Along with real estate, travel has always been a passion of mine. The diverse cultures of the world are always a source of inspiration but more and more this travel has come to serve me well in selling real estate.
I woke up to the news this morning that Pauline Hanson will not sell her house to a Muslim or an Asian who lives overseas. I really don’t want to give her any more publicity and I do not want to get into a political debate on this, her views to me are so archaic. What I do want to point out is that we now live in such a small world because of globalisation and the Internet, and with Australia being such a multi-cultural society if you want to be successful at selling real estate in suburban Sydney today, you need to know about all these cultures that co-exist. It is the changing face of the buyer profile, it is the internet and social media, it’s a multi cultural, dynamic society that we meet when we sell real estate.
I have just got back from a holiday in Japan, I used to live there and I speak the language. When dealing with Japanese clients I know what to do and what not to. I have spent a month in China but I don’t know the culture as well and I definitely don’t speak the language.
Lately though I have had the opportunity of meeting several clients from mainland China. China is about to take over Japan as the world’s 2nd largest economy. (Pauline you have no idea what you are missing out on!)
Generally speaking, my knowledge of Chinese culture consists of Feng Shui, No. 8 is a lucky number and No. 4 represents death, so forget selling a house with No. 4 to a Chinese client (same in Japan and maybe all Asian countries)? I know that according to the principles of Feng Shui that it’s not good if you can see from the front of the house through to the back door etc. Really I don’t know much and I would like to know more.
So last week I had the opportunity to show a few properties to clients from China. Now I am not sure what Pauline Hanson’s agent would be able to do in this case as the client lives in China, does business in Australia and is an Australian citizen. His family (wife and children) live in China, his mother lives in Sydney but realistically he lives in China. He wants to buy a luxury home for his mother. We meet, I have several houses that fit the criteria. He is young and successful and speaks English, “should be easy” I think.
Well it is not easy and doing business is completely different. When showing the property the clients speak between themselves in Chinese so I am clueless, and the conversation I have with them is based on whether the house is good value or not. I had the chance to show a 2nd property to the same clients and an Australian friend joined them and he enlightened me on a few things. Firstly, whether they like the property or not is not important, it is whether the property represents good value. While a lot of clients I deal with inspect a property and say “I love the open plan feel, the CaesarStone kitchen etc”, you will apparently not hear that from a Chinese client.
The emotional impact that we seek from clients, (the basis of a good auction) is not so important to a Chinese client. When my vendor asked how the inspection went and if they liked the property, I had to say “Apparently that is not relevant”. I have a lot to learn and am respectfully curious and definitely up for the challenge!
Real estate agents deal with people of all walks of life and from all cultures. I feel sorry for Pauline Hanson’s agent, how is he going to filter these people? When he receives a call on her property is he going to ask if they are Muslim or not before he shows the property or ask to see their citizenship if they sound Asian? Anyone want to throw some money in for her airfare to the UK?
55 Comments
Peter Ricci
Wow, a great first up article Kylie and although Pauline Hanson is a throwback, I think it is a good subject, it really does put the agent in a difficult situation.
What is more disturbing is that we have enough people in Australia to get simpletons like this get elected to Parliament.
Kylie Emans
Thanks Peter, yes and I bet Gordon Brown can’t wait for Pauline Hanson to arrive on his shores!
Nick
I’ve been to Turkey for a total of 6 months and other countries definitely do give you other perspectives. 🙂
What still gets me is that a Muslim country right next to some places like Syria and Iran, is so similar to Australia.
That is after you get over the different language, and the perpetually gray skies. 😉
Unfortunately I was over there for a holiday on three occasions.
It didn’t cross my mind to look in to the property market over there.
Robert Simeon
Great article Kylie – thoroughly enjoyed it as the content relates to all of us whether or not we sell real estate. I agree there is something very special about Asia given I spend nearly two months a year in Thailand “The land of smiles”. The one thing where Asia leads the western world is their landscaping and horticulture. They present the finest gardens and water features that one could ever witness.
Kylie Emans
Thanks Robert, I was just in Japan for cherry blossom season so I know what you mean about the gardens, it was unbelievable!
Kylie Emans
Nick, I have never been to any of those countries, I am so jealous, I think the great thing about Australians is we travel a lot and in general thinks makes us open minded to all cultures.
Glenn Batten
Something weird is going on with those clicks in the retweet function. They are showing thousands of clicks on this article within two pages refreshes of 1 minute apart.
After a bit of checking it seems spammers using twitterfeed to monitor google alerts rss feed have grabbed the article title and used it to drive traffic back to their feedburner page
some of the many examples are here
http://twitter.com/JaniceChase/status/13044876210
and
http://twitter.com/AmyColgate/status/13044876282
The bit.ly code being used is http://bit.ly/1aCmR2 but that actually points to a feedburner page at
http://feeds.feedburner.com/google/afga
which lists a stack of Feng Shui Articles going back to earlier in 2009.
Of course… the message from the feedburner account holder is
“A message from this feed’s publisher: Earn good karma points and click on a few ads. We appreciate it!!!!!!!”
The 3000 or so visits represent everybody that in the past year they have been able to use twitter to drive traffic to their feedburner list. they probably have thousands of other trigger words that do the same thing.
It is this sort of rubbish that threatens to bring down Twitter.
The real bit.ly info for the article not the title is http://bit.ly/info/bSHHGs
Kylie Emans
Glenn how do I avoid this?
zach
kylie i find it difficult to empathize with your views on international investment in australia. i live in melbourne and my family and i have found buying property exceedingly difficult. chinese investment in australian property has strongly increased the average housing price in melbourne, making it more difficult for australian residents to buy their own home. foreign investment of this nature means that effectively Australian citizens are being bought out of their own country. chinese residents (not even citizens, RESIDENTS) snap up 3.3 per cent of new homes in victoria annually, and really who could blame them? our policies means that a 12 month visa makes you eligible for property ownership in our country without even being a citizen! in fact chinese citizens can’t even buy land in their native country, only 99 year leases, yet in australia, they are eligible to buy property, and thanks to our governments slack immigration policies, will skyrocket in value due to large amount of immigration! Foreign investment in australia is crucial to the survival to our economy, yet at the rate its going most australians will find it difficult to own their own home for generations to come. therefore i think that pauline brings a very crucial issue to light about foreign property investment. i an definitely by no means a racist and enjoy the different ethnicities in melbourne. but facts speak for themselves; Australian property should be only owned by citizens of the country.
Bakernator
I am with Pauline.
My mother is constantly being abused by Indian men in the work force, my Sister lives in block of units where asians ignore her, speak down to her and are rude, I have been ignored in china town by people who refuse to serve me for not being their race. Lebanese are constantly causing trouble, are rude and Muslims are pretty much the same.
Now, these experiences are life long, happening every day in Sydney, and I can count each day the problems I have with people who fail to treat human’s with cultural respect in the own culture’s origin.
Now I am not racist, I have many friends who are asian, indian and what we generalise as wogs. But I am social intolerant of the majority of the people from those countries, who stand with negativity socially and fail to respect this countries culture, politeness and honor.
When I come across, Asians, Indians and Wogs who are polite and just great blokes and women to talk with, I often walk away with my wife and say, “its great people like that that makes me wonder why the rest of the people from their country cant fit in like that”.
Call it racist, call it what ever you like, but I understand a lot of what Pauline says. And I am not even Australian, but I fit in, honor Australia for its worth and I dont cause trouble in the streets or schools, I dont under cut the paying rate in the working industry and only being from NZ all my life I have done many great things here for Australia, and so has it for me.
So I think while I am a neighbor, my underlying point remains. Being racist and racially intolerant are too different things, and the different races only have themselves to blame.
Sal Espro
Sweet article – You’e got a talent.
Glenn Batten
Kylie,
You cant unless you avoid every word that these guys have setup and that would be impossible unless you have some amazing crystal ball…. it has nothing to do with you.. basically it looks as though its they way the plugin Peter uses to collects the information works. It seems it searches twitter using the article title and then it uses the links it finds in tweets quoting that article title to work how many clicks it has received.
Because somebody has used the same title in their tweets the plugin is not smart enough to know which is the right link. When you try and make something like this automatic, there is bound to be scenarios where it does not work… and we found it.
Looking at those same spamming twitter accounts it seems other words that would trigger a similar result will be things like..
mediation,
vegan,
yoga,
fitness,
marijuana
So.. you could write an article titled :-
“The Vegan Pauline Hansen Enjoys Her Meditation and Yoga to Improve Her Fitness whilst Smoking Marijuana”
and it might just blow their computers up 🙂
You can see just those two accounts have sent out 50,000 tweets each to nearly 15000 followers combined. When you consider they probably have hundreds if not thousands of these spamming twitter accounts set up you can see the numbers involve.
ally
i think that Pauline is just a racist who has nothing better to do than discriminate aginst those who have done nothing to her. All she wants is publicity, regardless of whether it is good or bad. if she has such strong feelings about others’ race, religion or what ever else she has a problem with, she should either keep it to herself, or see a psychologist:)
JUST AS U HATE EVERYONE PAULINE, EVERYONE HATES YOU!!!
Glenn Batten
something happened.. all showing fine again.. 🙂
anonymous
NO MORE INDIAN STUDENTS PLEASE!!! Please Mr Rudd and whichever company is responsible for selling education to overseas students. PLEASE! Enough is enough! No more!
Peter Ricci
Zach, you beng up very relevant and pertinent points, what you say is by no means racist. Every country has laws in relation to property ownership and most are the same as ours (there are limits in most).
As for the courageous anonymous postings on here – you bring up no points other than the fact that you are racist, probably homophobic, and most definitely un-Australian. After all our country has been made 98% from immigrants.
Bakinator, you need to learn how to formulate a comment. Here is a hint, never start with the definition of racism only to follow up with a statement that denies the very racism you just defined of yourself, there is no grey area in your comment mate.
I lived in Sydney for 5 years, 5 years and I came across HUMAN BEINGS who harassed other people, I came across HUMAN BEINGS who were rude and I had some asian friends and some gay friends.
Some of these people who harassed others were of ethnic origins, but I never once thought in my mind this means ALL 100% of that particular race were the same.
PS: If anyone wonders why I allowed these comments. I value free speech above just about everything else as long as comments are not directed at individuals.
Nick
Bakernator, I pity you because you obviously dont talk to the right people
Its also clear that you havent actually gone to other countries either..
Glenn Batten
Poor LJ Hooker are copping flogging in recent weeks.
First we have their association with those terrible Realestate.com.au Househunter videos that condoned illegal and objectionable behavior in the process of buying property.
Then thanks to one of their offices they end up being associated with Pauline Hanson and the public, his other vendors, other LJ Hooker offices and Head Office turn on him and demand that he disassociate himself immediately….
But before they can do that Pauline sacks LJ Hooker… but wait.. there is more.
Pauline offers her apologies.. to her agent and LJ Hooker.. not the muslims and asians
Peter Ricci
Well, you know Glenn, poor old Pauline wants to go to the old dart – she wants to get away from the media spotlight and live a more peaceful life.
But before she does that she must ring the media and get them around to her place one more time, because she has something to say.
zach
immigration is a means of population increase which australia, since european settlement, has heavily relied upin. i think the reason it has become a hotly debated topic in resent years is because it hasn’t fulfilled the initial reasons as to why we let in many people to the country. i am absolutely in full favour of immigration, if there are people wanting to come over to the country to gain a new life, respect our local customs, pay taxes and assimilate, then by all means come over. but i think that in order to maintain the success of this immigration, various factors need to be considered. i mean in the case of victoria (i can only speak for Melbourne because this is where i am from) we are facing serious water shortages (i think last time i checked the catchments were 30% full), our last dam was built in the 1970’s and since then our population has trippled, a decent portion of it contributed to by immigration. furthermore, we have a serious housing shortage and our public transport system is incapable of transporting the large amounts of people that it is currently serviceing. therefore for various infrastructure reasons, i think that immigration must be halted in order for our infrastructure to support those who come here, and those born here. what is the point of damaging the infrastructure to bring more and more immigrants over, if it damages the very system which would support future poeple wanting to enter the country?. the city/country to which the immigrant is bought over must be capable enough to be able to sustain them. some australian cities are not capable for further immigration intake. furthermore, the escalating violence in melbourne, i can’t help but wonder, may be caused by rising numbers of ethnically dominated ‘no go zones’ within melbourne. the sudden intake of large amounts of people from different countries has resulted in cultural exclusion in previously safe melbourne suburbs. by bringing large amounts of people from the same country to a new location, they will tend to congregate into one city or area, and can result in the creation of an unsafe suburb. this has happenned with particularly Noble Park, Springvale, Werribbee, Dandenong and Box Hill, where the Victorian police have found a correlation between higher crime rates in these cities, which are made predominantly of immigrants (there is a specially dedicated ‘sudanese task force’ to deal with sudanese gang violence in noble park, sunshine and weribee). therefore i think that there needs to be small bursts of immigrants, and time to enable them to turn from immigrants into australians. for these reasons, i think that this is why pauline hanson has struck a chord with some australias (she’s too right wing for my liking) , not because they believe in all of her policy’s, but because she seems to be one of the only politicians which propose a regulation to immigration.
as for the anonymous poster, i can understand what you’re saying. however i am only annoyed at the university institutions, and the government policy makers for education, who make it very difficult for victorian students to study in melbourne. the indian students themselves in my opinion are completely innocent, as they have been offered places at great universities, and have the opportunities to gain education, which, if i was in their situation, would probably take advantage of (although i found there protest outside Flinders Street Station extremely innapropriate and disrespectful, i would never DREAM of protesting in a foreign country). i think that the introduction of current local students paying for their education, when those who dictated these policies got theirs for free, is ridiculous, and jeopardizing the future of local tertiary education. furthermore, the privatization of victorian universities cause these institutions to be more of money making facilities, rather than education facilities. as international students pay double what local students do, internationals are the preferred option as they bring in more revenue. therefore i think its the policy makers and universities which deserve these criticisms, not the students themselves.
Peter Ricci
As for LJ Hooker, I doubt that the local rep thought she was going to come out with all of this guff, so you can hardly blame them.
Takle her money and donate it to a Muslim school or charity somewhere near where she relocates too.
Glenn Batten
I am not blaming them what happened in the slightest.
I am sure the agent did not honestly expect her to do that… but risk management is all about assessing what could happen not what will probably happen.
He should have realised that there was a chance that this turned into a media circus and he should have decided if he wanted to get involved with Pauline after that assessment.
Only if he never considered that it could happen has he really stuffed up.. If he took that gamble and lost, well that was a business decision. If he never considered it that it could happen I reckon his hindsight is showing some clarity and pointing it out to him now pretty well.
When there is a risk involved and you cant take the loss then don’t gamble. That’s not just about the casino.
Bet he wont do it again 🙂
Rachael Lord
Its always interesting that those who feel the need to say “I’m not racist BUT” are usually those who are both ignorant and definitely intolerant.
Under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cwlth) it is against the law for people to discriminate against you in:
* accommodation, such as renting a unit or house or buying and selling land
For more see http://www.hreoc.gov.au/racial_discrimination/guide_to_rda/index.html
So not only was Pauline morally out of line, she was 35 years backward legally!
Australians harp on about being the ‘lucky country’ where everyone is given a ‘fair go’. Unfortunately this ‘fair go’ attitude generally only extends to those who are white.
Sal Espro
I bet the Aborigines think Australia wold be a beautiful place if immigration hadn’t ever been allowed!
Our lifestyle is so dependent upon our low population but Australia is knackered if it can’t increase its population because home-construction is the basis of our economy; that and the ability for the rest of the World to use us as a sandpit for their raw materials, which we then buy back at a premium having not added any value to them in the first place! (It should be treasonous to export non-value-added materials!)
So, Zach, Berkinator and Anonymous, show us how committed you really are to Orstralia and get together with Pauline to show us how we can keep our population as low as possible:
1. Don’t breed as much
2. Work on increasing value-adding industries and
3. Lead by example by following the laws of our land
Sal – Been around too long to listen to rubbish from empty-heads!
Ben
Hanson is just a clever fool who’s only claim to cleverness is that she found a way to play on the fears of people as ignorant as her.
I’ll giver her one thing though. She has always found a way to turn a new trick. When every thing else fails just think up a new angle to demonise someone else while ignoring the same problems that exist within your own communinty. Blaming Africans for aids, stirring up hate and fear and using an example of a singular pregnant woman in hospital while deliberatly overlooking the many white junkie females with aids is classic Pauline.
She’s the queen of bigotry and ignorance and her followers are the subjects of stupidity.
Bakernator
Peter: Thanks for letting me have my say, appreciate it. I could formulate my comment better yes. My english teacher would be ashamed.
Rachel: I start with “I’m not racist” because I have experienced consistent negative patterns of behavior with certain races. And this continues every week. We watch the olympics and root for certain countries and acknowledge how great the majority of African & African american sprinters are (example only) yet we don’t get labelled as racist, or the world acknowledges how great ozy swimmers are, thats not racist. But when someone discusses the negative achievements (I dare say) of a race, say Indian men who constantly abused my mother to tears while working at Lime Taxis in Mascot Sydney (who are Indian Men to tell my mother [an individual in the work force] that they are not to take orders from her [for god sake she was their supervisor), my mother ended up leaving because she couldn’t handle the racial tension (don’t even get me started on other issues at that company beyond your comprehension), and now she is copping similar treatment from patrons on trains as she is now a hostess on country link.
Just something to think about for you Rachel, you really need to be at the heart of an issue (or many issues) and experience the repercussions to embrace the resentment of some races actions.
Sal: Maybe you have been around too long to listen, because you have managed to start a whole new debate. Who said anything about keeping our population low as possible. I’m merely pointing out patterns in society based on race. I wont call you an empty head, that would be rude. Which is my point to begin with.
Brian Chua
Thanks Kylie Evans for this interesting article. I am from an Asian background and do concur that buying a house to a certain extend depends on Feng Shui – depends on individuals and their believes. However, we do see other important property features like location, value and resale potential.
The numbers that you are talking about is true. I would like to add though. No.13 and No.14 is a not a good number too. No. 13 represents back luck and No.14 can be loosely translated as ‘inviting death’. This numbers can still be sold if there is any chinese medium around that could ‘neutralise’ the negative aspects of it – something related to Feng Shui.
The reason why it is not good to see the front of the house through the backdoor is an age old tradition about the flow of energy (chi). Having a backdoor or an opening means good chi will enter and leave the house instantly. Other interesting features to remember is that Asians typically hate rooms with large mirrors in it. This is because of the believe that our soul will leave the body when we are asleep and before sunrise, our souls will return back to the body. However, if there are two bodies (your real body and the mirrored image); there is a 50% probability that your soul will wander into the wrong body and the soul will be trap.
Most of these believes only holds for Asian buyers who are still strong in their cultural roots. I might blog more about this in the near future.
Nick
Very interesting Brian. 🙂
You taught me something new today.
Amanda K
I think Pauline should brush up on the 2nd verse of the national anthem… “for those who’ve come across the sea, we’ve boundless plains to share”… Maybe there’s a really high pitched backup singer singing “unless you’re an Asian, Muslim or basically non-Anglo” that only dogs and racists can hear?!?!
Bye bye Pauline… Good luck in the UK… no Muslims or Asians there! 😉
Kylie Emans
Brian, that is very interesting, I did not know about the mirrors. With regard to the numbers, I have been told that for Italians No. 13 is a lucky no. but I am yet to clarify this! With regard to Asian cultures is 4 only by itself bad or anything starting with a 4 ie 400, 4000? You should definitely write some more on this. And one last question, the direction a property faces, I have heard west is not good for Asian cultures? Is this true?
Robert Simeon
Thanks Brian – I have always wanted to learn more about Feng Shui and I hope that you do write a blog here on that very subject.
Amanda K
13 is a lucky number for Italians and 17 is considered bad luck… It’s all to do with rearranging the roman numerals to VIXI, which implies “I am dead” because it means “I have lived”…
Kylie Emans
Wow, thanks Amanda for the clarification on no. 13! And I had no idea about no. 17.
Brian Chua
Back to your question Kylie, 4 is only bad by itself or in multiples (e.g 44, 444,4444). It means ‘death’, so if the house have multiples of 4, it will not be ideal. I might write something about this in my blog I suppose, I have no clue on how to submit a blog post here – :(.
In terms on where the property faces, it depends on if the houses receive heaps of light or not. As Australia is in the southern hemisphere, houses facing the North receives the most sunlight and thus it should represent good energy and growth. Houses in west does not necessary mean it will be bad, I think it means more energy towards the end of day. I am not too sure bout the real details though, a Feng Shui expert might know this better. At the end of the day, it really depends on the buyer and having someone that is knowledgeable in this will definitely give asian background buyers a good first impression.
Baza
Nine MSN ran an opinion poll last week on Pauline
Peter Ricci
Well, I didn’t know that nines audience had gone so lowbrow, as for Feng Shui, not sure if there is any evidence to back claims 🙂
Yes, I am a sceptic about just about everything, one wise man once said, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence 🙂
Nick
They need to run another poll.
“Do you care about Pauline?”
I predict the following responses:
101,000 = YES
47,000 = NO
:p
Brian Chua
I finally did a write up on Feng Shui. Anyone who is interested with a short article on Feng Shui can visit my blog http://bit.ly/aPNBDv.
Kylie Emans
Hi Brian, thanks for taking the time to do this, very informative!
Rachael Lord
Great work Brian.
I found this article on differences between Asian cultures. Just to further everyone’s education here!
Cheers
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-korea-interpreter-20100501,0,7133237.story?page=1
Jen
Nice refreshing, honest and youthful article Kylie, I enjoyed reading it. It’s nice to read something fresh and with personal insight on real estate issues in Australia.
Kylie Emans
Great article Rachael, and I can testify to the phones being silent on trains and buses in Japan, it is great! There are signs on all modes of transport saying please turn your phones to silent. It is so peaceful, everyone texts if they need to communicate.
B
Well eventually you will be out of a job when all the people are here..(dont speak english).then maybe you will understand Paulines concerns !!!!
Peter Ricci
So let me get this straight. You are concerned about a person (all the people) who cannot speak english taking your job?
You must be terrific at it (your job), customer service is it?
Mac
Ha ha ha, “B”. Your sentence structure is as tedious as your sentiments.
Please come back once you’ve learnt something more about English, including the use of correct grammar and spelling. Your sentences will hopefully then be easier to read and you might convey a stronger, more understandably arrogant image before having a go at others not being able to ‘speak’ English (with a capital ‘E’)! – Too much joy! Ha ha ha
Gene
I still have the same opinion that I have held for the last five years. I believe whole heartedly that there has been a definte effort to sanitise and cleanse the image of Pauline Hanson and I think that it has been done for a definite reason and a very devious one.
Nobody has had the media coverage and exposure that Pauline Hanson has commanded. The majority of it has been done in a positive way and even now on the right wing leaning corporate media TV channels Hanson’s stance and image is almost being propped up and made to look valid. Man, what short memories people have.
Anyway, Hanson’s list goes on ….. and on ….. and on …… and on. She was given prime coverage on “Dancing With The Stars”, “Burt’s Family Feud”, “This is Your Life” with Mike Monroe, Music Quiz show, other shows galore. Centre speads in Women’s and fashion magazines, fashion spreads, photo shoots in magazines, Radio spots, TV commercials like Donut King and Buderim Ginger. You name it !
BTW: I have never bought a Buderim brand product since and never will. A very strong rumour is that Donut King withdrew the Hanson commercial due to complaints.
Hanson has had it all and after being plastered across every avenue in media and now the young generation knows no better. Young folk when they see her at events like the races or others will go over and ask to have their photo taken with her. People havce forgotten the venom and the young know no better. All they know is that here is a celeb who had views about certain people coming to Australia who were not white and had a religion that they knew nothing about. They think that since she’s accepted by the media and since she’s portrayed in apositive way then her views must be OK or correct.
But, for those who are more mature in years and those who can remember, it’s a different story.
* Who can forget the book “The Truth” that had lies about Aborigines eating their babies. Hanson and Etteridges reason for this was that , “If you feel sorry for these people that are fighting for land rights then you might think twice about people who eat their babies.
* What about blaming Asians for bringing in diseases and creating ghettos. Like no whites carry diseases ????
* Blaming Africans for bringing in Aids and frightening people with statements liike “How would you like your daughter to end up with aids?” It’s playing on people’s fears with the “Every black man wants to copulate with your white woman or virgin white daughter” scare tactic. And very much the same as the message in the KKK inspired “Birth Of A Nation” film that gives you the message “All you’ll be left with is a Mulatto grandchild” Hanson just adds to this negative thought with the “You’ll be left with a disease as well” topping.
Hanson used an example of one pregnant African woman in hospital with aids. I wonder how many caucasian women have ended up with aids. Perhaps Hanson would have us believe that only darker skinned people are filthy disease carriers.
Hanson blamed African people for boozing in parks. The so called reports she got were from teenage girls who have seen them. She also mentioned how she had reports that Lebanese guys were harrassing Australian girls. These so called reports are so called emails and phone calls that she has had. Now we know that Hanson isn’t one to be biased right … LOL. I’ll leave it up to you lot to work out.
Remember that in Hanson’s book “The Truth” it mentioned that by the year 2050, Australia will be presided over by a half Chinese / half Indian lesbian cyborg called Poona Li Hung. This part mahine – part human lesbian will rule Australia. From the woman who according to her plumber husband, referred to their Aboriginal customers as “Black Bastards” has said things that normal well rounded people do not take on board. Then again it takes someone who is an ignorant person to reach those who are of the same persuasion.
I wonder if Tony Abbott will be thanking her when & if he gets re elected. He’s now basically saying she’s an OK broad and she’s supporting him in the same veiled fashion as she did with Howard.
Gene
Pauline Hanson like John Howard is one of the most depraved people to enter into Australian politics. Just have a think about it for a few minutes before you go into “knee-jerk” or “getting your back up” reaction mode. Have a good think!
You know folks we all …. well most of us have been taught by our parents in one way or another to do things in a certain way that our parents would like us to do. I think that the best kind of upbringing a child can have is one where the child is taught positive and meaningful things. One of them would be to respect other cultures, religions and creeds and not target them with unfairness & dishonesty.
Now have Hanson and Howard been honest , fair and kind to these cultures and religions who are not of their own ?
From what I have observed over the years Hanson and Howard have almost been criminal in their approach and dealing with certain cultures and religions. Has not Hanson targetted certain groups with accusations and insinuations of uncleanliness, bringing in filthy and dangerous diseases ? Are we to believe that Caucasians, Anglo Saxons in particular do not have diseases or spread them. Well Hanson would have us think so just like Hitler did with Germany’s masses with the victims being the Jews and Gypsies and other races that were exterminated by the Nazi’s.
What Hanson has set about doing in the past is taking partial truth and isolated examples , mixing it with misleading info , getting into slander territory and playing on peoples fears.
Howard capitalised on this and used the ball of fear and xenophobia that Hanson started and rolled it all the way to election victory. In the process of it all he like Hanson sunk to the depths of moral depravity with his “we’ll decide on who comes to Australlia” and locked these poor innocent souls up in detention to languish there for years. The emotional agonly and damage to these people still hasn’t been realised. Some have killed themselves as a result. If that wasn’t enough Howard took Australia into a war that was not only unessesary but one that was justified with complete lies. The only people who have won out of this are the wealthy elite who wanted the war in the first place. The thousands
Many of us people who call ourselves Christian have spoken out about this. The hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s who have died as a result of the war that Bush , Howard & Blair have created amounts to mass murder. So what are they then ? What does that make Howard ?
Are Howard & Hanson two peas in a pod ?
zach
i’m sick of being labelled a racist for even broaching the cubject of regulating or lowering immigration numbers. Australia is/was built on immigration but i don’t think that people consider the repercussions of supporting foreigners with our tax money. rather they become so politically correct as to condemn anyone who questions the numbers of those allowed into the country. water shortages, housing shortages, electricity price increases, poor public transport, high amounts of violence and high interest rates. WOW victoria really sounds like a place that can support more people. as for pauline, i think many identify with her because she has a differing view from those who refuse to question immigration at the cost of compromising their own political correctness. and for those who are in full favour of Rudd’s out of control immigration laws, i’d love to see you move to werribee, westall, springvale, dandenong, noble park or any other heavily immigrant dominated area and see how safe you feel in your own backyard. my family are from greek and italian immigrant heritage and they never once have broken the law, speak fluent english and dress like any other australian, yet with the large amounts of new people let in, new immigrants need not adopt Australian culture as they are able to function in their own heavily ethnically dominated area without assimilating. and if we are so concerned about Australia’s security, do we ever investigate the health or political practices of the asylum seekers we let in? at the airport the swat team storms the building if you take a tube of toothpaste aboard the plane, yet the Sri Lankan or Afghanistani boat people were let in without investigation as to their health status (my family was compulsorily health checked before they entered Australia) or their involvement in terrorist activities.
Mac
Zach. Your writings are more ramblings that belong on the Macedonian or Serbian borders! Without any good reason other than racial differences, you seem to be saying that we should shut the door now that you and your immigrant family have been ‘let in’.
If you had a modicum of IQ you would move-on to deeper issues and solutions that would be needed if the ‘gates’ were to be shut. e.g. How would we fund ourselves if the housing industry were to slow-down because of decreased immigration and decreased workers decimate the mining industry.
Solve the issues and you will get more serious listeners. (Why do you think Abbott has lost so much ground these past few days? Like you he just lets his mouth run away with him and has no cerebral back-up!)
Bakernator
A comedic take on cultural differences.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zipbs32HxNE
Zach
Mac the mass migration to Australia in the 50’s and 60’s was done cleverly in order to maintain population population increase while only allowing what we could handle (it was done with PLANNING). this is when my family came in. most migrants assimilate brilliantly, yet its the numbers which are concerning, as they can cause infrastructure stress and heavily ethnically dominated areas. why do you think housing prices are going up in australia? maybe your attitude would change if your were actually in touch with the flooding of housing investment by foreigners, rather than being so righteously PC that you refuse to question anything of this nature. most migrant families settle in melbourne and sydney, and from what i can see there aren’t many mines in metropolitan areas. allowing too much foreign investment into Australia means we are effectively being priced out of our own country. your solution to continue this is a short sighted financial judgement.
zach
in 2005 the Australian Bureau of Statistics predicted Melbourne wouldn’t reach even five million people before 2051, now we’re told to expect not five million, but 5.7 million and 14 years earlier. That’s more than 1.5 million extra people by 2037 in a city that’s been on water restrictions for eight years, and is short 200,000 houses. rudd the dud last year said he supported Australia reaching a population of 36 million by 2050 even though no state government is ready for such dramatic increase. Nearly 300,000 people, in net figures, were allowed in last year, driving a growth rate that would give us not 36 million Australians by mid-century but 42 million, or twice what we have now. For too long Australia has blindly assumed that their merging with the rest of us would happen inevitably, without any effort from government. Scared to seem racist, you refused to notice increasing signs of strain and haven’t areded entertain the debate which Britain is now belatedly holding, even though they accept 2 thirds the migrants we do into a population 3 times our size, bringing some to express the need for ‘an explicit annual limit.’ immigration usually generates wealth, but it also brings in people who feel less connection and duty to this country. furthermore increasing housing prices and interest rate hikes will see many being unable to afford their own homes or to buy new ones. seems like its necessary for housing prices to drop, Mac? i think you should take you fear of destroying the mining boom to rudd’s new mining tax, which threatens the mining boom much more than tony abotts conservative immigration policies.
PS: thanks for the advice mac, i will try and avoid brainless prattle
Leigh
Australia is a great country … great because we have many of the things that other people want … to all of the bleeding heart, let em all in, lunatics out there … cherish what you have and be mindful that it is unique. Many countries don’t have even a tenth of what we have so appreciate that and think to the future about maintaining that. Think of your kids and their kids and so on. We don’t want foreigners owning what we have … god knows they won’t let us own what they have. There’s no need to be racist but there is a need to be protective. Don’t for a second think that we live in a fluffy free for all world because we don’t. We are very lucky and stupid not to protect our own sovereign rights … look at Tibet … peace love and mung beans got them some of the harshest treatment that has ever been witnessed on this planet … and god help them coz no one else is!
Leigh
And to Mac … mate the idea that you can’t grow an economy without population increase is exactly the sort of thinking that is going to lead this planet to the extinction of the human race. We dominate the food chain by such a huge margin that it is unsustainable at present without adding yet more people to the mix. This country and all others have to find ways to reduce population size and we have to do it quickly. To fall back on the attitude that ‘this is the way it has always been and has to be’ is suicidal. Anyone with even an ounce of IQ can see this … think through what you say mate … it’s important to us all.
Mac
Leigh, if you read my post again you’ll see I agree with you. Our economic model is based upon building construction and cars. And at the moment there seem to be a lot of frilly words and theories (of which I am a perpetrator) but so far nothing to replace these massive industries.