Category: Australian Politics

Australia and the PRC Chinese Diaspora


The spat between the Australian government and that of China’s CCP
is well known by now. However, it is only recently that Australia’s PM, Scott Morrison, announced that Australia would grant students from Hong Kong a five-year extension to their visas in the wake of China’s new national security law. In addition, Australia is considering granting humanitarian visas for those pro-democracy leaders who are now in serious danger.

Scott Morrison PM
Xi Jinping

Unsurprisingly, the government of Xi Jinping is less than happy with this. While commenting on Scott Morrison’s announcement, federal Labor senator, Penny Wong stated that this move couldn’t compare with the late Bob Hawke’s sudden granting of permanent residence visas to Chinese students who were in Australia in 1989 at the time of the Tien amin Square massacre.

    Penny Wong                                                  

Bob Hawke

What many people fail to understand is that the Chinese government did not want these students to return as they probably knew about the massacre and would spread the news. Those same students, if they had returned to China and not undertaken any protests, would have had nothing to fear. While not denying his earlier achievements, the tears that the then PM, Bob Hawke, shed would prove to be very expensive ones.

We have no idea how many of the students in Australia at that time were pro-democracy. However, I have a friend whose father was a high ranking official in the CCP and she was sent to Australia to spy on pro-democracy students. She said this herself.

Gerry Hand

A year or two later the then Minister of Immigration, Gerry Hand, appeared on television and was asked by an interviewer if Australia’s family reunion policy, coupled with the grant of permanent residence visas to the roughly 20,000 students who were in the country in 1989, would mean that 300,000 additional immigrants would arrive over the next ten years. Mr Hand replied, “Yes,” a very forthright answer from a politician. Three days later he was no longer Immigration Minister.

While Bob Hawke had not done anything illegal, in hindsight it would seem that he had accepted some kind of implied quid pro quo from the Chinese government. This became apparent when, not long after he had left politics, Hawke became a highly paid consultant to the Chinese government. This was the very same government that had committed the 1989 massacre. What a reversal of sentiment!

I saw Bob Hawke in the early 2000s on television trying to convince the Aboriginal traditional owners of land in the Northern Territory to accept spent uranium waste from China in return for financial incentives. In the years since then a large pro-CCP Chinese diaspora has emerged in Australia. They have often clashed with Hong Kong students during demonstrations.

Let’s hope the present Australian government is much more careful about the granting of visas to the current Hong Kong students. We don’t want any more pro-Beijing students sneaking in. I think the current government will be much more circumspect than the Hawke government was. Additionally, we can be sure that Xi Jinping’s government will not be offering any “quid pro quos.”

Tobacco taxes, poverty and organised crime


Tobacco taxes, poverty and organised crime

   Scott Morrison PM  

Bill Shorten Opposition leader

Richard Dinatale leader of the Greens

While nobody would argue that smoking is healthy or that it shouldn’t be discouraged, the entire Australian federal parliament is guilty of the unintended and horrendous consequences of the current “tax them till death” policy. Australia’s approach to this issue not only makes us the laughing stock of the world but also causes massive harm to our own society. Various political parties and groups have factored in to projected revenues these draconian tax levels.

The hypocrisy is evident to anyone with half a brain. Are “Quit Smoking” aids free? Of course not!

The Negative consequences of this stupid policy

There are many people, who cannot or will not (for various reasons) quit. Quite often these people are amongst the poorest in our community. This reads as “children without shoes or enough to eat.”

Tobacco products are so expensive in Oz that smokers drag their fags until the very end, thus consuming more tar and poisons. The mentally ill tend to smoke and it is always much harder for them to quit than for the general population. My own sister suffers from bipolar type 1, is a pensioner and one of her doctors told her not to try to quit as it would increase her stress levels and thus her illness. I, myself suffer from severe depression and OCD. I can’t see a way to quitting either.

Organised crime is laughing all the way to the bank. This policy is expanding and enabling the reach of organised crime networks. Tobacco is now more expensive than marijuana or ice. Troubled youth, who may have previously resorted to smoking are now taking the drug ice, which is far more dangerous for both the individual and society as a whole.

Alternatives

There are many ways to discourage smoking without targeting the extremely vulnerable. It is possible to set an age for purchase of smoking products (demanding ID) and raising it every year. That should assist in keeping the young from the evil habit. Progressive reductions in public areas where smoking is allowed can also help.

An example of a sensible tobacco policy that I am familiar with, springs to mind. In Taiwan the rate of smoking amongst the young is much lower than that in Oz. Their campaigns against smoking have become a cultural norm. Yet they do not target the vulnerable sections of their society such as the hopelessly addicted elderly, the mentally ill (my brother-in-law in Taiwan is battling schizophrenia and he smokes and is a low income earner).

The Future.

Will any of our parliamentary leaders have the courage to try to solve this problem and set tobacco taxes at reasonable and sensible levels? I can only hope but I doubt it! Australia is heading for third world status in a rush in all areas but one; tobacco prices

Australian Federal Opposition attacks responsible saving


 

Australian Federal Opposition attacks responsible saving

Bill Shorten

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Bill Shorten of the Australian Labor Party has promised to introduce, if he wins government at the next election, a policy of abolishing franking tax credits for all but public pensioners (full or part). This policy is unreasonable and unfair. He has also hinted at further financial attacks on self-funded retirees.

I am a self-funded retiree who has just enough income and just enough assets to not qualify for even a part pension. I certainly would not call myself wealthy by any means. This proposed policy will only affect the moderately comfortable self-funded retirees as the genuinely wealthy ones will not be affected by it. Those wealthy ones will earn enough from their investments so that they will get their franking credits off their tax and would not be in the position to receive a franking credit tax rebate anyway.

Each year I donate a similar amount to worthwhile charities as I receive in franking credit rebates. The introduction of your policy would mean that I would not be in a position to make those charitable donations. My father was also a self-funded retiree who did not possess great wealth. Due to dementia he spent the last three years of his life in a nursing home. Because he was not on a pension he had to pay approx. $1500 a week for the nursing home (I personally saw the bills and receipts). The Rudd government introduced a tax on self-funded retirees in nursing homes. My father had to pay approx. $1500 a week extra tax on top of the nursing home charges (I personally saw those bills and receipts also).

Governments over the years have verbally encouraged people to save for their retirements where possible and not be a burden on the public purse. Yet those people who do just this and become self-funded retirees are often punished for their thrift and responsibility. This new policy will further exacerbate this situation if introduced. In times of economic uncertainty and likely government shortfalls in revenue do we really want to encourage more people to go on the government pension and take less responsibility in managing their own finances?

I have voted Labor most of the time over the years. However I will not be voting Labor while this policy remains and I imagine considerable numbers of other self-funded retirees will be doing the same.