Socialist Alliance welcomes historic Greens win in Fremantle

Sunday 17 May 2009 - For immediate release
Socialist Alliance candidate Sam Wainwright has hailed the victory of Adele Carles in the Fremantle by-election as “A breakthrough for the entire progressive movement and a testament to the Greens’ consistent efforts to raise a progressive alternative to Labor.”

“We in the Socialist Alliance have long known that workers deserve better than Labor but the Greens’ victory in Fremantle has proven that this is possible to achieve,” said Wainwright.

“Labor’s choice of running millionaire investor Peter Tagliaferri as their candidate, against the wishes of the rank and file of their party, just goes to show how far removed Labor is from the concerns of ordinary workers,” said Wainwright.

“Today is a good day for working class people because it helps shift politics to the left. We congratulate the Green campaigners for their successful and inspiring campaign and note the historic nature of their win which gives the Greens a higher primary vote than Labor – the first time this has occurred in a state or federal election; their first lower house member in WA; and party status in the WA parliament,” said Wainwright.

“While still small, our tally is a significant increase on our previous scores. With the result going down to the wire we are proud that our preferences will make a small contribution to the Greens victory. This is a highlight of the strong collaboration between Greens and socialists in this election.”

“While we ran in order to highlight arguments and issues that we believe would have been left untouched without our campaign, we were always clear that we would preference the Greens ahead of Labor because they are stronger on workers rights, community democracy and the environment.”

“By contrast the Labor Party’s preference swap with right wing religious parties who supported WorkChoices and oppose equal rights for gays and lesbians was a dirty desperate deal that backfired on them.”

“Further victories in the campaigns that matter including the need to tear up Rudd and Gillard’s WorkChoices Lite, the push for 100% renewable energy by 2020 and our pledge to stop the grotesque North Port Quay proposal will require similar collaboration and solidarity across the whole progressive movement,” said Wainwright. “We commit ourselves to this effort.”

For further comment:
Sam Wainwright 0412 751 508 or fremantle@socialist-alliance.org