas. "The penny still has not dropped that the GST and its compliance
costs amount to a 10% tax on almost everything on top of income tax and
other government taxes," Mr. Keizer said. "Some of the minor parties represent fundamental issues like
preserving and supporting families, but only One Nation is free of
external influences, like trade unions with Labor and big business with
Liberals. ENDS
Media Release 30th July 2008
GOVERNMENT MUST DEVELOP NEW WAYS TO GENERATE ENERGY
The current thinking by the Federal Government about how to reduce
pollution of our atmosphere seems to be based on creating more costs for
industry and the public instead of developing new ways to generate
energy, according to One Nation’s State President in South Australia,
Stan Batten.
It seemed as though the government believed that oil and coal were the
only viable fuels that should be considered, both of which were fossils
and substantially responsible for the pollution of our planet.
“The government’s solution to the problem, at this stage, seems to be to
tell a foundry, for example, that it will be fined, in effect, for the
amount of pollution it causes and that this penalty can be reduced by
planting trees to absorb carbon in the atmosphere,” Mr Batten said.
“There is even talk of emissions trading where industry that causes
pollution can buy credits from someone who has planted trees”. “All this
is artificial cost creation and presumably may also apply to farmers who
have sheep and cattle which constantly release methane gas into the
atmosphere, apart from the continuing effect of the world’s active
volcanoes”.
Mr Batten said the public was already being told that the cost of
electricity and water would be rising as part of emissions trading to
offset pollution. “There are numerous ways to create clean fuel for
transport and for generating electricity such as bio fuels, solar heat,
wind power, tidal movement, hot rock activity, nuclear power, atomic
piles, recycled vegetable oil, gases like oxygen and hydrogen, methane
and carbine gas and chemical techniques”.
Mr Batten said the current political debate about reducing pollution
seemed to be missing the point of how to stop it while increasing the
cost of living for everyone, which was something to be avoided,
especially if there was no benefit.
“Underlying this apparent misdirection and futility is the question of
what government intends to do with all the pollution fines it seems to
be thinking about, which have been estimated at around $20 billion
annually”.
ENDS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
One Nation South Australian
Division