Sunday, March 31, 2019

Pre-Election Fundraising at the Pratt's 4

"The news [that Anthony Pratt is the richest man in the country] comes after a big week for the Visy executive chairman and Pratt Industries owner who, though he is a supporter of US President Donald Trump, hosted a $5,000-a-head fundraising function for Bill Shorten at his Raheen mansion in Melbourne mid-week. A Liberal Party fundraiser was held two weeks earlier at Raheen." (Pratt sails to top - and happiness, John Stensholt, The Australian, 30/3/19)

So Anthony Pratt supports Trump, Shorten and Morrison.

Dumb question: What could these three possibly have in common?

And far from Palestine:

"The pair [Pratt and Gina Rinehart, the second richest person in the country] reveal that Mr Pratt likes to sing the Beatles song Oh! Darling from the seminal Abbey Road album to Mrs Rinehart and flew to Cambodia to support her Cambodian Children's Fund earlier this year." (ibid)

Meanwhile, in Palestine:

"Israeli forces have killed three Palestinians, including two teenagers, and shot 46 others at gatherings on the Gaza frontier marking the anniversary of the demonstration movement, the territory's ministry of health said." (Israeli fire kills four Palestinians says Gaza health ministry, Oliver Holmes and Hazem Balousha, theguardian.com, 31/3/19)

1 comment:

Grappler said...

I meant to post this comment a couple of items back but have been away from internet. It kind of fits here too.

How can this pandering to Israel be other than about Zionist political donors? The "new era of closeness" described by Netanyahu - see MERC: Pratt's Part 3 - is, of course, total rubbish. In every way except at the highest political level (if that is not an oxymoron) Australia and Israel are poles apart. Australia is a largely secular, fairly democratic, multicultural, multi-ethnic society that tries hard to be tolerant and free of discrimination on grounds of race, religion, ethnicity, you name it. Israel is the opposite.

Incidentally, note what DFAT says about Israel on its website:

https://dfat.gov.au/geo/israel/Pages/israel-country-brief.aspx

"The State of Israel is a robust parliamentary democracy." Tell that to the Palestinians under Israeli control. Brutal colonialism cannot be democratic.

Moreover, this much vaunted closeness costs us. We are paying the Iran (and now Venezuala) tax at the bowser. The Iran tax is certainly because of Israel.

Australia has a significant trade deficit with Israel - running at 3 to 1 in favour of Israel.

Morrison's hinted move of the Australian Embassy to Jerusalem almost cost us the Indonesia Free Trade Deal.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/indonesia-threatens-to-kill-trade-deal-with-australia-over-israel-embassy-2018-10?r=US&IR=T

Incidentally, if you're in need of an emetic read this - though I don't advise it:

https://gellerreport.com/2018/11/indonesia-trade-jerusalem.html/

Our trade with Indonesia is 3 to 2 in our favour and we sell Indonesia 20 times as much as we sell Israel. With Malaysia we run a 2 to 1 deficit but again we sell them 20 times as much as we sell Israel. Malaysia too was miffed at our hinted embassy move. Kuwait buys significantly more from us than Israel does and runs an almost 8 to 1 deficit relative to Australia. This is Kuwait's take on trade with Israel:

https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Kuwait-bolsters-secondary-boycott-of-Israel-379710

Pakistan buys roughly 50% more from us than Israel does and runs a 2 to 1 trade deficit. UAE runs a roughly 2 to 3 trade deficit with Australia and buys 10 times what Israel buys. Need I go on?

Naturally, I hope, Australia would put a high moral stance ahead of an economic gain but that is hardly the case here. We kowtow to a few very rich Zionists at the expense of both our souls and our economy.