National Observer - Australia and World Affairs articles from September 2001

National Observer - Australia and World Affairs archives from September 2001

The Coalition and the need to exchange preferences with One Nation.(Editorial)
September 22, 2001... The results of State elections in Western Australia and Queensland carry a critical message for Mr. Howard's government. Unless there is a change in the political situation, which may presently be viewed as unlikely, the Coalition will incur a...

When will there be real tax reform?(Brief Article)(Editorial)
September 22, 2001... It is a matter of history that the deterioration of the Australian taxation system began shortly after the government of Mr. Robert Hawke took office in 1983. Until that time Australian income tax law had been simple and easy to understand and...

Mr. Peter Costello: Australia's worst post-war treasurer.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Immediately before the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax, on 1 July 2000, an intense campaign was waged in newspapers and on television. This campaign comprised misleading advertisements that are a matter of shame for the government of...

The cancer of electoral fraud in Australia.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
September 22, 2001... A matter which will be considered in future issues of the "National Observer", but which has now assumed great urgency, is electoral fraud. It must be understood that the Australian electoral system is open to large-scale fraud. It is...

The International Criminal Court and social engineering.
September 22, 2001... The Statute for the Creation of the International Criminal Court (or "I.C.C. Statute") was adopted at a high-level diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy, in July 1998. In June 2000, documents establishing rules of procedure and definitions of...

The Whitlam years: a retrospect.(Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, Australia)
September 22, 2001... There is no doubting the relevance of Whitlam's career to constitutional issues in this country, great and small. A little more will be said on that aspect later in this article, but since my chief exposure to "the Whitlam venture" (as the late...

Mandatory sentencing -- a catalyst for debate.
September 22, 2001... What is unfortunate about the debate on mandatory sentencing is that it is mostly based, not on the legal and parliamentary principles behind minimum mandatory sentencing, but on a series of the most blatant falsehoods. For instance, I...

Australia's Digital Television saga.
September 22, 2001... Australia's Digital Television ("D.T.V.") saga, which began in 1997 and continues to this day, has been a most instructive experience. Nothing could have prepared observers for the insight they were to receive on how the government and the...

The bureaucracy's control over the Australian defence force.
September 22, 2001... Before Federation, Australia relied almost totally on British Empire mechanisms for strategic guidance and force-structuring. A measure of Australian strategic decision-making and force-structuring occurred over the next decade. The creation of...

Further evidence of fraudulent aboriginal claims. (Legal Notes).
September 22, 2001... Affirmative action in favour of Aboriginals has already revealed itself to be excessive. Per capita expenditure on Aboriginals far exceeds that on other Australians. Aboriginals receive preferences over other Australians in many areas, and, for...

A Short History of the World. (Book Reviews).
September 22, 2001... A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WORLD by Geoffrey Blainey Ringwood, Victoria: Viking, 2000, pp. 669 and index. A world history: the road to that goal is littered with the bleached and vultured bones of historians who never made it. Sir Walter...

The Politics of the Asian Economic Crisis. (Book Reviews).
September 22, 2001... THE POLITICS OF THE ASIAN ECONOMIC CRISIS edited by Professor T.J. Pempel Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1999, pp. 284 and index. This volume, the genesis for which lies in a conference held at the University of Washington in late 1998,...

From Third World to First: The Singapore Story, 1965-2000. (Book Reviews).
September 22, 2001... FROM THIRD WORLD TO FIRST: THE SINGAPORE $TORY: 1965-2000 By Lee Kwan Yew New York, Harper Collins, 2000, pages 691 and index. Lee Kwan Yew is by general agreement one of the ablest statesmen of the 20th century. Margaret Thatcher said of...