Craig's Corner - Craig Hesketh, One Nation for Riverina

Evaluating the Performance of The National Party 28/2/2010

While I believe there are some very good politicians in the Nationals, for example Barnaby Joyce, I have to ask farmers what have the Nationals done for our agricultural sector over the last thirty years? Siding with the Liberal Party on many issues, they have become like a trained pet, only crossing the floor on rare occasions to voice their dissatisfaction at policies that were to the detriment of rural voters.

If you look at the conditions faced by our farmers in 1980 and then compare them to now, you see a rapid decline. We are now faced with the situation where people are walking away from farms their families have owned for generations.

One Nation believe the problem lies in free trade. The Liberal party is a big supporter of free trade and the nationals, rather than fight for farmers on this issue, quietly toe the line. They are scared of fading into political oblivion if they do not stick with the Liberals.I say it is time for them to shed the shackles and have the fortitude to stand alone and support their constituents.

The free trade ideology is destroying our great country. Australia produces the highest quality produce in the world, so why do we need to import food? Beef which may be tainted with Mad Cow Disease; pork from Canada where there are disease problems as well; prawns from Vietnam grown in rivers of sewage, the list is endless.This madness has been brought about by our Governments signing foreign trade treaties.

We need tough import regulations and priority to be given to Australian made and grown goods. Tariffs need to be charged on imports from countries which receive agricultural subsidies, and all the treaties signed in the past to the detriment of our farmers need to be repealed. Red tape needs to be cut and infrastructure improved. One Nation stand for the rights of Australian producers and we are not afraid to stand up to any political party to fight for those rights.

Why Are The Greens Front Page News ? 28/7/2009

After reading the Daily Advertiser on Monday (27th of July), I must say I was quite surprised to find such a story making front page headlines. Anybody would be led to believe that the Greens are the dominant political party in this region, with such importance being placed on a meeting and the ranting of one of their State parliamentarians. Is it possible that one of the staff at the Daily Advertiser is a supporter of this political party as their beliefs and attitudes are published quite regularly, even more often than that of our sitting member Kay Hull.

To add insult to injury the subject was laughable, as they are criticising, in my opinion, one of the best policies to come out of the Labor Ggovernment in many a year. Any claim that planning and traffic chaos will be the result of a cash injection into the local economy, to combat the economic downturn and create jobs, is ludicrous.

If there is to be any finger pointing as to what is creating a surge in local population and a subsequent strain on services then the Rudd Government's immigration policy is to blame. Even in such tough economic conditions immigration has been increased by the Labor Federal Government, with tens of thousands of these new residents taking up residence in Sydney. From this situation you have a flow on with many metropolitan residents, making a "tree change", moving to regional centres like Wagga Wagga. I must state at this point in my letter that the Greens have an open door policy when it comes to immigration so they are part of the problem.

I believe that Labor for once has the right attitude as regional areas are in desperate need of infrastructure and any cash we can get for job creation is good. Any cash spent in these areas will help our local communities absorb the extra population. At the same time as our numbers increase so will the power of our vote so we can expect more money for council and essential services.

In summary: the Greens should be more positive instead of using scare tactics to try and swing a few votes their way, and maybe look at their immigration policy, as we are currently struggling to look after our current population without adding so many more mouths to feed.

Which Party is Divisive, One Nation or Labor ? 3/7/2009

During the 07 election Labor's Penny Wong described One Nation as a divisive and corrosive political party, stating that our policies divided the Australian public. If that is the case, just exactly what has Labor given us since they have come into power?

Labor has given us constant bickering about a carbon trading scheme, which I believe is being used to take the public's attention away from the real issues. Non existent water is being bought back from our producers. The single desk was axed and replaced with a deregulated system much like the one that has almost decimated our dairy industry, and the Labor party has, like its NSW counterparts, concentrated spending on metropolitan areas, aiming to buy votes with fanciful ideas like faster Internet. Furthermore hundreds of timber industry jobs have been sacrificed in Deniliquin because of a parrot.

One Nation was labelled as divisive because it wants to rebuild Australian manufacturing and agriculture, wants to spend more on tangible infrastructure like water, rail and health services and believes in putting the needs of our countrymen before all others.

What type of divisive behaviour would you prefer?

What Are Labor and Liberal Doing For Rural Australia ? 23/6/2009

Just what exactly is the Labor or Liberal Party's plan for the future direction of our great country? Apart from policies to win the favour of metropolitan voters there seems to be very little consideration being made for the future wealth and prosperity of rural Australia.

Farms and small business are disappearing at a startling rate, being pushed out through over regulation, red tape and lack of infrastructure such as roads, rail, water and health. The cost of doing business is spiralling upwards and more and more multinationals are invading us, decimating locally owned companies by flooding the market with cheap products.

At the same time our public and personal debt levels are amongst the highest in the world. The interest alone on our foreign debt is more than the next couple of generations can bear. We already pay one of the highest levels of tax in the developed world.

Our federal governments past and present on both sides of politics, have stepped back and let our country be invaded by every greedy multinational on the planet, all in the name of globalisation. free trade and deregulation. Most decisions are being made by advisers and an army of entrenched public servants who have no concept of the real world.

Other political parties have aligned themselves with the two major parties and are content to pick up the scraps to get a few smaller concession through for their constituents, but they never bite the hand that feeds them. Like cowardly dogs they bark a little when they don't agree with something then they skulk away when handed a small bone. The fact is the two party system is a sham.

One Nation has been warning of this for over 10 years. While the Labor and Liberal parties have been selling our country out we have been calling for the end of globalisation, The rebuilding of industry, our health system and regulation of our banks.We opposed the dismantling of the single desk and want money spent on real infrastructure like water and rail not rubbish like faster broadband.

We have been called racists and rednecks, have been accused of being out of touch and out of date and the media has tried to claim that we have ceased as a political party numerous times. The Labor and Liberal parties have tried every cheap political trick in the book to gag us, but we are still here and fighting hard.

As the new President for One Nation in the Riverina I ask you to take a look for yourself. look us up, have a look at our policies, and don't just believe what you have been told by somebody with a vested interest.

The Future of the Nationals 9/6/2009

At a time when our farmers and food producers are being decimated by drought, high fuel prices and a Government who, hell bent on free trade, is allowing us to be swamped by imported food, where is the so-called political party for the land, The Nationals? All is quiet, no policies, no leadership, just an echo of the Liberal Party.

Will they merge with the Liberals? Most likely. They have long ago given up the fight for rural Australia. Their silence has been bought.

Australia needs leadership and policies that are in the best interest of Australians - not the United Nations, not the World Trade Organisation, not even the World Bank. We need a government that stands for the future advancement of Australia for Australians. It is time for the voters of the Riverina to stop the rot and look at alternatives to the political parties they have voted for in the past. For surely we need to send a much stronger message to Canberra then the whimper we have made in the past.

The Single Desk for Wheat Farmers 5/6/2009

The decision by the Liberal party to cross the floor and vote with Labor on the abolition of the single desk, must be a real slap in the face for farmers already struggling with the drought. On top of this they have to compete with high fuel costs and a government who are slashing rural spending rather than building the much needed infrastructure to lower the costs associated with doing business in rural areas.

If there was ever a time for the Nationals to stand up to the Liberal party and split from the coalition, it is now. Sadly I can't see this happening.

As thousands of farmers go to the wall or just walk off their land, all those individuals who have voted for the Liberal or Labor parties should hang their heads in shame, as they have voted for two political parties whose heart does not belong to the Australian people but is controlled by the WTO and other foriegn powers. Free trade will be the destruction of our agriculture industry, just like it has been with manufacturing, in this country.

It is only a matter of time before Australia will be importing its wheat and wool instead of being a world leader in their production.

On Rudd's National Broadband Roll-Out 23/4/2009

After reading Jody Springett's editorial in the Daily Advertiser on Thursday ( April 23rd 2009) I just shook my head in disbelief.

While faster internet will be popular amongst city voters due to their preoccupation with the internet, rural people will only find a limited benefit to having faster internet.

Country people want jobs, we want better roads, and most of all our growers need water infrastructure. While not as glamorous as fast internet, the above issues are extremely important in helping this country recover from the current economic downturn.

Who really benefits from faster internet? That is an easy question to answer. The banks, larger corporations, all those monopolies out there who want to access the public's money faster. The public, yet again, will be the losers as no real gain in public wealth will be created from having access to this service.

But alas popular politics will win out over logic, and with a bribe in their pocket the public will follow like sheep to their own demise. We are becoming a country of wants and not fixing the things we need,trying to keep pace with other countries who themselves are in the same economic mess because of getting away from the basics.

The Global Economic Meltdown 1/4/2009

So Kevin Rudd thinks he has all the answers, jetting all over the world telling governments in Britain, the USA and Europe how to run their economies - promoting to foreign governments the idea of doing as he has done and spend up big, wasting billions of dollars in taxpayers money to try and hold off a global problem.

What has this knee jerk reaction achieved? Apart from billions of dollars of debt for our children and grandchildren to pay for, absolutely nothing. We will see a small bubble of work and consumer confidence form for a short time, only to burst as the tide of economic disaster that has formed in the USA sweep over us.

The reason why we cannot outrun this economic collapse is because our government as well as the previous Liberal government has been hell bent on supporting free trade and globalization. No decisions over the last 30 years have been made with Australia's interest at heart and countless illegal treaties have been signed taking away our sovereignty.

One Nation has been warning of this event for over 12 years. Scoffed at by the media at any chance and persecuted by both the Liberal and Labor party, we have been against free trade and the removal of tariffs. We have also protested about the collapse of our manufacturing industry and the demise of our farmers.

When will people in this country realise that the two party system in this country is not working and needs a real shake up? I predict that it won't happen until their own back pockets really start to hurt. Then and only then will people start to question things and look further for the truth beyond what they are told by the media.

Labor's Stupidity on Water Buy-back 29/5/2009

In an article in today's Daily Advertiser "Record Water Buy-up" our Federal Labor Party politicians are taking credit for spending $303,000,000 of taxpayers' money on buying back water from the Twynam Pastoral Company. The water purchased was stated not to be actual physical water but future possible flows that may flow down the river if they have rain.

This is Labor's water policy to help increase water flows in our river system to help environmental issues downstream - spend millions in taxpayers money to buy imaginary water. What brilliant mind came up with this great idea? What happens if it does not rain?

My question to the Labor Party: how much actual water has been purchased and returned to the river? Additional to this question it could also be asked, why are we buying water back from a private company when the water is the property of the Australian people?

Why not increase the cost of water and put restrictions on its use as they do in towns along the river? Further to this as I have stated many times why not increase flows with real water through diversions from up north? Over the last twelve months billions of litres of fresh water have flown out to sea,from rivers in northern NSW.

Like always our "over-educated idiot" politicians are more interested in being seen to be doing the right thing instead of using a little bit of grit and common sense, by making some real changes and building something vital for this countries future in the way of sustainable water infrastructure.

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