Here’s an intriguing story of a fight for justice lasting (it’s now Feb. 2009) 32 years!

January 16, 2003

Open email to Prime Minister Howard with copies to Federal and South Australian Members of Parliament.

Dear Prime Minister,

In 1979, when you were Treasurer, you sabotaged the export campaign of the time by restricting the money available to pay the promised export grants; perhaps Austrade provided wrong information to mislead you?

In about 1983 I was in Canberra and called on Mr. Burgess who told me that the total applications for export grants was much higher than budgeted for and that the Grants Board Officers pruned claims to come within the budget.

 · An extract from my website: ‘Saturday, January 11, 2003 – Today we went Full Circle.From the Internet came a voice from the past – from 24 years ago! Armed with this up-to-date report I am starting with Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, for he started the problem in 1979, when he was Treasurer. The truth has emerged. Let us now see if we can obtain true justice.’

The disaster for several exporters started when the Advertiser newspaper reported, April 14, 1978, ‘Exporters to get $66m.boost’.

I accepted the offer of the Deputy Prime Minister (Hon Doug Anthony)’to make full use of the facilities and incentives being offered, and gear themselves for a period of renewed export development’ and ‘government and industry in partnership’. I applied a full time export effort from that day until 30 June 1979.

The Prime Minister of the time, Malcolm Fraser, was reported in the Advertiser on 21 June 1978, ‘My Government will, through predictable policies give Australian industry the effective support and encouragement it needs’.

Three of us mortgaged our homes to raise bank loans to conduct our export promotion, and when you proved Fraser’s policy was NOT predictable, we lost our homes.

More… http://www.robertsonj32.freeserve.co.uk/EffectiveLawReformModel.htm