Australia's immigration issue<\/p>\n
I appreciate your publication of a report on Dec. 9 regarding
\nthe Jakarta leg of Australian federal Parliamentarian Mr. Graeme
\nCampbell's goodwill mission around Southeast Asia, on which I
\naccompanied him. The mission's goal was to more accurately inform
\nregional governments and the media about the immigration\/race
\ndebate in Australia. The article you published was more balanced
\nthan many of the sensationalized reports about the Hanson
\nphenomenon in Australia.<\/p>\n
There was one error in your report, however, that may have
\nunintentionally misled your readership. The report stated: \"He
\n(Mr. Campbell) referred in particular to the ongoing race debate
\nin Australia triggered by last year's election of shopkeeper
\nPauline Hanson into the House of Representatives after
\ncampaigning on a platform to limit the number of Asian immigrant
\ninto Australia.\"<\/p>\n
This was the case. Mrs. Hanson made some comment on Aboriginal
\nwelfare spending wastage and was disendorsed from the Liberal
\nParty in the heat of the March 1996 federal election campaign.
\nThis, in turn, gave her a large sympathy vote and saw her
\nunexpectedly elected as an independent. She did not mention
\nimmigration and therefore was clearly not elected on an anti-
\nimmigration platform. Her anti-immigration views did not emerge
\nuntil Sept. 16, 1996 when she made her first speech in parliament
\nafter six months of coaching and silence.<\/p>\n
In our briefing discussions with Mr. Hadi Wayarabi, director
\nof Asia-Pacific affairs at your foreign affairs department and
\nwith your newspaper, we pointed out the above facts. Also
\ndiscussed was the long-standing majority nature of publicly
\npolled and published dissatisfaction with successive Australian
\ngovernments' immigration policies. We also cited the Australian
\ngovernment's own bureau of statistics evidence that \"...people
\nborn in Asian regions have made up above 40 percent of the
\nmigrant stream to Australia over the last 10 years\".<\/p>\n
It is the irreversible long-term consequences of this
\nbipartisan policy of gradual Asianization that is at the heart of
\nmounting discontent in Australia. Regardless of the Australian
\nmedia's sensationalization, the immigration race debate certainly
\ndid not start with Mrs. Hanson and is most unlikely to finish
\nwith her regardless of her own political fortunes.<\/p>\n
Mr. Campbell has been in Parliament since 1980. In December
\n1995, he was dumped by then Prime Minister Keating from the
\ngoverning Labor Party for his stance against immigration and the
\nresultant Asianization. March 1996 saw Mr. Campbell reelected as
\nan independent and Paul Keating dumped comprehensively along with
\nhis immensely unpopular vision of Australia as part of Asia.<\/p>\n
DENIS MCCONNACK<\/p>\n
Vice President<\/p>\n
Australia First Party<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/australias-immigration-issue-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }