Howard rebukes Hanson over aid

Howard rebukes Hanson over aid

CANBERRA, Australia (AP): Prime Minister John Howard yesterday rebuked maverick legislator Pauline Hanson, who asked why Australia should offer economic aid to Indonesia's "militaristic" government.

"The measure that I announced was designed not to prop up a regime, but to help the Indonesian people," Howard said.

Hanson, an independent member of Parliament from Queensland, has been a thorn in the government's side, advocating a cutoff of Asian immigration to Australia and the abolition of welfare programs targeted at helping Aborigines.

Howard said that the aid, which would be directed through the International Monetary Fund, would be in Australia's national interest.

"What I indicated was that we would be prepared to participate in facilities organized by the IMF," Howard said.

"And it would be a very short-sighted, narrow-minded Australian government which passed up the opportunity to extend a strong hand of economic support in a time of difficulty for a friend and a neighbor," he said.

Hanson asked, during question time in Parliament, how the proposed Australian aid could be justified.

He said Hanson had also misrepresented promised aid of up to US$1 billion that Australia has offered to Thailand, as part of an IMF sponsored rescue package.

"She quite wrongly categorized that as a direct contribution," Howard said.

In fact, it would be a currency swap.

Turning to Indonesia, Howard said: "The right thing to do in the national interest and in the long-term interest of the region is to make the commitment that I made yesterday.

"It does not, as I hope the honorable member on reflection will understand, it does not amount to an outright gift."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Hanson had no right to talk about Indonesia's human rights record after her comments about Asians and Aborigines.

"I think it's slightly ironic that she should talk about appalling human rights records when one considers the things she says about people of various ethnicities," Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

"I think the irony won't be lost on many Australians," he said.

But Hanson said all she had called for was equality for all Australians, based on need and not race.