By Bob Fuge

YOUNG -- The far-right organisation National Action has brought the race debate to local government in rural NSW.

At a special meeting on November 6, Young Shire Council voted to extend a $20,000 loan to its Rotary Club for the purpose of purchasing Chinese pavilion. The pavilion is to be situated at the Rotary Club's Chinaman's Dam project.

Chinaman's Dam is where Chinese gold diggers were victimised during the miners' uprising at the Lambing Flat goldfields in 1861 and a prelude to the passing of the White Australia policy by the Australian government. Mayor Tony Hewson describes the Rotary Club project as a tourist initiate and an important tribute to the Chinese endeavours in Australia.

Since council approved the loan, National Action, from their base in Adelaide, have announced in the local newspaper their intention to hold annual mid-year demonstrations in Young to "respectfully commemorate the anniversary of Lambing Flat". They have also made death threats against Hewson and his family.

Counsellor Mick Veitch says that the Chinaman's Dam project was initiated some four years ago by the Rotary Club in conjunction with the Young Shire Council. "It is a community project which recognises the history of the Young region", he said, adding that the Rotary Club should be congratulated for its vision, which was fully supported and assisted by the Chinese embassy and the Chinese community. "This project is not about immigration", he said. "It is not about the current racist debate. It is quite simply a community project. To intimate anything else is political skulduggery of the lowest kind and has no place in the community." According to Hewson, "talking to National Action is like talking to a bucket of vomit!"

Many local residents have been stunned by National Action's response. On November 27, the council unanimously rejected the racial overtones being espoused by National Action and supported a motion from Veitch which reaffirmed their support for and financial contribution towards the Chinaman's Dam project.

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