The Sydney Morning Herald For none of you: same old story Date: 06/04/00 FROM THE GALLERY by MIKE SECCOMBE For all of us. That was the slogan on which John Howard rode to victory at the 1996 election. At the time, one of the foremost Aboriginal leaders, Noel Pearson, caused controversy by suggesting Howard was really saying "for all of us, and none of you". Pearson's words look very prescient these days, as even Howard's own troops have begun to stand up in the party room and question his agenda of division. Pearson's words resonated again in Question Time yesterday. Let's look at the questions which reflected on the "all of us" part first. The Opposition revealed the public relations firm Jackson Wells Morris had landed the juicy contract to promote the Government's welfare review committee. As recently as Monday night, at a glitzy function at Old Parliament House, this PR firm was launched by John Winston Howard. Now, you might think it improper for a prime minister to endorse any commercial enterprise. But it was worse than that. Howard did it - and he happily admitted this in Parliament - because Grahame Morris, one of the partners, was an old mate of his, his former chief of staff. Howard denied having done anything to push the contract their way. But does anyone think the glowing endorsement by the Prime Minister of a company seeking government business does not amount to a big leg-up? Howard saw nothing wrong with it. But then, he saw nothing wrong, either, in a one-off bail-out of a company chaired by his brother, or the fact that Dr Bob Woods was a paid employee of one of Australia's largest nursing home providers (Doug Moran), until Howard made him the minister responsible for nursing home policy. Now, let's focus - as the Opposition also did yesterday - on the other half of Pearson's slogan "for none of you". Howard denies the existence of stolen generations of Aboriginal children. He refuses to override the Northern Territory's mandatory sentencing laws, which are racially discriminatory in their effect. Rather, he prefers to talk of what he calls "practical reconciliation" - that is, policies of material, rather than symbolic, benefit to Aborigines. Last week, in an attempt to hype this concept, he announced a "new" $27 million literacy program for Aboriginal children. In fact, the money was not new at all; it was already earmarked for Aboriginal education. When the Opposition pointed this out, he said he intended "no deception at all". Of course not. The PM also had no answer when they pointed out the Government's woeful failure to meet its promise to spend $63 million over four years to reunite families separated by past policies. The commitment was announced with much fanfare in December 1997. But the Government's own official progress report shows less than $13 million has actually been spent, to little effect. And Howard didn't know anything about it. This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. -- _________________________________ Truth is a pathless land. --- Krishnamurti ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
