Racism Eats at the Liberal Party

In an extraordinary outburst in Federal Parliament yesterday, Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie singled out Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison and Senator Cory Bernardi as being racists and demanded they be sacked. He said that "racism eats at the Liberal Party".

He said "As the families of the victims of the Christmas Island disaster buried their dead last month, we listened in disbelief as shadow minister for immigration and citizenship Scott Morrison took politics to a new low by whining over the cost of flying mourners to Sydney, including the orphan boy who probably watched his parents drown..

He accused Senator Bernardi of "rants whipping up the fear of Islam" and quoted him as saying, "I, for one, don't want to eat meat butchered in the name of an ideology that is mired in sixth-century brutality and is an anathema to my own values". He compared these remarks to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's maiden speech, in which she claimed Australia was in danger of being swamped by Asians. "I say to Mr Morrison and Senator Bernardi, you are a disgrace - a disgrace to the high office you hold and the people you represent" He added "And I say to Mr Abbott, you must lance this boil once and for all."

Last month, the University of Western Sydney released results of a survey about our attitudes to Multiculturalism and it appears that the Muslim population does pose a threat in the minds of many Australians. New South Wales reported the highest levels of anti-Muslim attitudes (54.4 per cent) and in Sydney's central west, it ran as high as 60 and 61 per cent. These findings seriously challenge Immigration Minister Chris Bowen's boasting that Australia's multiculturalism is the best in the world.

It's a good thing that our politicians like Mr Wilkie have taken the high moral ground on racism, but this survey shows that the majority of the people of New South Wales don't agree with him.

Is Saudi Arabia Next?

WikiLeaks has published cables about the royal family of Saudi Arabia - the world’s biggest exporter of oil. When he arrived home last week, King Abdullah brought with him gifts worth $37 billion. Is he intending to placate Saudis of modest means after the unrest sweeping the middle east? We now know that over the past twenty years, most handouts have gone to his own extended family according to American diplomatic cables dating back to 1996.

Besides the huge monthly stipends that every Saudi royal received, the cables detail various money-making schemes some royals have used to finance their lavish lifestyles over the years. In 1996, US officials were concerned about the royals unrestrained behaviour and thought there could well be a backlash against the Saudi elite because of it. One cable reads “Of the priority issues the country faces, getting a grip on royal family excesses is at the top.”

A 2007 cable showed that King Abdullah has made changes since taking the throne six years ago, but it’s clear there is a deep-seated resentment about nepotism and corruption. One cable reads: "Saudi princes and princesses, of whom there are thousands, are known for the stories of their fabulous wealth and tendency to squander it."

The most common mechanism for distributing Saudi Arabia's wealth to the royal family is the monthly stipends that members of the Al Saud family receive. In the mid-1990’s we see that about $800 a month was allocated for “the lowliest member of the most remote branch of the family” and up to $200,000-$270,000 a month for one of the surviving sons of Abdul-Aziz Ibn Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia. Grandchildren received around $27,000 a month and great grandchildren received about $13,000 and great-great- grandchildren $8,000 a month. Bonus payments were also available for marriage and palace building. The stipends also provided a substantial incentive for royals to have more children since they begin at birth. One Saudi prince said that the revenue from one million barrels of oil per day goes entirely to five or six princes.

But the stipend system was clearly not enough for many royals and they had other ways of making money. "By far the largest is royal skimming from the approximately $10 billion in annual off-budget spending controlled by a few key princes," the 1996 cable states. Two of those projects -- the Two Holy Mosques Project and the Ministry of Defence's Strategic Storage Project -- are "highly secretive, subject to no Ministry of Finance oversight or controls, transacted through the National Commercial Bank, and widely believed to be a source of substantial revenues" for the then-King and a few of his full brothers, according to the authors of the cable.

Then there was the common practice for royals to borrow money from commercial banks and simply not repay their loans. As a result, the 12 commercial banks in the country were "generally wary of lending to royals." Another popular money-making scheme saw some "greedy princes" expropriate land from commoners. "Generally, the intent is to resell quickly at huge mark-up to the government for an upcoming project."

One powerful royal ordered local authorities in the Mecca area to transfer to his name a "Waqf" (religious endowment) - of a small parcel of land that had been in the hands of one family for centuries. Another senior royal was famous for "throwing fences up around vast stretches of government land." Finally, royals would sponsor the residence permits of foreign workers and then make them pay a monthly fee of between $30 and $150.

But the real push for reform began in 2005, when King Abdullah succeeded to the throne. He told his brothers that as he is over 80 years old, he does not wish to approach his judgment day with the ‘"burden of corruption on his shoulder". The King, the cable states, had disconnected the mobile phone service for "thousands of princes and princesses." Year-round government-paid hotel suites in Jeddah were cancelled also the right of royals to request unlimited free tickets from the state airline. "We have a first-hand account that a wife of Interior minister Prince Naif attempted to board a Saudia flight with 12 companions, all expecting to travel for free," the authors of the cables write, only to be told "to her outrage" that the new rules meant she could only take two free guests.

Rumour has it that the royals have all their money stashed and invested outside the country in case of trouble. Now the question is - can the king buy his way out of trouble or is it too late?

Edit January 25, 2013:  The Arab uprisings in the Middle East hardly touched Saudi Arabia.  Some analysts believe it's because the government "bribed" its people into submission with a massive stimulus and welfare benefits, others think that it was because of King Abdullah's personal popularity.  Whatever way you look at it, King Abdullah is the most important man in the Middle East because Saudi kings are custodians of the most important oil fields in the world and remain the largest exporter of crude oil.  The King is 89 years old and it won't be long before power is handed onto another.  His immediate successor is Prince Salman who is said to be a reformer.  

Brave Brit Saves Lives in Christchurch

Emma Howard who was rescued from the rubble of the Christchurch earthquake walked down the aisle on the weekend, after thanking the brave Brit who saved her life. Carl Stockton couldn't go to her wedding because he was still busy working on the rescue effort -but he met the 23 year old before the ceremony to wish her luck.

"It was quite an emotional meeting," said Carl, a builder from Wigan, near Manchester. "Emma had been so, so lucky and I was very happy for her. I went to her dad's house this morning to say hello and give her a hug."

Despite the hell she suffered in the rubble of her office just three days before, huddled in the foetal position for six and a half hours in the dark, trainee accountant Emma was determined to go ahead with her marriage to Chris Greenslade. Emma was one of six survivors Carl rescued that day. The father of four was working as a builder outside Christchurch when the quake hit and he rushed into the city on his motorbike to help. Carl who has suffered from claustrophobia since childhood said later: "For some reason, the claustrophobia didn't affect me. But ask me to go in a hole now and it would be a different thing."

The confirmed death toll from the quake stood at 113 last night but there are still many missing.

Danish Twins for Aussie Princess

Twins born to Princess Mary and Prince Frederik of Denmark posed for official photos at the Amalienborg Palace this week. The baby boy and girl won’t be named until their christening on 14th April. They are fourth and fifth in line to the throne, after their father and older siblings Prince Christian, 5 and Princess Isabella 3. What a beautiful family. They hope to show them off to family and friends in Australia soon.

Gaddafi's Final Days

Today Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced travel and financial sanctions against Moamar Gaddafi. Twenty two key people have been named and include Gaddafi's family, senior military and security personnel. They have also been banned from entering or transiting Australian territory and no financial transaction may be entered into with any one of them. Australian officials living in Libya have been evacuated to Malta and 70 other Australians have also left.

He urged the UN Security Council to administer similar sanctions and said our Government had to take action to show Australia's support for the people of Libya.

President Obama has called for Gaddafi to step down after being criticized for being slow to respond, German Angela Merkel said he needs to go but China still hasn't said anything. News coming out of Libya is unconfirmed and no one really knows what's going on.

Aboriginal Intervention a Failure

Threre was a feeling of hope when John Howard's Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough introduced the NT intevention in mid 2007. We were appalled at the reports of child sexual abuse, domestic violence and substance abuse in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. But Mal Brough has now declared that the intervention is a failure. He says that violence and dysfunction is so out of control in Alice Springs, the fringe dwellers are killing themselves and their kids.

He lost his seat in Parliament in 2007 and says that the Gillard government has left it "stagnant", allowing dysfunction to grow. "Because it wasn't the Labor Party's policy, they just adopted it for political reasons. They failed to take it to the next level. It has become stagnant and buried in bureaucracy, it is no longer working."

Mr Brough said he supported an extreme proposal for a large prison farm to be built outside Alice Springs, where drinkers could be rehabilitated through craft-learning, trade schools and manual work. He said it should be compulsory for substance abusers to be sent there."The drug and alcohol dependencies need to be dealt with, but not in a voluntary way," he said.

This proposal was first put forward by Adam Giles, member for the Territory seat of Braitling, which takes in parts of Alice Springs. He said his plan was to get people to move where there was economic opportunity rather than perpetuating the "myth" that economies could be created where there were no real job opportunities.

The Northern Territory intervention cost $1.2bn over three years and involves 73 remote communities. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said this week tackling the situation in Alice Springs was at the top of her priority list.

So once again, back to square one.

Japanese Rescue Workers Arrive in Christchurch

I must admit I was a bit shocked at the attitude of Operations Commander Dave Lawry. How could he say that he was "100 per cent" certain everyone in the Canterbury Televion building was dead. Is he clairvoyant? We've seen people trapped under rubble in earthquakes who have come out alive weeks after the event. The Japanese weren't buying it either, they've got 50 people under there, many of them students. Their families began arriving in Christchurch yesterday along with 67 experienced Japanese emergency workers who assumed control of the building.

But it doesn't look promising - no one knows for sure how many people were in the building when it collapsed and yesterday 23 bodies were retrieved, some of them Japanese students. It is understood the students were on the bottom floor of the building when it collapsed, and a rescue worker said it was obvious those on the bottom floor were crushed before they could even try to escape. "It's true, they had no chance," he said.

Last night, Christchurch police superintendent Dave Cliff said authorities had not given up on finding anyone alive at the CTV building, rather they had been forced to prioritise the sites where it was most likely that people could have survived.

But we've got to be sure.