Write on: letters to the editor
One elector, one vote
The widespread resentment against the unfairness of Australia's electoral system, which almost guarantees the exclusion of small political parties and independents from state and federal parliaments, could be eased if the principle of one vote, one value was adhered to.Sections 8 and 30 of the Australian constitution both provide that ... each elector shall vote only once. But the Australian Electoral Act completely ignores those provisions and provides instead for compulsory preferential voting where the elector must commit multiple voting.
Of course, adherence to the principle of one elector, one vote would eliminate party control of the Senate, and, if single member electorates were abolished in favour of proportional representation and each elector could vote for only one candidate, the two-party system would be replaced by democracy in both houses of federal parliament.
Col Friel
Alawa NT
CIA coup
The Far Right of the US Republican Party i.e. the CIA (George Bush Senior, former head of the CIA) have rorted elections in Nicaragua (the invisible ink seam), Peru, South Korea, Mexico ... for starters. They engineered the coup against Whitlam in Australia in 1975.So it is no surprise they have rorted their own federal election in the USA, in Florida, with the magic hole-in-three voting card having Jewish Holocaust survivors voting for Nazi admirer Pat Buchanan. Another coup for the CIA.
Denis Kevans
Wentworth Falls NSW
Survivors
Apparently, the new series of Survivor might be filmed on the site of brutal massacres of Aboriginals by white invaders. This gave me a brilliant idea for a new Survivor-style show (I'm writing this letter to Green Left in the hope you could pass it on to Channel 9, as I know how close you are to Packer). Why not inject these reality TV shows with a good dose of reality?The concept is simple: place a group of people on an island and see how well they survive. But to make it more colourful (and in order not to get sued by CNN) add a twist: have the island invaded by blood-thirsty murderers who try and massacre the survivors.
And the prize? Well obviously giving away another million dollars is out of the question (after all Kerry is so strapped for cash), so instead the prize is Third World living standards and the kidnapping of the contestants children.
Brilliant! Naturally, we wouldn't want to see white people getting killed on TV, so why not use some of those refugees that keep causing all those nasty riots at our concentration camps.
After all, a desert island would be a nice change of scenery for them (less barbed wire). On the other hand, maybe non-white people getting massacred wouldn't rate. At least, it doesn't seem to have in this country.
Rohan Pearce
Chippendale NSW
Money creation
Recently I bought a GLW (#428), which featured an article on banks. What astounded me was that the article never even dealt with what I consider as the principle crime against our society by the banking industry. Namely, banks do not loan other people's money (even though they strive hard for us to think this). The money that is borrowed is created by the banks.Of the total quantity of money in Oz, 94% was created by the private banking industry. Each year the quantity of money in Oz increases by about $30 billion, of which private banks create about $28 billion. And because this money is created as a debt to others with an interest repayment obligation, it is worth less than its face value, and so results in inflation.
Few people appreciate how Australia financed its WWI venture. The Commonwealth Bank was created in 1912 with a grant of 10,000 pounds from the federal government. By the end of WWI the bank had loaned the government 350 million pounds. When the government came to make arrangements with the bank for repayment, the bank stated that it was not necessary to repay the principal (350 million pounds), but if the government would pay the bank 10 million pounds as interest, the bank would write off the principal. The matter was duly settled.
Britain on the other hand will pay off its WWI debt some time this century (the Bank of England being a private bank, as is the US Federal Reserve). It is essential for those who wish to change the world for the better to become informed about money, its creation and banking. I did some economics at university, and not once was the issue of money creation considered.
Peter Browning
Addiction
In response to the recent Federal Court ruling that opiate addiction is a disability, Michael Duffy railed that addiction is a personal choice ... And it's not a choice the Federal Court ... should be encouraging (Daily Telegraph, November 25).How many people will take up heroin on the basis of the court pronouncement? None? As for choice, people's behaviour is heavily influenced by their genes and social environment. Even if people do have some free will, wise choices are far harder for some people to make than for others. Conservatives, however, want to hold everyone who makes an imprudent decision totally personally responsible and then, callously, make them pay heavily.
Duffy worries that companies might now have to hire addicts and landlords might have to rent properties to them. He also remarks that many addicts steal to buy drugs and are enemies of society.
Does Duffy a notorious welfare-basher really think addicts will become more socially responsible if they are denied both accommodation and employment? And, along with more rehabilitation places, does he advocate making heroin available cheaply, at least to registered addicts, to reduce the incidence of drug-related crime?
Brent Howard
Rydalmere NSW
GM plant
Excuse me if I don't jump up and down with excitement, over the decision to allow General Motors to build V6 and V8 engines in Victoria. The plant may provide 500 jobs, it may supply an additional 600 jobs during construction, and it may increase exports by $450 Million, but, to whose advantage, and at what cost to the nation? There will be no net benefit to Victoria during Mr Bracks brief stint at the helm, and what's more, the net loss to Australia may continue well after Steve Bracks has drawn his last parliamentary superannuation.If I could just take the premier back to the 26 November 1953, when Clyde Cameron opposed the introduction of the Double Taxation Bill, as duly recorded in the House of Representatives. It was pointed out at the time that General Motors already enjoyed substantial profits in Australia, and also received tax concessions over Australian enterprise, and that passing of the bill would further these tax advantages, and actually be an act of treachery against the interests of Australia.
This was confirmed as recently as 1996 and 1998, by Jim Killaly of the ATO, he stated on ABC Radio National on April 3rd 1998 that, There are 4300 large foreign corporations that pay no tax in Australia. Combine the passing of the 1953 Act, with the results of John Button's successful industry elimination program, and you will soon realise that Politicians have indeed configured the nation towards foreign investment, rather than towards Australian owned enterprise.
For such advantage in our Victoria, General Motors should have paid us for the privilege of reaping tax free profits out of Australia, but no, Steve Bracks managed to sweeten the pot with an extra $50M of concessions funded by you and I, money that will never ever see a skerrick of net gain for Victoria.
Noel McDonald
Geelong
Impressed
I was in Australia recently and happened to get two copies of your weekly publication. It picked up in downtown Sydney for a small donation. I am very impressed for your coverage of wide range of issues. More importantly, your coverage of Aboriginal rights, the pernicious effects of globalisation and others were commendable.I salute those young persons standing on the streets of Australian cities to promote the weekly under very difficult circumstances. In comparison with this visionary, progressive and committed weekly, other Australian papers appear commercial and sensational.
Keep up your excellent work and I certainly share your vision of making this earth a better and a more humane place for everybody.
Prof P. Ramasamy
Dept of Political Science
National University of Malaysia