Page 1204 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 1991
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The proposed ban on political advertising carries with it the stench of government contempt, hypocrisy and the suppression of criticism about it. It makes the Government look desperate and it can surely only make the Government look ridiculous when the unintended consequences of the misguided plan become clear and it is obliged to withdraw its misconceived legislation.
Well said and very accurate. Mr Deputy Speaker, this ill conceived proposal will have, I believe, adverse effects on the community and particularly on the discerning electorate that wants choice. I personally believe that parties should be capable of handling their own budgets - the Labor Party does not seem to be able to - and that the whole community should not be penalised if they cannot. I condemn the ALP for their short-sightedness and their cynical behaviour. I hope that the community stands up to this blatant display of authoritarianism and that this proposal is defeated, if not in the Federal Parliament then in the arena of public debate. I am sure that it will be.
One of the most important points in this whole issue is the matter which I raised yesterday in reply to a question from Mr Stevenson and to which I alluded earlier - the diversion of funds into print media and direct mailing. We may be certain that, as a result of this typically underhand move by the Hawke Government, the Labor Party's electoral campaign will now go down-market. The junk mail experts of the Labor machine will begin littering the letterboxes of the ACT and elsewhere in Australia with material that can be destined only for the rubbish bin, along with Labor's thoroughly discredited policies.
This Labor Party littering has already been going on in Canberra over recent weeks. I am reliably informed that tens of thousands of unsolicited letters have gone out from the Labor Party machine to unsuspecting householders around the ACT. These letters bear the name of one Ms Rosemary Follett; but, curiously, they do not mention that the rubbish has emanated from the Labor Party - a very interesting thing.
There is a reason for this coyness by the Labor Party. It is all part of a calculated confidence trick which they are just beginning to perpetrate. Every person who makes the mistake of replying to a questionnaire included in this junk mail will now find his or her name and address plus other particulars being put onto a secret computerised data bank maintained by the Labor machine. Whether you like it or not, if you have been unwise enough to respond to this Labor Party propaganda, your name is on the list, and entirely without your permission. If your name is on the list, then look out. In the months to come you are going to have a letterbox crammed with a deluge of unsolicited junk mail coming from the Labor Party.
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