Write on: letters to the editor

Right wingers The recent activity of the South Australian Police (SApol) in exposing the links between the neo-Nazi group National Action (NA) and the sinister world of illegal arms dealing and illicit drug distribution should be commended. The next step should be for the Brown Liberal Government to support SApol by immediately convening a Royal Commission to investigate NA and its links with the criminal underworld and right-wing terrorism both locally and overseas. It would seem only appropriate that if a right-wing extremist group was found arming itself for some dubious purpose on your doorstep then one would instigate some form of formal inquiry, but we have heard not a word. Keep in mind that it was Premier Dean Brown who was quick enough to give the sanction for a Royal Commission in Aboriginal cultural beliefs in his own electorate recently. One wonders what priorities prevail and what motivation is required to investigate racists in the local community shown to be plotting mayhem with an assortment of weapons that have made seasoned SApol officers blanch. There can be no place in Australian society for the kind of right-wing gangsterism represented by organisations like NA. Nor can NA and their ilk be allowed to finance their armament programme, not to mention their flawed politics, with dirty drug money. Our rights as a democratic nation and very freedom on the streets is being threatened by these NA hoodlums and their camp followers. All groups who are concerned about democracy and the freedoms we enjoy today should join with the Anti-Racist Alliance (ARA) in SA — or an anti-Nazi group in other states — to unite and oppose these socially diseased creatures and their racist pretensions.
Peter A. Lord
Unley SA Vote-chasing in prisons On February 17, prisoners at Victoria's Loddon Prison were informed about new prisoner voting rights under the Electoral and Referendum Amendment Bill (No. 2), 1995. This bill allows prisoners serving an actual sentence — their non-parole period — of less than five years to vote in federal and state elections. Previously, the electoral commission had used the additional period, or top sentence, of prisoners to determine their eligibility to vote. This amendment meant that some 10-15,000 prisoners nationwide were suddenly eligible to vote on March 2. While this change is a welcome, if minor, expansion of prisoners' rights, one cannot help but see the cynical side of the federal Labor government's decision to pass the amendment just prior to a closely fought federal election. Any belief in the ALP's more liberal approach to prison issues as a result of this voting reform would be thoroughly ill conceived. Labor governments might allow some prisoners to cast a vote once every few years, but as is occurring in NSW today, they also don't hesitate to remove victims' compensation for inmates or introduce harsher sentences for many offences.
Ben Alterman
Castlemaine Vic
[Editor's note: Ben Alterman is currently on an indefinite hunger strike in protest against discrimination and harassment by prison officers due to his public expression of left-wing political views. He is requesting that people write protest letters to Pat McNamara, Minister of Emergency Services, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne Vic 3000; John Griffin, Director of Prisons (address as above); and/or Governor Greenshields c/- Loddon Prison, Castlemaine Vic 3450.] Granma International We would like to bring to your attention that a distribution centre for the Cuban newspaper Granma International has been opened up in Sydney. Anyone wishing to receive the paper regularly can now send their subscription to PO Box 530, Sutherland NSW 2232 in Australian dollars and it will be forwarded to Cuba. The paper will be available in English, Spanish, German, French or Portuguese. Initially the cost will be $75 per annum. This will cover the cost of the subscription plus postage to the subscriber and the cost of transferring the money to Cuba in $US. It we have overestimated the cost the surplus will go to Cuba as a donation. Cheques should be made out to "JC Granma International", an approved business name. Subscription cheques should be drawn on a personal account. Also, various books and magazines produced by Cuban authors will be available for anyone interested. Lists can be sent if requested. Please make all inquiries by mail.
Lydia and John Clancy
Sutherland NSW Working class hero? Secretary of the ACTU, Bill Kelty's statement that if the Coalition wins government the ACTU will launch wage claims of 20 to 30 per cent raises some interesting questions. Does this mean that under Labor workers are 20 to 30 per cent worse off than they should be? Or does it mean that if the Coalition is returned wages will be 20 to 30 per cent higher then at present? Or, perhaps if Labor is returned the workers will be 20 to 30 per cent worse off than if the Coalition is returned? Kelty's about face in casting himself as a working class hero will fool no workers. For months, Kelty toured this country with his friend transport magnate Lindsay Fox trying to recruit low-paid workers for industry. Kelty played a major role in ACTU endorsement of Bob Hawke's use of the armed forces as strike breakers in the airline pilots' dispute. Kelty also acquiesced in the introduction of enterprise bargaining, short term contracts with consequent job insecurity and Hawke's introduction of the present toothless Industrial Relations Commission. His credibility is like Keating's.
Col Friel
Alawa NT