Israel's state terrorists
The recent revelations that Israeli state terrorists used four forged Australian passports to assassinate a Palestinian official in Dubai, and that Mossad has regularly faked Australian passports for criminal purposes, should serve as a wake-up call for Australia (and the world).
The state of Israel has endlessly made it clear in its horrendous and war criminal treatment of its Palestinian subjects and neighbours that it is not bound by international law, the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council, Human Rights Conventions, the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, national laws or indeed what Catholic theologians call the Natural Law.
Most Australians are unaware that White Australians escaped joining Indigenous Australians and becoming an Antipodean version of Indigenous Palestinians when, in 1944, Australian PM John Curtin rejected plans for race-based Jewish settlement of north-west Australia.
Nevertheless a ruthless, criminal, anti-Arab anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish anti-Semitic racist Zionism has come to have a dominant and malignant influence in Australia. A detailed and documented analysis of 50 areas of racist Zionist and Israeli state terrorism threats to Australians (and indeed the World) is being disseminated in the national interest to Australian law officers, MPs, citizens and media.
Dr Gideon Polya
Macleod, Victoria
Mining royalties — fund public services!
How is it that miners believe that they should be entitled to discounted royalties? This accident at the time of the birth of the industry was a concession given by the Charles Court government in return for building the infrastructure of rail, ports and towns like Pannawonica.
This infrastructure, long ago paid for by rapidly escalating commodity prices, has cost WA taxpayers billions of dollars. Instead of paying standard world royalties of 10%, privileged miners have paid as little as 2.5%. Even the new rate of 7.5% is a concessional rate.
At present, I am working at Esperance Hospital, which does not even have an IT system that can communicate with local doctors. Can you imagine a mining company that doesn't have IT? Yet across the state, from Balgo to Broome, Northam to Esperance, doctors are trying to give adequate service without the benefit of a functioning computer system.
This state should have the very best hospitals, education, aged care, mental health services, etc. if the miners were forced to pay the true value of what they are taking out of the ground. After all the oil, gas, gold and iron belongs to all West Australians, not just some big multinational companies.
In Alberta, Canada, no one pays state taxation and in fact every man woman and child gets a tax royalty cheque once a year. There is no reason this could not happen in WA if the government had the courage to renegotiate the royalty agreements, which under law they are entitled to do.
It is time West Australians called for this huge rip-off to stop.
Dr Colin Hughes
Esperance, WA
Neighbours turning a blind eye?
On his recent visit to Australia, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made a plea for better relations between Australia and Indonesia. This is a reasonable objective for near neighbours to strive towards, but not at the expense of Australia covering up, excusing, condoning or abetting human rights violations and repression in Indonesia.
The Indonesian army has a long, sordid history of abuses and other appalling actions in East Timor, West Papua and elsewhere. The same brutal policies Indonesia pursued in East Timor in the past are the sorts of oppressive strategies the Indonesian army is at present carrying out in West Papua.
When people are arrested, beaten, imprisoned and killed for expressing their opinions or for taking part in peaceful protests, which is what happens in West Papua, then Australians and people in other parts of the world have a duty to speak out.
For 24 years, successive Australian governments used this silent approach, pretending that there were no problems in East Timor. Meanwhile the Indonesian army engaged in the cruellest of methods to crush East Timorese opposition voices and any protests.
Eventually Australia was forced to act, due partly to the overwhelming pressure by Australians for an end to the occupation and for a peaceful and just solution in East Timor.
Seeking favour with Indonesia by acting as if everything is fine in West Papua isn't right or ethical and ultimately will also fail. And Australians should not allow our governments to once again blindly accept what is happening there without serious enquiry and condemnation of atrocities that occur.
Steven Katineris
Hurstbridge, Vic. [Abridged.]