I'm your good buddy Mandrake and I've some more news about our great nation: Auztralia, and the vision and integrity of our government.

It's the same old story with my manservant Lothar, his weird ideas are really pissing me off. He keeps posting ridiculous freesites about a 2nd Renaissance he seems to think we need to have. We don't need any such thing! All we need is tougher laws and a judiciary with the guts to enforce them. The talk-back radio guys are spot on about that.

The Macquarie Fields Riots
All those bloody losers running around Macquarie Fields need to be locked up. Come to think of it, they ought to build an electrified razor wire fence around the whole disgraceful place. Fancy people hurling bricks, molotov cocktails and wheelie-bins at helpless cops. They're all on third-level subsistence welfare deals aren't they; mom, pop and the teenies? Their bloody dogs are in there too, if you look at the stand-off picture below. What next?

Whatever they want they can go down to Centrelink and get, can't they? There's kindly officials there just waiting to assist them, aren't there? You know, the ones who always have two tapes around their necks - one for their ID and the other for their glasses. They're really helpful and obliging to the losers those folk at Centrelink are. It's a wonderful government initiative Centrelink is, and so is the Macquarie Fields housing development. Pity there's no jobs there, but then, the losers don't really want jobs do they? They just want to steal cars and get chased to death by the cops. I ask you, what a bunch of drop kicks.

Danish Royals And The Real Estate Economy
I attended a charity function for Mary and Frederick while she was back in Auztralia. Now there's a girl that did the right thing; graduated in law (the key to modern commerce and Intellectual Property advantage), built a career is real estate (the very core of current Auztralian wealth building), and married a prince (and a very nice young bloke he is, for someone from 'old Europe').

I don't know whether the Danes are into building wealth through real estate yet, but it is certainly the go down under. Our talk-back radio oracles are pushing it as hard as they can and so are our friendly banks. You can't get rich quick enough by farming, shopkeeping or even medicine these days. No, you have to keep moving into a bigger and better home, and investing as much as you can borrow in further properties and blocks of land. Then you use negative gearing and property trusts to minimize the tax you pay, and sit back and watch your wealth grow. But, remember, don't buy anything out at Macquarie Fields, out there property values are now falling faster than Kiwi wickets to Warnie's bowling.

The Telstra Bonanza, According To The Pundits
Besides the property market there's shares. My trusted stockbrokers, Swindle Diddle and Duck, tell me that a wonderful way to get rich will be by acquiring shares from the full sale of Telstra, sometime in 2006. Although the earlier public share offerings weren't good value for me or the many 'mum and dad' small shareholders who were enticed into paying $7.30 per share for stock that is now worth around $5.00 they assure me that this won't happen again. They say that the fall in share value was due to global sentiment about the value of telecommunications companies in general, but I should remember that Telstra has been one of the most profitable telecommunications companies in the world and remains a sound investment.

I found it reassuring when the well-credentialed advisor from Swindle Diddle and Duck pointed to the fact that Telstra has complete ownership and control of the fixed-line network in Australia plus a large share of mobile telecommunications and it is likely to become even more dominant once it is fully privatized. Then it will also be able to retrench large swathes of its workforce, and, as every captain of industry knows, retrenching employees is the fastest and surest way to boost profits. It will be a bonanza for us small investors the man from Swindle Diddle and Duck assured me.

Lothar Says I'll Lose My Shirt On Telstra
Although he's only my manservant, and a casualized one at that, Lothar takes it upon himself to disagree with Swindle Diddle and Duck. He says that Telstra is probably the worst investment proposition in Australia at the moment and that is really why the government is selling it. They want to salvage some value for their own coffers and let 'mum and dad' investors take the risks and inevitable losses from here on. Of course I don't believe Lothar, he's way off the mark, but some of what he says is still interesting. He argues that Telstra is doomed not because of its, essentially 19th century, 'wires on poles' technology but due to its industrial culture and thinking.

Lothar says that having been a government enterprise for most of its existence Telstra has a 'wall-to-wall cardigans' culture. It is filled with risk aversive people and an entitlement mentality and will thus be incapable of quickly adapting and competing with global competitors using 21st century technologies and breakthrough ideas. Lothar figures that Telstra is doomed. It's like a woolly mammoth caught in a tar pit. He advised me to sell my current shares for what I can get, and not to buy any more Telstra stock at any price.

He Says The Lightnet Is Coming Real Soon Now
When I said that the advisor from Swindle Diddle and Duck had said how Telstra was full of technicians who are skilled and ready to roll out new broadband technologies Lothar shook his head. He said that Telstra's people are skilled in their knowledge and use of transistors and logic gates but the next wave of telecommunications technology is based on light. Light is used to intelligently control light within networks that don't have a transistor or logic gate in sight, instead there are coupled filters and arrays of mirrors, finely scribed gratings and non-linear interferometers. It's a whole new technological ball game.

I told Lothar that by the time the all-optical 'lightnet' is a reality I will have retired and my kids will be able to deal with it. So, I said, will the children of the thousands of technicians that work for Telstra today. But Lothar said no, the technology is already out of the laboratories and rolling out to the main telecommunications companies in the USA and Europe. It is expected, according to Lothar's information, that the Lightnet will be pretty much completed by 2010 and by then almost all the current skills in Telstra's workforce will be obsolete.

Lothar also says that Telstra's marketing people are going to have to find new business models because the predictions coming out of telecommunications technology companies are that, "Because of dramatic advances in the capacity and ubiquity of fibre optic systems and subsystems, bandwidth will become too cheap to meter." How can you make a good margin on selling something that is abundant? Lothar says you can't. He says that if it is to survive Telstra will need to cut its profit margins and overheads dramatically, including its staffing levels. The challenge for Telstra, Lothar says, will be to go from a monopolisitc pricing model and 60,000 employees to a globally competitive pricing structure and well under 10,000 employees in just five years. It's a huge ask and he says that the industrial age dinosaurs who currently run Telstra will prove quite incapable of achieving it.

I'll probably still buy some more Telstra shares when they are offered next year, but I won't hold them too long, just in case my manservant's assessments of the company might turn out to be true. After all, we have to trust credible advisors like Swindle Diddle and Duck, and responsible ministers in the Federal Government. If we don't trust them who are we to believe and trust?

Elected Yet Again - On Trust
The coalition parties routed Labor at the recent election, to achieve a 4th term in power. They also gained control of the Senate. John Howard made trust the central feature of his campaign.

Some people who voted for him were disappointed when interest rates went up after he said they wouldn't. And there were others who were aghast when he substantially increased the contingent of Auztralian troops in Iraq, after he'd promised in the election run-up that he wouldn't send any more. But Labor was going to cut and run completely if they won. "Pull 0ur troops out by Christmas" was their line. We obviously can't do that. We have to stay there and help America civilize the place. And there's lots of lucrative rebuilding contracts on offer as well. So we had to trust the coalition come what may. We have to trust them on the sale of Telstra as well. They wouldn't really flog us a dead horse would they? Not after they've promised that it's a good deal for 'mum and dad' investors - shares in one of Auztralia's biggest and most profitable monopolies.

Lothar says that the only people who will make money out of the full privatization of Telstra will be the Feds, and of course the merchant bankers, lawyers and accountants already lining up for a piece of the $600 million in consulting and other fees to be handed out. He says that players like Macquarie Bank will make a killing but 'mum and dad' investors will simply lose their limited savings.

By the way, Macquarie Bank has no connection with those misfits out at Macquarie Fields. They're an honorable, reputable lot Macquarie Bank are, not a bunch of welfare bludgers and lawbreakers like those rioters who attacked the NSW Police Force after they had chased a young man to his death out there.

A 'Liberal' Senate Majority At Last
In July this year, for the first time since 1980, a Federal Auztralian Government will have a majority in the Senate. Now we will see some real reforms, not those watered down bills that have been cut and tucked by piddling little political parties that don't have the support of the majority of Auztralians.

Now we can expect to see a full rationalization of the industrial relations system, more tax reforms, uniform legislation on defamation and many other matters, and efficiencies and economies in federal expenditures in areas such as the arts, aboriginal welfare, education and health care.

Cynical as ever, Lothar says that we can also expect military conscription for both males and females, a biometrically based national ID system, and the reintroduction of the death penalty.

When I asked him why on earth he thinks the Auztralian Government would do such things he said that it's what totalitarian regimes always do. I said that our's is a democratic state, but he said that I should look at what the Feds are doing rather than listen to their rhetoric. He referred me to some indicators on his 'Surveillance' freesite that are based on studies by Dr Laurence Britt. I've reproduced a section from Lothar's site to explain what he's on about when he talks of 'indicators' of totalitarianism. Personally I can't see any of these signs in Auztralia. We're a true democracy, just like the USA. Aren't we?

Fourteen Signs
Dr Laurence Britt has studied the characteristics of past regimes such as, "Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Papadopoulos's Greece, Pinochet's Chile, and Suharto's Indonesia." He lists fourteen common themes.

• 1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. (Prominent use of flags and slogans. Pride in the military, and international sports successes.)

• 2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. (The people are persuaded to accept the regime's abuse of its victims. Such as wide and intrusive surveillance, detention without legal access, extreme interrogation methods, the internment and traumatising of children, etc.)

• 3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. (The use of propaganda and disinformation to divert the people's attention from other problems, and to channel fear and frustration in controlled directions. Active opponents of these regimes are inevitably labelled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.)

• 4. Supremacy of the military / Avid militarism. (The military is seen as an expression of nationalism, and is used to assert national goals, intimidate other nations, and increase the power and prestige of the state, and those who control it.)

• 5. Rampant Sexism (The political elite and the national culture are male-dominated. Abortion and homosexuality are suppressed. The state is represented as the guardian of moral values. Sexual smears are propagated against opponents of both genders. There is a phobia surrounding alleged sexual abuse or misconduct, in both the media and the courts.)

• 6. Controlled Mass Media. (The media is either directly controlled by the state, or it is regulated and indirectly controlled by media magnates who are politically attuned with the regime. In the present day, the media includes the Internet, and censorship and controls also apply there.)

• 7. Obsession with national security. (A national security apparatus is in place, and operating in secret and beyond any constraints from those outside the regime. The actions of the national security apparatus are justified under the headings of "national security" and "national interest." Questioning its activities is portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.)

• 8. Religion and state are tied together. (The regimes attach themselves to the predominant religion and portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. The fact that the ruling elite's behaviour is incompatible with the precepts of the religion are swept under the rug. A perception is manufactured, that opposing the state is tantamount to an attack on the predominant religion.)

• 9. Corporate power is protected. (The personal lives of ordinary citizens, and the operations of small businesses, are under strict control. But, the ability of large corporations to operate in relative freedom is not compromised. Corporate excesses and abuses of market power are common. The economic elite are pampered by the regime to ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repression of "have-not" citizens.)

• 10. Labour power is suppressed or eliminated. (Since organised labour is seen as the one power centre that could challenge the political power of the regime and its corporate allies, it is inevitably crushed or made powerless.)

• 11. Suppression of intellectuals and the arts. (Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them are anathema to the regime. Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent are strongly attacked, silenced, or crushed. Art and literature must serve the "national interest" or they have no right to exist.)

• 12. Obsession with crime and punishment. (There is a substantial system of criminal justice, with huge prison populations. The presence of a national police force with almost unchecked power leads to rampant abuses. Normal and political crimes are often merged into trumped-up criminal charges against opponents of the regime. Fear of rising crime levels in the society is exploited as an excuse for more police power.)

• 13. Rampant cronyism and corruption. (Those in business circles and close to the power elite often use their position to enrich themselves. Government watchdogs crack down on small operators but ignore corporate mismanagement and corruption until it is too late. Ordinary investors often lose money due to insider manipulation and fraud. The corporate executives who pilfer the financial system, or plunder natural resources without proper justification or safeguards on sustainability, make significant corporate donations to the regime, and help to keep it in power. Government tender processes, particularly in defence and technology, are biased towards favoured contractors, and public money is wasted.)

• 14. Fraudlent elections. (Plebiscites and public opinion polls are usually bogus. When elections with candidates are held they are perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods include maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and use of a judiciary beholden to the regime.)

Lothar says that none of these things are supposed to hold true in a genuine democracy. As I've already noted, I think they're irrelevant to Auztralia. We aren't living in a totalitarian state and none of that heavy handed stuff is going on here. I just wish Lothar would stop telling people that there's a problem with Auztralia.

The fourth Howard Government is already delivering on its election promises. Everything's OK here buddy.

Delivering On Law and Order
We Auztralians want governments that can keep the peace and control menaces like that mob out at Macquarie Fields. We want to feel safe walking about at night, safe riding on the trains, and safe lying on our world-beating beaches with their miles of golden sands.

Right from the start Howard was right onto the law and order issue. As soon as that crazy Martin Bryant killed all those people at Port Arthur Howard used our taxes to buy up all the privately owned firearms in Auztralia and junk them. No Auzzies have guns any more (except the crims and the police and sky marshals) so we are all a lot safer now.

Then, after those mad fundamentalist Muslims attacked the World Trade Centre in New York, and again after Amrozi and his mates killed and maimed lots of Auzzies in the Sari Club in Bali, Howard increased police powers. He and his cabinet removed all the privacy protections that crims and terrorists had been hiding behind. But the rest of us are OK because 'If we've nothing to hide we've nothing to fear'.

Delivering On Border Protection
At the same time that laws have been tightened to make us safer, Flip, and later Manda, have implemented a brilliant border protection strategy that has stopped the flow of queue-jumping boat people dead (Literally in the case of the vessel known as Siev X, in which 350 drowned).

First, Flip conceived the Pacific Solution in which boat people were intercepted at sea and taken to Nauru or to Manus island and left there to rot; men, women and children. The UN Human Rights Commission didn't like it much. But hey, did it ever stop all those overloaded bloody boats coming to our fair land Auztralia.

Then Flip, and subsequently Manda, held other queue-jumping families in on-shore detention centres like Villawood and Woomera for ever - totally breaking their spirits and sending a "strong message", as Manda calls it, to would-be queue-jumpers in nice safe places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. That it's not worth the effort of coming to Auztralia in leaky boats like the Siev X. Over there where the boat people come from, and in the detention centres where they are held, she's known as 'Manda the Merciless'. The Immigration Feds held one young boy for 5 years and are still holding a guy who was 25 years-old when he arrived some 6 years ago. It's great deterrent psychology that stuff.

Recently, alert police in Queensland scooped up some woman who was speaking German without a visa and the Immigration Feds (headed by Manda the Merciless) bunged her away in the new Baxter Detention Centre (or Chowchilla in the SA desert as Lothar calls it). It's said this German person was a mentally ill Auztralian resident. I don't know it she was mad when they caught her but she probably is now; after 10 months in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.

It serves her right though, she should have worn her Auztralian passport on a lanyard around her neck, like the friendly staff at Centrelink wear their IDs and glasses at all times. In fact, it's something the Occupational Health and Safety people should be educating us about - What to wear round your neck in 21st century Auztralia.

Now We're Safe, Thanks To The AMIZ Super-Barrier
Prime Minister Howard's master stroke for keeping us safe from boat people, Islamic fundamentalists, various unknown terrorists who don't like us, and Humphrey Bear without his trousers, is the new Australian Maritime Information Zone. The AMIZ is a world first. No nation in recorded history has ever claimed control over the open oceans. But now our beloved Auztralia - Motherland of the Emu and Kangaroo - has done just that. For 1000 nautical miles from our shores all shipping traversing the new zone will be required to provide full details of their cargo, crew, location, speed and destination port. If they don't they now risk being stopped, boarded and searched. If necessary the tough new Auztralian border protection force will unceremoniously sink 'em. Pretty tough on boat people, hey.

The red line on the map below shows the extent of the new AMIZ.

Notice how the new zone overlaps the sovereignty of no less than six nations in our region. That'll make 'em take notice of Auztralia and our new role as the Deputy Sheriff of the US in Asia.

It makes me feel a lot safer having someone like Prime Minister Howard looking after our border protection. He's really, really tough on boat people and terrorists. Not like those wet lefties in the Labor party who want to pull our troops out of Iraq. It makes me feel good when I watch Channel 7 and hear the man from the Department of Truth and Honor, and the retired Army guy, and the academic from ANU praising the wisdom of the AMIZ and the Howard Government that has conceived and implemented it. I always knew we were right to re-elect them.

The Auztralian Donut Zone
What's that brown area with a black outline in the map of Auztralia you ask. Well that happened when Lothar got into my computer when I wasn't looking and added it to the original map. I've already told you that the guy's looney.

According to Lothar the AMIZ is not so much for keeping 'them' out but for keeping us in. Furthermore, he says that Auztralian governments have a tacit policy of encouraging the depopulation of the inland regions of our nation. They pretend that they want viable towns and communities in the bush but they don't provide the support and infrastructure required to make then sustainable. So more and more people migrate to the cities and the coastal towns, and the population map of Auztralia ends up looking like a giant donut. Lothar says that isn't an accident, he says it's deliberate.

I didn't bother to ask him for his reasoning about this population donut policy, there's no point listening to the sort of conspiracy drivel that he'd be likely to trot out. He reads too many books and he thinks too much. If he'd become a real estate agent or an intellectual property lawyer he could have made something of himself. Instead, he's just my crazy manservant. Oh well, he's useful sometimes.

By the way kangaroos, like those on our Auztralian Coat of Arms, are bloody good eating buddy.

I'll keep you posted with more facts about our great nation Auztralia.

Mandrake, March 2005.