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Letters to the Editor:

Hanson's resurrection?

It is sickening to see the pages and pages of dailies and excessive time 
on radio and TV given over to Pauline Hanson. Are we supposed to cry for 
her? Forgive her her policies and fraud?

How can any decent person forget the impact she had, with the assistance of 
the mass media, on politics in Australia?

She, or her script writers, knew how to appeal to the sentiments of 
ordinary Australians, particularly in the bush, as they suffered the impact 
of tariff reductions, bank closures, deregulation and the privatisation of 
Telstra, etc.

Hanson and her One Nation's racist attitudes towards Aborigines and 
migration, hatred of anything foreign, "zero tolerance" law and order 
policies, proposals for concentration camps, and other backward reactionary 
attitudes, opened the way for neo-fascist ideas to be publicly stated and 
the likes of Alston and Ruddock to do their dirty work.

Rejection of "political correctness" became a vehicle for turning back the 
clock on attitudes towards women, multi-culturalism and other cultural 
values.

She served a purpose. She helped keep Labor our of office, diverting many a 
disaffected Liberal or National Party vote that might have gone to Labor.

The Liberals lurched further to the right than ever to win back support. 
Howard had no difficulty in taking up her policies, and implementing them, 
eventually making One Nation irrelevant.

But now she is back on the front pages again. An innocent victim who didn't 
understand the electoral law?

It's time to take another look at that electoral law. In the Federal 
sphere, a political party must provide 500 names, addresses and signatures 
of members to gain registration, unless they already have a member in 
Parliament.

In NSW they must provide details of 750 members — and I believe this is on 
public display.

This is outrageous, particularly in the present political climate. In the 
case of a communist party or other progressive party this would certainly 
save ASIO a lot of footwork, and with the new ASIO legislation, assist them 
greatly in raiding and taking in members of any political group that 
challenged the system.

So much for civil liberties, privacy and freedom of association!

It's time for all democratic loving forces to get together and do something 
about changing these crook laws. That is not to say that I have any 
sympathy for Pauline Hanson.

I do have a concern: are the media trying to resurrect her now that the 
National Party and Liberal Party are running into difficulties over the 
privatisation of Telstra?

Would three years — or whatever it is shortened to be used to create a 
martyr?

I hope not.

J W Wilson
Fairfield

On Nauru they will observe a "silence" for Tampa Day August 26, to say 
thank you to Arne Rinnan for saving their lives.

"We are killing softly and slowly by Australian Government", writes my 
friend in the camp on Nauru. "Many people thought that if we go to 
Afghanistan we will be kill one time. That is why they have gone."

He goes on to tell me that almost 400 have taken this option.

These are the bright enthusiastic young people who managed to escape death 
by a perilous journey towards Australia. They are just the type of person 
Australia needs, cultured, polite, and courageous.

No wonder Australians are not allowed to travel to Nauru. If we met these 
people our hearts would be opened.

It suits Mr Ruddock much better to get them to desperation point, send them 
crazy, so that they do not care if they live or die. Maybe then we are 
allowed to see them, and call them names.

But while they are holding it together, year after year, with their 
children in the camps, we are not allowed to share a smile and a cup of 
tea, let alone the spare room in our house.

If you would like to offer a prayer on their behalf, please attend church 
on Refugee Sunday, August 31. Remember them also on Tampa Day August 26. If 
you would like to write to a person in camp on Nauru or offer some other 
sign of good will, please contact me. (02 65596977).

Elaine Smith
West Haven, NSW

Political ideas are not the sole domain of political parties represented 
in parliament, political science professors, regular newspaper commentators 
or letter writers. They also live in small, active political organisations 
that bother to register with the Australian Electoral Commission and run 
candidates at election time, often at considerable expense, without 
financial assistance provided by the state or strong financial interest 
groups to back them.

In relation to the major parties they are already at a serious 
disadvantage. Their chances of election are much reduced on account of the 
single-district electoral system. In addition, they tend to be 
systematically ignored by the mainstream media.

Given that the voters are extremely cheesed off with the major parties and 
the political system as a whole one would think that new blood and ideas 
are badly needed in Australia.

The look-alike major parties could well be described as a two-party tyranny 
solidly in the pockets of corporate Australia. Where is the real Opposition 
that is, supposedly, a positive feature of the Westminster system.

It is our view that the media in a democracy have a responsibility to air 
the views of such bona fide, registered small parties. We have waited for 
that, in vain, for six years now.

Klaas Woldring
Media Officer, Progressive Labour Party, NSW