The Victorian State government’s refusal to call a Royal Commission into the links between organised crime, the police and business interests in the State, raises serious questions about what the State government is trying to hide. The trail of murder and corruption that has unfolded in Victoria over the past decade is, if it wasn’t so serious, the type of script you would expect to find in a B-grade movie.

The revelations in The Age (17/9) that David Jones’, the head of the body overseeing the Office of Police Integrity (OPI), findings that the OPI lacks the resources, and does not have the power to investigate the links between organised crime and police, highlights the need for a Royal Commission. A Royal Commission is the circuit breaker that will allow the harsh glare of publicity to shine on what is currently happening behind closed doors.

An OPI hamstrung by a lack of judicial powers to investigate the links between organised crime, police, business and political interests is not able to do the job the a Royal Commission is capable of.

The State government’s intransigence on the question of calling a Royal Commission, compounds the current problems. In order to tackle corruption, the community needs to know the extent of the problem. A Royal Commission may not lead to charges and it may only sit for a year, but during that period, the harsh glare of publicity will expose and destroy the links that have allowed corruption to reach epidemic levels in Victoria.

Hamstrung by legal considerations, newspapers and news outlets can only do so much to tackle the issue of corruption. For ever story published, a dozen remain unpublished because of legal impediments. Only a Royal Commission creates the environment that gives witnesses the legal protection needed for them to speak up about what they know.

The Victorian State government’s refusal to hold a Royal Commission only highlight Victorians concerns the corruption is not an issue limited to organised crime and a few bent cops, but one whose tentacles reach into the business community, political circles and possibly into State Parliament.

It is ironic that in an era of ‘mutual obligation’, parliamentary representatives are not accountable to the people they represent. Every 3 years, Australian electors have the dubious pleasure of giving a parliamentary representative a signed blank cheque to make decisions on their behalf for the next 3 years. If their political representative does not honour even one of their promises or changes their political allegiances mid term, electors can do nothing till the next election when they go through the same process again giving another parliamentary representative a signed blank cheque to make decisions on their behalf for another 3 years.

The parliamentary process is in urgent need of reform. Unfortunately in this country, only Parliament has the power to initiate parliamentary reform. The current lack of accountability by parliamentary representatives and the resultant constitutional logjam can be addressed by giving the electorate the power to recall their political representatives in between elections and by giving the electorate the power to initiate constitutional change through citizen initiated referendum.

Unless the urgent need for parliamentary reform is tackled, Australians will have to rely on faith and faith alone when John Howard decides to blow the starters whistle on a process that has as much to do with democracy – rule of the people, by the people, for the people – as the AFL has to do with promoting soccer in Australia.

They have come out boxing for their boy, not because a Labor government could challenge the power they are currently exercising, but because they are concerned that a change of government will generate a climate for change that will eventually challenge their power. Even the conservative Labor Party poses a challenge to their authority.

Faced with the reality that the puppet masters will be pulling out all stops to encourage people to return the Coalition government – it is important that those sections of the Australian community who are sick and tired of the Howard government’s divisive social and economic agenda continue to publicly pursue campaigns that will undermine the Howard government’s authority and its resolve to continue to act on behalf of those Australians who own the means of production, distribution and exchange instead of the people of this country.

Each and every one of us who rejects this government, need to keep punching at the government’s credibility. People cannot afford to leave the struggle against the Coalition in the hands of the Australian Labor Party or the Greens. The Howard government will only be defeated if people raise alternatives to both the government’s and the Opposition’s agenda.

It would be a pity to see all the good political work of the past few years go down the drain because people have forgotten that they need to do more than talk to each other to create the preconditions that will challenge the powers of those sections of society that currently exercise power in this country.

To compound the problem, the people of Williamstown and Albert Park were expected to roll up to the polls less then a year after a State election had been held. Politicians and political parties who treat electors with contempt by not even bothering to stand candidates (although the Liberal Party is the opposition in Victoria) and politicians who retire on a whim, should not be surprised when electors rain on their parade. What is extraordinary about the Williamstown and Albert Park By-election is that more electors did not bother to cast a ballot or voted informal.

Parliamentarians at both State and Federal level face very real problems when dealing with a sceptical and educated electorate. They cannot expect people to roll up to vote just because the Electoral Act demands they turn up to the polling booth and have their names crossed of the electoral roll.

Apathy is the only legitimate response to a political system that seems to have forgotten that parliamentary representatives are responsible to the voters who elect them into office. Until that small minority in this country that owns the means of production, distribution, exchange and communication stops setting the major political parties electoral agenda so they continue to dominate economic and political activity in Australia, electors are more than entitled to be apathetic.

What makes a city vibrant may not be good for business or have anything to do with what is currently happening in that city. What makes a city vibrant is not a horse race, a car race held in a public park, innovative scientist and businesses. What makes a city vibrant - is people.

Successive Australian governments have shown little interest about the plight of our neighbours in the South Pacific and our fellow Australians in the Torres Strait. Global warming may be an academic question in Melbourne, but it is a life and death issue in the Torres Strait and many of the island nations in the South Pacific. Over the next 20 years, thousands possibly tens of thousands of people in our region will be homeless because of rising sea levels.

If Melbourne wants to be a vibrant leader among global cities, it could offer accommodation, financial support, jobs and a future to people who, through no fault of their own, will be forced to move from their island homes because of rising sea levels. A standing commission could be established by the city of Melbourne to make contact with potential environmental refugees in our region and sponsor their relocation to Melbourne when the need arises.

A city that is willing to actively make provisions for the environmental refugees it has helped to create through its ‘business as usual’ approach to economics, would demonstrate to the rest of the world that Melbourne is willing to take responsibility for and pay the cost for the carbon dioxide it pumps into the atmosphere. A city that has its eyes fixed firmly on the uncertain future we all face, can act as a model for the rest of the world.

We can make all the decisions we like, but unless we have access to the resources to make those decisions a reality, having the power to make decisions is not enough. In order to create a society without rulers, we need access to both power and wealth. In a parliamentary democracy, people have the power to elect representatives but what those representatives can and cannot do is ultimately dependent by those elements in society who own the means of production, distribution, exchange and communication.

The creation of a society without rulers is dependent on both the abolition of the State and the private sector. Communisolistation – the transfer of power and wealth from the hands of the State and the private sector, into the hands of the community - is a necessary prerequisite for the creation of a society without rulers, an anarchist society. When anarchists talk about holding wealth in common, they are not talking about everybody sharing the same toothbrush. Anarchists understand the difference between personal property and community property. Personal ownership in an anarchist society is based on use. You cannot sleep in two beds or simultaneously live in two houses. While you use resources for your personal they remain yours, once you no longer need them they automatically become community property. The property and resources, that is needed to keep society functioning, belong to the community as a whole. Property that is required for individual survival remains personal property until that need no longer exists.

The anarchist project - the creation of a society without rulers - is dependent on individual participation in the decision making process and holding wealth in common. Unless power and wealth are shared, the chances of creating a viable anarchist society are Buckley’s and none.

The same can be said of radical egalitarian social change. Increasing population growth, finite resources, a cargo cult economic system based on the creation of ever increasing profits irrespective of the human, social and environmental costs, puts radical egalitarian social change squarely on the political agenda. We need to realise that nobody else apart from ourselves is going to promote radical egalitarian social change because these changes challenge the monopoly those who exercise power are able to wield in society today.

It is our role to promote radical egalitarian change as a possible solution to the problems we face as individuals, a community and a species. Promoting reform when we want revolutionary change is dishonest and counterproductive. We need to fully articulate our vision for the future, only then will people be forced to seriously consider what we are proposing as solutions to what currently seem to be insurmountable problems.

Desire and expectation are not enough. Hope needs to be tempered in the oven of every day reality. Only then will people begin to consider radical egalitarian change as both desirable and possible.

Mr. Hobson, one of the pursuers, showed some initiative when he mounted a tree and took a pot shot at somebody he saw hiding in the scrub. Surrounding the area, the posse demanded the intruders surrender or be shot. Imagine their surprise when one of the local squatters Mr. Andersen and 4 of his servants (who had been shooting swans) came out of the scrub with their hands held above their heads. Andersen and his party joined the posse; as Andersen was one of the group which had found the murdered whalers 4 weeks previously.

Somehow the disorganised group stumbled across the Tasmanians. They easily outran their mounted pursuers by fleeing across a swamp. The Aboriginal black trackers, concerned about their continued safety, refused to continue the hunt. Powlett and Rawson soon realised they could not continue without the help of black trackers. They decided to disband the group. Powlett returned to Melbourne on the 2nd of November, Rawson decided to stay at his station for a few more days. Becoming increasingly concerned about the Tasmanians continued presence in the area, he retuned to Melbourne on the 8th of November. On the following day, the Port Phillip Herald reported the merry chase Powlett, Rawson and their posse were led on by the 5 Tasmanians.

The Aboriginal Protector Thomas accompanied by 3 black trackers continued to search for the Tasmanians. He located their camp near Westernport. Powlett and Rawson organised a new hunting party. They met at Dandenong 3 days later. Receiving information from Thomas that he had located the Tasmanians camp, they set out for Westernport adding new people to their posse as they called in at stations for help. The inability of the military and the police to locate and arrest the Tasmanians had caused consternation in the district.

Many of the stations on the Mornington Peninsula were deserted; their owners retreating to their relative safety of Melbourne. On the 16th of November, Corporal Jennings and 8 soldiers joined the new posse. The following day 9 mounted police, 9 soldiers, 4 Aboriginal black trackers and 6 settlers all armed to the teeth, made their way to the camp where the Aboriginal Protector Thomas and 4 more black trackers were waiting.

NEXT WEEK: ‘End Game’

I am always wary of books where the author’s name takes top billing even when that author is Studs Turkel. Studs Turkel is a familiar and towering figure in the American Liberal Left tradition. His strength lies in his ability to bring the voices of marginalised community and political figures in America we never hear about. Born in 1921, he is still publishing in his mid 80’s. A champion of oral history, the bete noire of historical revisionists, he is able, through the voices of the people he has interviewed, to bring to the readers attention the other America. Not the America of gruesome murders and violent crime that is skilfully marketed on pay TV, not Bush’s America or corporate America or Disneyland America, but a more real tangible ethically and morally driven America.

I am not talking about the religious bigots who peer over their Bibles and Korans, lecturing the rest of the world on the one true path to salvation, but an America bloodied in struggle against the might of the State and corporate juggernaut that requires the sacrifice of 30,000 children a day to lubricate its path. Hope – the child of the union of desire and expectation - drives a cast of characters whose lives (any one of us would be proud to emulate) talk to us in Studs Turkel’s ‘Hope Dies Last’.

Nearly 70 voices are crammed into this 317 page colossus. Each in its own way tells us of the struggle to create that society that America could have become. While the religious bigots and the corporate monsters have gone on the long march through the institutions capturing State power to impose their will on the people of America, Studs Turkel’s America survives on the margins providing an intellectual, moral and ethical contrast to those who exercise power in America today.

‘Hope Dies Last’ is worth reading; not because it gives the reader a new insight into the human condition, but because it highlights the struggle for human freedom is a universal struggle that is as old as the human race.

Want to get hold of a copy - I suggest your local library or local bookshop would be a good place to start.

Today he was a little more animated than usual. The conversation soon got around to Pavarotti’ death; he began reminiscing about an encounter he had with the great man over a decade ago outside the Melbourne G.P.O. Trying to give out leaflets to a disinterested public, the sunlight disappeared as this large figure suddenly loomed over him. He thought to himself that he had seen this bloke somewhere before, but could not put his finger on who he was.

They began talking when the man asked him what he was protesting about. John, a man who believes that no one individual is more important than anyone else, did not let the fact that he suddenly realised he was talking to the great tenor Pavarotti overwhelm him. They talked about Australia’s Family Court system. Pavarotti told him he was thinking of leaving his wife and his concerns about the effects this would have on his ability to see his children. They chatted for 15 to 20 minutes outside Melbourne’s G.P.O. about matters pertaining to family law. Luciano was willing to share his innermost thoughts with a stranger in the street 10,000 miles from his home because he must have seen a little bit off himself in John.

Just in case you think I am telling a Johnny (a euphemism in Australia for telling a lie – a recent addition to the language to honour Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard), one of the other Johns at the Wednesday Action Group pow wow outside the Commonwealth Offices in Casseldon Place in Melbourne verified that John had indeed conversed with Luciano outside the Melbourne’s G.P.O over a decade ago. It is amazing the people you bump into when you make the effort to go to town to hand out a leaflet or two.

The PM John Howard is by far the worst offender. Almost every word that comes out of his mouth is a lie. My major concern isn’t that this country is ruled by fraudsters and cheats, people normally get the politicians they deserve, my concern is the effect these wall to wall lies are having on the social relationships that exist with a community. Truth is the cornerstone of creating safe and secure communities. If you cannot trust what your neighbours are saying, if you cannot trust the person down the road or across the street, the chances of creating a harmonious safe and secure community are minimal.

To a large degree, the type of behaviour that governments are involved in is reflected in the relationships that exist in the community. Authoritarian governments, that manipulate and lie to the people they rule, tend to encourage the creation of similar communities. If you cannot trust the people who rule you, who can you, trust?

The Howard government has a lot to answer for. Unfortunately its removal by the electorate will not overcome the very real damage it has caused in Australian society. This dark legacy can only be removed by creating a political system that makes politicians directly responsible to the people who they represent.

While political parties dominate the political landscape, poorly performing politicians cannot be removed in between elections, citizens cannot initiate constitutional change and representatives, not the electorate, make decisions - the chances of having an honest transparent political system are Buckley’s and none.

FREEDOM Vol.68 No.16,11th AUG 2007, Anarchist Fortnightly, 84b Whitechapel High St, London E17QX, ENGLAND
Email : FreedomCopy@aol.com

UMANITA NOVA Vol.87, No.26 SEPT ’07, Settimenale Anarchico, C/-Federazione Anarchico Torinese, C.50 Palermo 46, Torino, ITALY.
Tel/Fax : 011 857850
Mobile : 3386594361
Email : fat@increte.it

THE BEACON, SEPT 07, Journal of the Melbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church, 110 Grey St, East Melbourne 3002, AUSTRALIA.
Web : www.melbourneunitarian.org.au
Email : Unitarian@bigpond.com

COALITION FOR PRISONERS RIGHTS NEWSLETTER, Vol 32 No8 AUG 07, P.O. Box 1911, Sante Fe, NM 87504-1911, UNITED STATES

OPERAI CONTRO Vol 26 No125 JULY 07, Giornale per la Critica, La Lotta, Via Folck, 44-20099, Seato S. Giovanni (MI), ITALY
Web : www.asloperaicontro.org

• 4.00am - Dawn ceremony - Eureka Park at the Eureka Memorial

• 6.00am - Breakfast Eureka Park (bring your own food and drinks)

• 10.00am - March from Eureka Park to Bakery Hill to reaffirm the Eureka oath

• 10.30am - Presentation of Eureka Aust Day Medal at Bakery Hill

• 11.30am - Walk to Old Ballarat cemetery to pay our respects to all those who died in the Eureka battle who are buried at the cemetery

• 12.30pm - Walk back to Eureka Park through the centre of Ballarat

• 1.30pm - Late lunch and conversation at Eureka Park - (bring your own food and drinks)

• The name of the person nominated

• A few sentences outlining why they should receive the award

• A contact address for the nominee (We need to contact them if they wish to receive the award)

• The person you nominate can be a public figure or somebody only known to a few people

P.O. Box 43, Clunes, 3370, Victoria AUSTRALIA

andrewpstretton@yahoo.com.au

MONDAY Nights @ 9.30pm on Channel 31 in Melbourne
Starting on Monday 3rd September.

Please don’t forget that SKA TV is - not for profit community media organisation - that relies on the generosity of volunteers and donations. So feel free to donate some of your time & money, so we can continue to show you the truth.

SIGN THE SEDITION CHARTER ONLINE - www.seditioncharter.org

If you’re computer literate and many of us are not, write to us for a copy of the Sedition Charter, at :

P.O. BOX 5035,
ALPHINGTON 3078,
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Terrible things happen when good people do nothing. Openly defy this government’s attempts to muzzle and intimidate opposition to their neo conservative authoritarian agenda – SIGN the ‘Sedition Charter’ TODAY!

THE POWER OF RECALL – Electors having the constitutional right to recall parliamentary representatives in between elections

CITIZENS INITIATED REFERENDUMS – The people having the power to initiate constitutional change through referendums

DIRECT DEMOCRACY – Electing delegates with limited mandates, to co-ordinate decisions that have been made by the people, not electing representatives to make decisions for us.

(We Currently Have 111 Paid Up Members)

JOIN US THIS WEEK :

Wednesday 11.30am – 26th September 2007
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An anarchist analysis of local, national & international events. Tune into your local community radio station to listen to the Anarchist World This Week. If they don’t broadcast it, ask them why not! If they’re one of the 150 community radio stations around Australia that are affiliated to the National Community Radio Satellite, they are able to broadcast the Anarchist World This Week.

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MULTI-COLOURED GLOSSY A3 POSTER AVAILABLE FOR 20 50c STAMPS.
(Price includes packaging, poster in secure cylinder and postage anywhere in Australia)

‘LIFE WASN’T MEANT TO BE EASY’

6.30pm – The Stork Hotel

504 Elizabeth St, Melbourne (pay as you go)

Speaker - Dr. Mark Hassed – ‘Georyism by Stealth’

1st Floor Henry George House - 27 Hardware Lane, Melbourne 3000

Almost 900 complaints have been made about Vic's privately-run, low-care nursing homes over the past yr. The claims incl residents being left with untreated wounds & burns & 12 men being forced to share 1 razor to shave. Ron Tiffen from the Office of the Public Advocate says the needs of residents in supported residential services are becoming greater. (ABC News website)

Some rural doctors are refusing treatment to pregnant women with diabetes, acc to a new study. Women interviewed as part of a Ballarat Uni study said they were forced to rely on websites for info. One woman said she was "told not to get pregnant & told I wouldn't be supported here if I fell pregnant". Rosemary King, a lecturer at the uni's school of nursing, who conducted the study, said lack of health services in rural areas was a growing problem b/c diabetes was becoming so common. (ABC News website, news.com.au)

A footballer convicted over his part in a racist attack on a Jewish man has been awarded a best & fairest medal. Simon Phillip Christian, 22, won the Bellarine Football League's reserves grade best & fairest at a ceremony last week. Christian was convicted & fined $1000 in April for racial taunts incl "go Nazis", as he & other footballers attacked passerby Menachem Vorchheimer. Another footballer charged over the incident, James Dalton, was runner-up in Bellarine League's best & fairest senior grade awards. (news.com.au)