Great Australians

Members newsletters are accessed by clicking on the month and year date to read that months newsletter.

With this Newsletter are the Agenda and Voting Papers for the General Assembly to be held at Singleton on 24 April. You need to read the AusEtax Policy and the Core Policies on the website in order to vote – visit www.thegreataustralianscom.au. There was just too much paper to copy to send it out to everyone. If you do not have internet access, ask a child or a grandchild or visit an Internet Café or your local library. Please complete the Voting Paper and return to P O Box 1760 Noosa Heads 4567 promptly. If you have any alternate policies to put forward, please write it our and post it, as all will be considered.

Thanks to Les Shilton and the Hunter-Singleton branch for hosting the Assembly and billeting many delegates. I am sure all who attend will be shown good old Hunter Valley hospitality. All welcome. Call Les on 02 65722906 to register or if you need accommodation.

We have started issuing Press Releases on vital matters and these will be posted on the website and distributed by email. If you received this Newsletter by mail, it means WE DO NOT HAVE YOUR EMAIL ADRESS. Please send it to me now at saveaus@bigpond.com or fax it to 07 5447 2745 so I can add you to our email database.

I ask all members to find out the email or fax addresses of the local media in your area – newspapers, TV and radio and send them to me so I can add them to our Press Release list. Will you please ring the news departments and ask them for the News Desk address and pass it on to me. Come on - this is something you can do to help the cause.

The Tax figures for 2002-03 were published on 1 April and we immediately prepared a Table showing the disgraceful state of affairs with personal Income Tax in Australia. This is on the website and a copy is enclosed. It shows that the GST has made no change to the fact that Income Tax paid by individuals accounts for about 40% of the total taxes collected in Australia compared with enterprises (15%) and yes you guessed it – non residents (foreign multinationals) point 5 of one percent (0.5%)!!!!!
Copy this graph and show it to all your friends. It is horrifying. Post it up on community noticeboards, drop it in letterboxes – please help get the message out there.

It was announced last week that Qantas (49.9%)will be establishing a joint venture with the Singapore Government (50.1%) to establish Jetstar Asia – a budget international airline. This is fabulous news for all Australians, BUT a few days later it was announced that Australia will now be entering into a Double Tax Convention with Singapore. The timing would suggest the two were related, with the effect that the new airline will be a Singapore resident for Income Tax purposes and will pay no tax in Australia. Hold on a minute!! Is that fair to all Australians??

Our transaction tax would fairly deal with this type of business which crosses national boundaries – it would pay a fair share of tax in each country depending on the volume of business undertaken!! What’s wrong with that???

We have started WILDFIRE - a campaign aimed at putting a name and phone number for a Convenor on every Federal seat. Can you help?? All we need at this point is a name so members in each seat can have someone to call. All you need is a phone, a voice and a heartbeat!! Call, fax or email me if you can help.

I was really touched to have a call last week from one member who photocopies the Core Policies and Membership Application forms and mails them out at the rate of ten copies a week – paying for this out of her pension. She is 80!!! That’s the spirit.
I hope to see many members in Singleton.

Kind regards

John Rivett
Federal President