The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 8

8 Zht vtmt) Horning $tralb www.smh.com.au TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1998 CUlflPAIGN 98 First things first: a stroll and a trim y. -w around Tullamarine Airport, and espoused a vision of a Very Fast Train track stretching between the Gold Coast and Melbourne (and hopefully through his Murray River electorate of Farrer). When an audience member raised the issue of discontinuity in government, he said: "Am I in favour of a four-year term for the Lower House and an eight-year term for the Senate? Yes I am." In the foyer of the hotel, a woman who had heard his speech bailed Mr Fischer up and said: "No-one will catch the Very Fast Train they'll all drive their cars." In response he smiled, donned his Akubra hat and headed down Flinders Street, passing small groups of ogling voters as his security team fanned out behind. He took a mobile phone call from New Zealand's shadow trade minister, Michael Moore and then declared that his next task was a haircut, before disappearing into the Commonwealth Offices in Treasury Place to plan his fight to save the National Party from Pauline Hanson's One Nation. Eye on the odds Mr Fischer at a forum on one of his favourite subjects trains at the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne.

Photograph by VIKI YEM ETTAS Coalition finds a critical chord malcolm McGregor Airwars Marshall McLuhan described Tony Schwartz as "the guru of the electronic Schwartz created the most powerful political commercial ever broadcast. Known colloquially as the "Daisy the ad dealt a devastating blow to Barry Gold-water's 1964 presidential campaign before being pulled off the by President Lyndon Johnson after a single night. It featured a young girl, counting aloud while pulling the petals from a daisy. This calm innocence is ruptured by a disembodied, metallic voice counting backwards to an implied missile launch. The image freezes into the eye of the terrified child before the screen erupts into an atomic blast When I visited Schwartz in New York in 1994 he insisted on playing the original soundtrack of the daisy commercial without isuals.

The effect was chilling. Me was illustrating the main theme of his book The Responsive Chord, which outlines his theory of resonance in political communication. According to Schwartz, the most influential part of a televised political ad is its soundtrack. That's how the very best commercials achieve resonance, unlocking the stored memories and prejudices which anyone old enough to vote has in abundance. Over the coming weeks our political parties will spend millions of dollars chasing this elusive resonance.

Both will spend heavily on sophisticated polling to find the pulse of the electorate. To my mind, the Government's campaign is already receiving valuable reinforcement from the calamitous tone of coverage of the global economic crisis. No amount of conscious planning could have delivered for John Howard the juxtaposition of his steady, controlled launch announcement on Sunday night and the image of an ailing Boris Yeltsin beset by crisis. Howard's promise of pain before gain is likely to achieve greater resonance with an audience receiving a nightly dose of such images. Labor, on the other hand, may be striking a discordant note with its tax cut message against such a backdrop.

The bad news provides reliable corroboration for the Government's argument and Labor faces a difficult task in simultaneously selling a breey tax message while raising alarm about the economic future. Labor's first 100 days: action on jobs, welfare By JAMES WOODFORD in Melbourne On a stunning Melbourne afternoon at the end of the first event of the Federal election one of the most embattled but colourful figures of the campaign, National Party Leader Mr Tim Fischer, cancelled his Commonwealth car and took an impromptu streetwalk. But in spite of walking for a kilometre through the heart of the Victorian capital on the first day of this crucial election campaign for his party, he did not speak to a single Melbur-nian. His staff and two security guards were taken by surprise as the Deputy Prime Minister, euphoric after a Very Fast Train forum held yesterday at the Hilton Hotel, slipped away from a doorstop press conference and took to the streets of Melbourne. Earlier during his talk to businessmen, and former Governor-General Sir Zelman Cow-en Mr Fischer had attacked the Australian Council of Social Service for being critical of the Coalition's tax proposals.

He said new housing developments needed to be halted sion to ourselves and internationally that we support the discrimination that is intrinsic to the One Nation platform." The warnings from the former prime ministers came as Mr Howard downplayed the One Nation threat. He repeated his pledge that he would not form a JijX-pnme ministers oin to attack 'evil' of racism AN OPEN LETTER TO AUSTRALIANS 31 August 1998 Racism is an unmitigated evil, it is immoral, it does Australia significant harm through Asia and in the wider world. It destroys our self-esteem and self-respect. In Australia it would pit Australian against Australian. It would be destructive of our society.

tn We know that politicians have to be pragmatic on many issues. They often need to adjust policy, to take into account different views. Racism, however, is a different matter, it is beyond compromise. Once it becomes part of the body politic, it grows, and it spreads in violent and traf cJys; Australia it was first reflected in opposition to Aborigines. It soon embraced Astans.

What group would next be added to the list? i- We are a diverse multicultural society enriched by the contributions made to Australia by people from every corner of the earth. There can be no place for racism Australia. We ask you not to forget the racist debates that have grown in Australia in recent times At this election everyone has the opportunity to demonstrate that there is no room for racist politics in Australia. We therefore urge you to put any candidate supporting any element of racism last the election both to the Senate and the House of Representatives. Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser Hon Gough Whitlam Hon Bob Hawke Hon Paul Keating By MARGO KINGSTON Four of Australia's five living ex-prime ministers issued a passionate joint statement on the first day of the election campaign pleading with voters to shun all candidates who supported "any element of The open letter to Australians, drafted by former Liberal prime minister Mr Malcolm Fraser and signed by former Labor prime ministers Mr Gough Whitlam, Mr Bob Hawke and Mr Paul Keating, warned that "racism is an unmitigated The plea did not name One Nation, and Mr Fraser said it also applied to candidates such as Mr Graeme Campbell, who was expelled from the Labor Party before the last election.

The letter urged voters "to put any candidate supporting any element of racism warning that racism be destructive of our Asked if the test for support for racism would apply to the National Party if it directed preferences to One Nation, Mr Fraser refused to comment. But on the possibility that the West- By MIKE SECCOMBE A Labor government would institute a "100-day plan" to address urgently the worst excesses of the Howard Government's cuts to social spending, Mr Beazley said yesterday. He nominated the Government's failed privatised jobs network. Employment National, and its much-criticised cuts to aged-care spending as among the priorities. The Opposition was identifying areas in all its policy statements which could be fast-tracked through legislation or regulation within the first 100 days.

"We will hit the ground running," Mr Beazley told the first press conference of the campaign proper, at the Dairy Farmers factory in western Sydney. He said the focus of the 100-day plan would be programs to create jobs and job security. It is understood that as well as major changes to the jobs network, Labor is planning to wind back the Government's unfair dismissal laws. Mr Beazley said the Gov Democrats launch anti-Hanson fight One Nation set to split preferences seat by seat Art ernment's changes to nursing homes would also be reversed. The Government had withdrawn S500 million from aged-care funding, and imposed a series of charges on the elderly, he said.

"We're going to take the charges off and put the money back." A Labor government also would reverse the Government's cuts of about $400 million over four years to community dental care. Labor wourd highlight the contrast between the Government's cuts to serv ices for low- and middle-income earners particularly in education, child care, health and policies for the elderly ith its promised tax cuts, which would go largely to high-income earners. It was to highlight this contrast, Mr Beazley said, that he took the media to the dairy products factory, where the average worker earned a little over 520,000 a year. Running the risk of negative media images of himself in protective coat and hairnet, he said: "I wanted you to see what it was like." It i 'in i 1 1 coalition with or "do deals with" One Nation after the election. But the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Beazley, said One Nation could have a "substantial" impact on the election result, and predicted that the Western Australian Liberals and the Nationals would give preferences to One Nation in some seats.

"What I want to know is will he Mr Howard form a government dependent on them? I've said I won't and if he says the same there's a bit of a chance at least in the House of Representatives that that might be the stand that suppresses the One Nation vote." One Nation's policy spokesman and NSW Senate candidate, Mr David Oldfield, called the ex-prime ministers "hypocrites" who had operated race-based policies, and said "ordinary Australians would not care one iota about what these parasites on the public purse had to Mr Oldfield said Mr Whitlam "should have been tried for treason" and that Mr Fraser "wasted the biggest mandate in history to fix the disaster of the Whitlam Senate push Democrats Meg Lees and Natasha Stott Despoja. they will avoid the nightmare of a CoalitionOne Nation alliance. Mr Oldfield said of the Democrats slogan: "They used to say 'Keep the Bastards Honest', but since Cheryl Kernot joined the bastards they need another reason to exist." The Net 1T Tom Burton, one or i i Australia's ---jT most highly JC A I respected political journalists, will cover the Federal election campaign exclusively for the Herald's web site at www.herald.com.au I 8 5, mm i til vi em Australian Liberal Party could give preferences to One Nation in some seats, he said racism "is something which even in an election context should be above Mr Hawke said although One Nation's support may have peaked, "there is still a possibil 'We do not intend to give preferential treatment because we see both in the same light, as not having done the right thing by Australia Queensland election, a move Ms Hanson insisted upon in the face of opposition from Mr Oldfield. Mr James said preferences would be decided on a seat-by-seat basis but neither the Coalition nor Labor would be favoured overall. "We do not intend to give preferential treatment because we see both in the same light, as not having done the right thing by Australia," Mr James said.

One Nation preferences are expected to be crucial to the outcome in many seats. The party's split ticket move follows decisions by the Liberal Party in all States except Western Australia to direct preferences to One Nation last The Queensland National Party also signalled it will depart from its strategy in the State the Labor Party campaign director, Mr Gary Gray, saying Mr Howard would agree to face Mr Beazley only once during the campaign, on September 13. Mr Crosby also stipulated tight conditions for the debate. The Government is insisting it be hosted by Channel 9, with Ray Martin as moderator. ity they could have positions in the Senate, and it's not absolutely impossible they could have a position in the House of "I think that is dangerous.

I'm saying to every Australian that I deeply feel that we will be hurt if by our vote we give the impres poll, when its preferences were directed to One Nation ahead of Labor in all seats. The party's State director, Mr Ken Crooke, said while preferences would be decided seat-by-seat, members were angry at One Nation's decision to target their Federal Leader, Mr Fischer, his deputy, Mr Anderson, and Senator Bill O'Chee in Queensland. Ms Hazelton lodged an application in the Supreme Court seeking a judicial review of the Queensland Electoral Commission's decision to give One Nation State electoral funding. The application argues that One Nation is not a properly registered political party and should not receive the funds. Ms Hazelton confirmed a claim by Mr Sharpies that her application had been supported by the Federal Liberal MP Mr Tony Abbott, but said it was only a "back-up" in case Mr Sharples's action failed.

"I'm not prepared to sit back and let the money go to One Nation," said Ms Hazelton, who resigned from Ms Hanson's staff after the Queensland election. The rules include an opening two-minute address by each leader and that the broadcast be free of advertising and station identification. The Labor Party's first television commercials will focus on the Coalition creating divisions in Australian society and on its attack on public services. By GREG ROBERTS One Nation will not favour the Coalition or Labor with preferences in most seats in the Federal election, reversing the Labor-last preferences strategy it followed in key seats in the Queensland poll. At the same time, Ms Pauline Hanson's former closest friend and private secretary, Ms Barbara Hazelton, has launched a court action aimed at stopping One Nation receiving $470,000 in Queensland election funds.

A similar action, by former One Nation candidate Mr Terry Sharpies, was dismissed by Justice Brian Ambrose yesterday. Ms Hanson and the party's national policy co-ordinator, Mr Peter James, are expected to accept a proposal this week by the MP's senior adviser, Mr David Oldfield, that One Nation issue split how-to-vote tickets in most seats, with voters given the choice of directing preferences to either the Coalition or Labor. Some One Nation supporters reacted angrily to the party's Labor-last strategy in the 111 It (3tL? i 1 viiTTT iiijii 1 1 i i "ii i i Jj A By MARGO KINGSTON The Democrats' campaign slogan "Vote Democrats to stop One Nation dividing Australia" is an unashamed attempt to persuade moderate Liberals to support them in the Senate, where they will fight One Nation in each State for the sixth Senate spot The One Nation NSW Senate candidate, Mr David Oldfield, will compete with the Democrats' Mr Aiden Ridgeway, an Aboriginal activist who has garnered support from local reconciliation groups for his campaign. The Democrats have already direct-mailed the North Shore, the northern beaches, the inner west and the eastern suburbs of Sydney. They are also expected to announce their support for a GST if the Coalition wins government, provided the compensation package is made fairer.

Democrat billboards in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, to be unveiled tomorrow, will continue the "stop One Nation" theme, arguing that if Liberals vote Democrats in the Senate In the ads, to be aired on the ABC, the Opposition Leader, Mr Beazley, tells viewers that Australians "do not need a government that divides Australian against Australian, city against country, healthy against sick, employed against unemployed, business against workers, and young against Howard says no to second TV debate in if un ilk hm smjmsm By JAMES WOODFORD and MIKE SECCOMBE Labor accused the Prime Minister of being too afraid to argue policy yesterday after the Liberal Party refused to allow more than one televised debate between the two party leaders. The Liberals' campaign director, Mr Lynton Crosby; wrote to 1 1 ti i i (ME.