Crispin Hull

The ancient rainforest has survived in the gorge. Above it, fires and continental warming have long since enabled dry eucalypts to replace it.

Aboriginal rock art has survived in the gorge. Sadly, its creators have long since been driven out.

Carnarvon Gorge in central Queensland has some of the finest examples of stencil rock art in Australia. Like most rock art it is pre-historic. There is no record, but the art itself. In some places, notably Kakadu, there has been a continuous verbal record (more recently written) which tells us what the art represents.
Continue reading “1996_01_january_rockart”

We know the Opposition is suffering from Fightback-induced myopia, but must it resile from visionary statements in every field of governmental activity? Must the fear of a Labor attack on any blueprint about anything paralyse it into a bland and band-aid approach to everything.

Sure, abandon those elements of Fightback which damn elecgtoral; success: the GST and Darwinian industrial-relations and health policies. But in a field where Labor’s policies have been a demonstrable shambles of putting self-interest before national interests, Australians deserved a better effort than John Howard’s statement on communications policy this week.

The statement does not address the fundamental mistakes made by Labor over the past 13 years. Mr Howard was correct to label Labor’s policy as one of ad-hoc arrangemnts to suit various major players who might help Labor politically from time to time. That policy, of course, has not even achieved the aim of sweetening media players to help (or at least not disfavour Labor), and in its wake lies a policy shambles that has not served the Australian public well.
Continue reading “1996_01_january_oppcomm”

The decision of the Federal Court this week to reject a native title claim by the Wik people puts a little more certainty into what has been a drawn-out process since the 1994 Mabo decision by the High Court.

The Mabo decision upheld a land claim by the Meriam people of Murray Island in the Torres Strait. It said that the common law would recognise title where native people could show continuous possession of the land and a social structure that dealt with land use. However, if the Crown (or later executive governments) dealt with the land in a way inconsistent with that native use, the native title would be extinguished. But if a state government attempted to deal with land contrary to the native title after the passage of the federal Racial Discrimination Act in 1975, it would be an act of racial discrimination, perhaps reversible or compensible. If the federal government attempted to take away native title it could be subject to a claim for compensation under the Constitution which demands that property taken by the Commonwealth only be taken on just terms.

The decision left many unanswered questions. The most vexed ones were to what extent mining and pastoral leases and national parks expunged native title.
Continue reading “1996_01_january_leader31jan”

The British Government’s call for elections in Northern Ireland is both premature and dangerous. Britain argues that an election is an alternative path to peace given the refusal by the IRA and the para-military loyalist groups to disarm. On the other hand the Irish nationalist side argues that an election and the reconstitution of any form of home rule would result in the return to the old domination of the Catholic minority by the Protestant majority.

History supports the view of the latter. Even if the role of the new body were limited to discussions on a new political settlement in Northern Ireland, the domination argument still holds. At present, the “”sides” in the constitutional and peace process are the British and Irish Governments and the groups representing the Catholic and Protestant side in Northern Ireland. Elections would not change the parties, but it would change their weight. Protestants would get a majority in an election, and would therefore take to themselves a mantle of legitimacy suggesting their voice was worth more. Everyone agrees on who should be around the table; there is no need for an election. All an election can do is engender mistrust and inflame differences.

The best thing for the people in Northern Ireland at present if for no-one to make any sudden moves. Lots of talk, lots of shuffling about and lots of waffle for quite long time will give Northern Ireland the best chance for peace. The longer the truce goes on, the more people in Northern Ireland will value peace and learn to understand each other. It will also allow for the gradual dissolution of the war industry that had built up in the 25 years to 1994.
Continue reading “1996_01_january_leader30jan”

What exactly does Bill Clinton stand for, if anything? Well, we know that he is standing for re-election, but beyond that he does not seem to have a clear direction or solid view on anything. His State of the Union message this week revealed an indecisive, ambivalent man. The only clarity in the speech was in the style of the delivery. The voice was strong, at times dramatic. The words, taken one by one, were uttered clearly. But taken together, it was difficult to work out what Mr Clinton was saying or where he wanted America to go. The two most critical policy elements for American government are the size of the role of government in society and the extent to which America engages in the world. What did we get from Mr Clinton?

He said, “”The era of big government is over. But we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves.”

He gave a long-term commitment to balancing the Budget and then said, “”I challenge Congress to preserve the full faith and credit of the United States, to honour our obligations as we have for 220 years, to rise above partisanship and pass a straightforward extension of the debt limit.”
Continue reading “1996_01_january_leader26jan”

In strict terms, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, found for union in the dispute over employment contracts made by CRA at its Weipa mine in North Queensland. But it was a pyrrhic victory.

The commission ruled that CRA must pay equal pay for equal work. That means it must pay members of the union the same pay as non-members for equal work. Two things flow from that. One is that workers are entitled to be members of a union, to be represented by a union and not to be discriminated against because they are a member of a union. The second is that workers need not be members of a union, need not have union representatives negotiate on their behalf, and can negotiate contracts with their employer as individuals.

This is the very position that most mainstream employers have been seeking for decades. It is an end to the closed shop. It is voluntary unionism and yet preserves a fundamental right of workers in liberal democracies to join unions if they want and to have a union represent them in negotiations.
Continue reading “1996_01_january_leader25jan”

The parliamentary secretary in charge of road safety, Neil O’Keefe, said this week that there were two ways to achieve lower speeds in the suburbs: reduce the speed limit to 50km/h or enforce the existing limits. He thought the former was the way to go. He acknowledged that the police allow a 10km/h margin of error before booking people.

Mr O’Keefe has it only partly right. The speed limit should be reduce (ital) and (end ital) it should be enforced. Obviously, a little leeway should be allowed before police book motorists to account for small speedo errors and to discourage motorists gluing their eyes to the speedo instead of the road. But it would be better if the police viewed the leeway as a percentage (say 10 per cent), rather than an absolute 10km/h. Thus motorists could expect to be booked at 55km/h in suburban streets.
Continue reading “1996_01_january_leader24jan”

It has been nearly 80 years since the major European Allies notionally carved up the non-Turkish lands off the Ottoman Empire pending its collapse. It has been nearly 80 years since Britain, in a typical divide-and-rule strategy ambiguously promised the same part of that land … Palestine … to two different groups: to Arabs to help fight the Ottoman Empire and to Jews to help get the Zionists behind the war effort.

Now, after much bloodshed, those two groups have agreed to co-exist on that same land. It is by no means the end of the matter and the arrangements are fragile and will require further development. But now Palestinians have a degree of autonomy over their affairs in Gaza and the West Bank and they have elected their own president, Yasser Arafat, at an election at the weekend.

Mr Arafat received about 85 per cent of the vote. Overall the turnout was about 60 per cent, in an election which was boycotted by fundamental Islamist groups. The election has also been marred by allegations of fraud made against Mr Arafat’s Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, but international observers, including former US President Jimmy Carter, have called the elections essentially fair despite the
Continue reading “1996_01_january_leader24jaa”

The Federal Opposition has made much of the fact that over the past five or six years the Public Service has become, in its words, top heavy. It cites figures to show that the service lost 23,000 ASO1s and ASO2s but an extra 4559 senior officers were hired. ASO4s rose 69 per cent and ASO5s and ASO6s rose 33 per cent, while the 1s and 2s dropped 43,000.

The Opposition Wastewatch committee member Senator Ian Campbell said young people were missing out and “”that’s despite the fact that the Public Service is the one employer that the Labor Government has direct responsibility for.”

It may be that the changes show de-facto pay rises through promotion, so that the present ASO4 is doing the job of an ASO2 five years ago but getting paid more for it. More likely, though, is the fact that in the Public Service, as in industry, many lower-end clerical jobs are disappearing with computerisation. The figures reveal, most likely, that the Public Service is getting more efficient.
Continue reading “1996_01_january_leader22jan”

It is so easy. Out comes the credit card. A quick slash across the electronic reader and the purchases are taken away for consumption. Last month Australia put another $2 billion on the international credit card, according to figures issued yesterday. Next month interest will have to be paid on it, and the rest of the $180 billion we owe overseas.

Gradually the value of our currency is eroded against other currencies. Gradually our comparative standard of living slips away. The J-curve was a mirage. Assertions that Australia has been importing capital items to make more export and import-replacing items has proved nonsense.
Continue reading “1996_01_january_leader19jan”