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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1019 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

Most developed countries around the world are caught up in a political ideology called economic rationalism, and this ideology is failing miserably in delivering these basic requirements. Economic rationalism is irrational; it does not take into account social and environmental factors. The result is continuing degradation of our earth's ecosystems and the continuing loss of social equity and fairness. Of course, as the gaps between rich and poor widen, as more and more people struggle to maintain or attain these fundamental requirements, scapegoats will be found; it is the logical consequence. History has shown us many times this sequence of events; yet, we still see a blind loyalty to principles of free market ideology, despite the obvious consequences. It is not good enough for governments to just condemn Pauline Hanson for representing this scapegoating. It is a cop-out unless this condemnation is accompanied by real change in government policy which addresses the underlying social issues, unless governments change policies which mean a greater percentage of wealth is concentrated in a small percentage of hands.

We are following the path of the United States. Even though the GNP of the United States grew considerably during the 1980s, three-quarters of the gain in pre-tax income went to the richest one per cent. The majority of Americans had less money and lower incomes than when the decade began. Primarily, what grew was apprehension, violence, dislocation and environmental degradation. A classic example of the blind stupidity of this rationale is this Federal Liberal Government's enthusiasm for opening up this country to the toxic industry of uranium mining and its insistence that we cannot afford to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Paul Hawken says in his book, The Ecology of Commerce:

In order for free market capitalism to transform itself in the century to come it must fully acknowledge that the brilliant moments of its triumph cast the darkest of shadows.

The particular shadow of uranium mining will last for up to 250,000 years.

I cannot admit to having read Ms Hanson's book from cover to cover. Ms Hanson claims she has done research on benefits available to Aboriginals. She strings together a whole raft of claims that are simply not true. Other speakers have spoken about this. She claims that Aboriginal students get more in benefits than non-Aboriginal students; Aborigines get cheaper housing loans; they are not means tested for services such as legal aid. All that is obviously untrue. How can anyone say that indigenous people in this country are being pampered by a recent, very belated attempt to address some of the appalling conditions facing them? I refer to cultural dislocation, the poor state of Aboriginal health, the poor state of housing, discrimination, et cetera. ATSIC as a body receives more public scrutiny than any other government agency. The state of Aboriginal health in this country is appalling. I noticed in the budget papers last night, although I did not see it actually mentioned in the Government's budget, a cut in Commonwealth funding for Aboriginal health from $426,000 to $291,000.

Ms Hanson also cites America as an example of a country paying the price for multiculturalism. As I have already shown, it is the country paying the price for lack of emphasis on equity. It is very dangerous and divisive to be spreading this kind of misinformation, as other members have said. There are also a lot of obvious inconsistencies in the arguments that are being spread. For example, on one hand,

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