Melbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church

A talk given by Richard Tate, church member at the Melbourne Unitarian Church, on Sunday 1st October 2006

Remember the Beatles – John Lennon – John Lennon said: 'Our society is run by insane people, for insane objectives. I think we are being run by maniacs, for maniacal ends, and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that – that's what is insane about it'.

Language is perhaps the most crucial battleground of corporate diplomacy. Neo-cons use language as their main propaganda tool, attempting to cause chaos and confusion in our minds.
They trick us with words such as:

Democracy; Fair Wage, when they mean reductions in real wages; Independent Inquiry - we know that any inquiry by the Howard Government would be stacked with his cronies; Free Trade - we know free trade agreements provide corporations with the means by which they can operate without regulation; Terrorism - take the word terrorism - the international bodies that control currency, trade and credit, practise international economic terrorism against poor countries, against the poor of these countries, with a cold-blooded professionalism that would make the best bomb thrower blush. Terrorism itself is a tool – a weapon – it is the use of grievance by groups to advance a political objective – a weapon by the weak against the strong, the occupied against the occupier. If you have a war against terrorism, it's a war without an end in sight, without an exit strategy. Terrorism by its nature can't and won’t be eradicated as long as there are grievances that cannot be resolved diplomatically.

All of these words have been emptied of their true meaning and have been re-defined with corporate culture affixed with their dishonest political labels.

A Unique University

We now have a unique university in Australia teaching future leaders and others the art of public administration and politics - corporate governance - modelled on the Kennedy School at Harvard University. Classes include present-day politicians, bureaucrats, business leaders and journalists, mainly promoting the value and benefits of corporacy. This new, unbalanced economic conspiracy is driven by powerful groups, often coming to conclusions that benefit the corporate sector to the detriment of our national needs. Their concept is that all economic growth benefits all, and the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits - this, of course, is false. Sixty per cent of the electorate are indeed worse off in some form or other. We in Australia know this - we live it every day.

Professor Allan Fels, former head of the A.C.C.C. guides this university and its courses. Surely after twenty years of this charade we clearly see that the majority of the Australian electorate have become disconnected, have no confidence in this new direction, and have lost respect for politicians and their continuous misleading utterings. We know – we all know our nation is lost - rudderless. The real divisions between corporacy and democracy are to be found outside parliament and have never been greater – no one can deny this – the truth is we live in a corporacy which is unbalanced - the direct opposite to democracy - to define corporacy, that in reality 'is an unelected government, having no ethics, truth, morals or conscience - it is a fictitious or unknown person or company, who is given political privilege by the elected government, which used in the extreme, has replaced democracy'.

A New World Order

All governments now in Australia – state and federal - follow this doctrine through the establishment of a New World Order. Perhaps the best example on offer is the investor, George Soros – he calls himself a philanthropist – however, one of his roles is to tighten the stranglehold of globalisation and the New World Order. He has been quoted as saying – 'when you speculate in financial markets, you are free of moral concerns that confront ordinary business men - what better way to control a nation than to dominate their media, education, research centres and science' - sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

During the Malcolm Fraser era, through my employment I was able to witness a plan, firstly, to completely destroy the union movement, then influence the elected government. Daily I saw these corporate leaders, men whom Fraser trusted, and I could never understand how he could rely on them. Men who hated the union movement – hated their own workers – men with destructive ideals with no understanding of national spirit or benefit – their only driver was power through economic lunacy. One of these men was assigned to reading every known publication on the union movement with the sole intention of its complete destruction. This project took about twelve months to complete, and we see today with the workplace relations’ changes coming before the High Court of Australia, his work could be successful. How could these workplace changes be beneficial to the majority of workers in its present form – this bill is unarguable, and yet the fear is that the High Court could find some legal loophole to support the Howard proposal.

So we must ask, how did we get into this precarious position? Let’s move on from Fraser to Labor’s Hawke and Keating team and see the role they played in diluting democracy. They played their part by allowing extensive political reforms against labor’s beliefs and philosophy. Such as – giving banks power to create credit unions, allowing foreign banks to take market share from our banking system. Reforming the waterfront in readiness for privatisation. Selling the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas. Installing an insurance scheme into Medibank and calling it Medicare.

However, the main game and changes took place when Jeff Kennett won the state election in Victoria, controlling both Houses of Parliament for the Liberal–Country Party. When the electorate voted for Kennett they didn’t expect that the system would completely change. They didn’t vote for a state divided into two societies – master and slave. We who have lived in Victoria during that period know only too well what took place and this has clearly demonstrated how correct was the book, ‘Confessions of an Economic Hitman’ by John Perkins. In this book, Perkins defines economic hit men as ‘highly paid professionals and others, who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars, their tools include fraudulent financial reports, payoffs, extortion, sex and murder’.

Anti-Social Bacteria

Since the Kennett era, our political expectations have been beaten-up badly. It’s as if we have been inoculated by an anti-social vaccine. We have been politically unconscious. A new political theory has been implanted in Australia by organisations who have been able to mesmerise us with their overall blanket propaganda. Voting serves the interest of people only where democracy already exists, and that is not what we have here at this time. In deceiving the Victorian electorate, the neo-cons have had a massive victory, thus enabling the federal Howard government to follow the same line, completing the charade. Australia is now a different place – there is dissatisfaction in the lives we live, and the use of words such as public good and community can’t even be found in any metropolitan tip. Today as I stand here in this church on Wurundjeri land, I envisage island Australia as a well-shaped, balanced land, rich in natural resources in massive quantities, a variable climate suitable for all tastes, 22 million people, a workforce of 10 million, enough value for everyone, a nation untapped, waiting for direction and positive leadership.

However, the reality is quite the opposite – blurred. I see our place being infested by millions of large corporate rats, gulping our produce and grain, trashing our social -structured institutions and Aboriginal hereditary, while looting our collective wealth and infrastructure for the benefit of the flawed corporate empire experiment. We are undoubtedly still the lucky country, however, an ever-increasing mass of the community are finding they don’t qualify for a share of that luck. People are living on ‘make-work’, cheap labour as make work, going from productive employment into what’s called service - cheap unskilled service - working as restaurant workers and things like that, any kind of job to keep occupied, at low wages. We have arrived at a crisis point.

We urgently need a new political party and leader with alternative views, engaging a grass roots mass movement at national level that challenges the legitimacy of the present group of political actors. It is essential to inform our fellow citizens of the causes and consequences of the media disinformation and propaganda apparatus.

About 60% of people do not agree with what is happening to our lifestyle; a new party would give them an opportunity to use their vote in accordance with their wishes – restoring democracy, as we know it to mean. This new party would endorse principles reflecting supportive programs, inclusive and just, promoting a degree of fairness and equality for all – it’s called democracy. We have had this experience before and it works.

So much of importance is needed to be done – we have already spoken about a republic, a constitution and bill of rights at other times and all that they imply – however, could I suggest simple changes that a new progressive party could consider: taking responsibility for essential services – public housing, health services, transport, (road, rail and sea), education, taxation, power and gas to name a few.

Homelessnes Is Un-Australian

Public housing should not be regarded as welfare – it is a basic ingredient for people to have secure affordable housing, enabling (no matter at what level) participation equally in community affairs, creating healthier outcomes. There is no need for homelessness in a society such as ours. Increasing the public stock with quality houses and units for the poor is an urgent requirement. The creation of a national housing authority, working with suburban and regional housing bodies could be a start. With renting public housing, approximately 25% of income is returned directly to government. I’ve no idea the number of units we have in Victoria – say there are 50 thousand separate housing units – that would equate to approximately $150 million returned, whereby that money could be used to increase the stock, ensuring continued supply. With regard to education – public schools should have increased funding to allow quality teachers and other educators to be engaged free of employment contracts that restrict their freedom of expression and future employment. Taxpayer funding for private schooling would cease – they are now in a position of advantage and with their school fee charges are quite able to support themselves. Public schooling would be free – available to all and have Australian history and poetry as compulsory subjects at primary level.

No American-Style Health Care

Health seems to be a major disaster at this time – we know the present health and dental program is along the American-style managed model, using corporate welfare to prop up the private health insurance industry that nobody wants. A universal public health service would be means tested, with most gaining access to free service. Private health companies would continue without input of taxpayer funds.

Public transport needs much attention – improvement in service and fare structure is necessary. The roads today are a dangerous place to be and as such, people over the age of 70 should travel on public transport free of charge.

Taxation – the present GST model is working well and should be retained – however, it is not being used to advantage. During good economic times the 10% rate could drop – say to 8% and conversely, increase up to 12-14% when the economy struggles. When used in this manner it would seem much fairer. With regard to personal tax, a flat overall rate seems sensible and could be easily managed. There is no reason why a simple matter need become complicated.

This nation is so rich in minerals and other resources - all these obvious suggestions could easily be serviced through mining companies contributing directly to government in a form of percentage of profit. What’s wealth if we do not receive a tangible benefit? This is 2006 –our resources belong to us – the soil and its riches are Australian; we should be demanding that we retain our resources. It’s justice! Land wealth is a gift and belongs to Australia. We are a special place – Australia is unique. That’s why there is so much interest by overseas, corporately.

Did you know, a small mining company – Central Pacific Minerals - discovered a massive shale deposit at Gladstone, Queensland – 90%, that means basically solid oil which could be processed to profit at $10 a barrel – sold to overseas companies. Little gold producer, Carr Boyd Minerals, invested in camera equipment many years ago that could detect and identify mineral deposits using low-flying aircraft – sold to Western Mining – who in turn were taken over by overseas companies - Kimberly Diamond Mine - the world’s largest. We were first told they only found industrial diamonds and the government at the time accepted that. We now know the mine produces tons of high -quality diamonds – we receive 22 cents per carat royalty. A good quality one-carat diamond could bring as much as twenty thousand dollars.

We Could Be Self-Sufficient In Oil and Natural Gas

There is enough oil and natural gas here to be self-sufficient; not much is said about this by our government. Titanium is all the go at this moment – strong as steel and 40% lighter – we have the world’s largest, known reserves, with only six other nations having this mineral. Using titanium in car manufacturing could be a positive incentive for initiating battery-powered vehicle development.

I would like to mention the CSIRO. They have now developed a system that could supply the whole nation with power and electricity by using solar power technology – why use uranium? Surely it’s clear that the only reason these corporations are interested in us (they already have open slather political clout), is that they know what we have and their brief is complete control of our national wealth through our mineral and superannuation supply. Such a crisis will surely deepen under Howard’s new initiatives. There is a sense of urgency in reversing the tide – ultimately what is at stake is the legitimacy of the political and economic power structures that control the formulation of policy. We must somehow encourage a new party to break the cycle of being bled dry by ‘corporately.’ We must expose the propaganda apparatus being the pervasive power of media disinformation – the fear and intimidation campaign which galvanizes public opinion into accepting the legitimacy of its fabrications.

The present American leadership and the Pentagon have designed a world military empire under the exclusive rule of force and Australia – we are part of it. We do not declare ourselves an enemy of the American people - we simply say we do not want to connect to a principal that engages in a campaign of sowing hatred with the vengeful spirit that corporately promotes. Corporately has noting to do with peace! We must return to democracy – freedom and peace has always been a challenge. Support for a new party would fill the ever-increasing intolerable vacuum we now have. I believe that a well-organised party and leadership clearly stating proven alternatives and challenging the neo-liberals could be the aim.

In the recent Queensland election, 1 in 8 votes was either informal or registered a protest message on the ballot paper. The good news is that people generally are becoming more aware and united. Little groups are forming everywhere, groups like People Power and Steve Jolly’s booklet, ‘The Case for a New Workers’ Party’, along with many others.

Neo-cons may soon realise that with their cash-flow view of the world, they can’t regulate human behaviour forever. Many of those who have kept the rage inside as best they can, unwilling to destroy a job or a marriage for fear of being judged unstable by people around them, will soon have their opportunity. Let’s hope that amongst these enlightened groups a leadership will be found that can bring democracy back to our lucky country. I’d like to finish this morning by reading the last verse of Henry Lawson’s poem, ‘My Land and I’. Lawson wrote this poem in 1903, aged 36.

‘The parasites dine at your table’s spread,
(As my enemies did at mine)
And they croak and they gurgle, Australia’s dead,
While they guzzle Australian wine,
But we heed them never, my land, my land,
For we know how small they are,
And we see the signs of a future grand,
As we gaze on a rising star’.