Australia Dossier Bylydiacheny

Click here for Full Issue of EIR Volume 18, Number 44, November 15, 1991

Australia Dossier byLydiaCheny

Uproar over media buyout "On Nov. 11, 1975, my brother, A fight is building against Dope, Inc.' s takeover of the Gough Whitlam,the then prime min ister, and the Labor government of Australian Fairfax newspaper chain. Australia �ere toppled by a coup detat.It was not called a coup--there were no tanks, planes, or paratroop ers. They were not needed. All that was necessary was the signature of the T he fight over whether the Tourang "The suspicion at the time was that governor general, Sir John Kerr. The consortium, composed of Conrad Packer might have been involved in forces that had mobilized against La Black of the Hollinger Corp.and Aus drug trafficking," according to the bor were immensely powerful-the tralian billionaire Kerry Packer,will be source at The Age. Although some in power elite in Australia and,many be allowed to buy up the Fairfax chain of formation was made public from the lieve,in the United States.... newspapers has dominated Australia's extensive Costigan investigation,vol "Every !COUP aims to take over the media in recent weeks. The story took ume nine,which included the investi newspapers and television stations of a dramatic tum on Nov.4, when Packer gation of Packer,was never released. a country.,Force of arms is then no was called before a parliamentary com "Mr. Costigan in fact came out longer needed,for, by controlling the mittee over the prospective buyout. very strongly in defense of The Age; media, they control by propaganda According to a source within The we published a lot of Costigan's mate and by the emphasis and cover they Age, a newspaper of the Fairfax chain rial," the source noted. "Mr. Packer give to events and views.. ..Today in Melbourne, Packer became ex hasn't forgiven us for that; he once Australia is on the brink of what may tremely testy when a Labor Party said that anybody who ever wrote any have the effect of another coup with back-bencher,Jeannette McHugh,at thing about this should 'watch out' if potentially; disastrous long-term im tempted to probe Packer on the find he was ever in a position to get at plications for this country. ings of the Costigan Commission, a them." "If Tourang is allowed to take it Royal Inquiry into organized crime Two of the country's formerprime over, I believe it will mean two very and drugs that was known to have in ministers have joined the battle rich,unelected men [Packer and me vestigated him in the 1983-85 period. against the takeover.Labor Party for dia baron Rupert Murdoch] can run "You've got a hide to bring that up!" mer Prime Minister Gough Whitlam our society because of their media he reportedly snapped at her,in a man and Liberal Party formerPrime Minis power. They can set the political ner that produced an abject apology ter Malcolm Fraser addressed a 1,000 agenda, Clm make or break govern on her part and closed down the line of person rally in Sydney."If the Fairfax ments and oppositions, can promote questioning."He got very angry when empire goes ... to Tourang, then or disparage the prime minister and this was brought up,insisting the par 90% of Australia's print media will the leader of the opposition,can vilify liamentarian was quoting from a con be under foreign control," Fraser said. any citizen and undermine any insti fidential report," the source said,not Alluding to the widespread suspicion tution." ing that Packer had been generally that Packer had struck a deal with In 1975, as now, the long arm of "contemptuous of the parliamentari Prime Minister Bob Hawke to allow Dope, Inc. intervened into the coun ans who were questioning him " and the takeover, Fraser added: "If there try's affairs. The coup that ousted that they in tum "were extremely def are deals, if there have been deals, Whitlam was coordinated by then erential.I can't tell you how much he they must tear up those deals." CIA head William Colby.Immediate dominated that inquiry!" Whitlam's opposition is not sur ly after leaving the CIA, Colby be The unspoken issue behind this prising, given that the drug lobby came lawyer for the Australia-based takeover bid is Dope, Inc., the inter played a major role in the coup that Nugen Hand bank, later exposed as national drug cartel. Originally ap ousted him from powerin 1975.Whit laundering billions of dollars of Gold pointed to look into organized crime lam's sister Freda Whitlam echoed his en Triangle heroin sales. Also, John in Australian unions, the Costigan protests in an Oct. 12 letter to The Kerr, as documented in Jonathan Commission rapidly zeroed in on the Age. Though she never refers specifi Kwitney's book Crimes of Patriots, activities of both Packer and TNT cally to Dope Inc., only a few other had been a paid agent of the CIA for transport magnate Sir Peter Abeles. details are needed to fill out the story. many years.

56 International EIR November 15, 1991