Democracies under threat through the Democracies under threat through the

Left, Right, Left, Terry Aulich warns authoritarianism is on the march from both sides of politics

SENATOR Eric Abetz was right to remind us of the fate of Baltic countries under post war Communism (Talking Point, July 23). Stalin’s executions and deportation to concentration camps or gulags was a truly horrific fate.

What Senator Abetz overlooked was the role Nazi Germany played in it. In August, 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed a nonaggression pact, the MolotovRibbentrop agreement.

A secret protocol to that pact was not made public until after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. In that protocol Stalin and Hitler agreed they would dismember Poland and the Soviets would have control of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Romania.

They agreed to exchange military training and strategic goods. So a partnership of tyrants began until they fell out two years later when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in one of history’s great doublecrosses.

Senator Abetz has given us only a half truthful history lesson when he blames Marxism for the evils that befell old Europe.

He is correct to say many intellectuals fell for the false gods of Marxist thought. Lenin called intellectuals “useful fools”. There are dinosaurs in academia who cling to the lies promoted by Marxists. But, it is authoritarianism of all persuasions that Australians need to guard against, whether it’s from the Left or the Right.

Democracy is under challenge in many parts of the world as dictators and populists make a mockery out of elections that have been manipulated by a cowed media, fraudulent election campaigns or external interference through electronic hacking or vicious attacks on opposition parties.

Senator Abetz raises the issue of the Baltic people forced to flee Soviet occupying forces after the war. Many had already fled the Nazis before the war ended. To Australia’s credit we welcomed the New Australians from those countries. Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians came here to Tasmania, seeking a new life free from the horrors of extreme political ideologies like Nazism and Communism.

Many worked on the HEC power scheme or at EZ and built their homes in suburbs like Springfield. Wilderness photographer Olegas Truchanas came from Lithuania.

Even in little old Scottsdale we had kids who had fled Soviet or Nazi persecution.

Those from the Baltic state and others helped make Tasmania what it is today.

Yes, Eric Abetz, they were refugees, escaping tyrannical governments of all political persuasions. But we did not send them to an island in the tropics to rot indefinitely. We processed them here in Australia and helped them find jobs and support.

It is not about Left or Right, Nazism or Communism, it is about authoritarianism and the creeping way democracies can be undermined by their nastier elements.

Authoritarian governments begin with bullying. They

specialise in scapegoating and encouraging other citizens to exclude and bully them. Over the years the scapegoats change — Jews, Aborigines and Muslims have all copped their fair share of prejudice and persecution.

Authoritarian governments use standard techniques to progressively take control. They usually begin with denigration of the responsible media — undermining the credibility of public broadcasters, shouting “fake news” whenever reporters try to make them accountable, refusing to apologise when they get caught lying or when the public is disgusted by what their leaders have said.

Then they talk about corrupt judges or try to force judges to accept political orders. Then, they raise security fears to increase the power of security agencies and police, many of whom are disgusted at being misused.

The raids on union headquarters aimed at damaging Bill Shorten’s reputation included tipping off the press beforehand. Similarly, the details of refugee boats and imprisonment are kept from us. A country has a right to protect its borders and welcome those who wish to live in peace here, but I do want to know what our real record is in the way we treat those refugees.

I don’t want to be told by a smiley Minister or a scary Minister that they cannot divulge details because of socalled operational reasons.

I am not impressed when public servants and the press are threatened with jail and sometimes a secret trial if they reveal government abuses.

A former senior officer in a security agency and his lawyer Bernard Collaery is being prosecuted for revealing that Australia bugged the cabinet rooms of the East Timorese Government when they were discussing the oil and gas reserves that were in dispute.

We spied on our friends in one of the poorest countries in the world and the man who revealed this deception and his lawyer will be prosecuted in what the Government wants to be a secret trial.

Is that fair Senator Abetz? Terry Aulich is a former minister and Labor senator and is a history graduate from the University of Tasmania.