Campaign against community closures forces government response

The latest round of national mobilisations against the forced closure of Aboriginal communities is making the government feel the pressure. This is revealed by the comments by WA premier Colin Barnett on the day of the rallies which took place in over 90 locations around Australia and around the world.

On May 1, Barnett said again that "no person will be forced from their land, no person will be forced from their community" and that not as many communities would need to close as had previously been advised. The media interpreted this as a partial retreat.

Then on May 7, the government released a plan "abandoning projections that 150 [communities] will close" according to The West Australian and promising consultation with Aboriginal people.

To top it off, on May 8 the Aboriginal Affairs minister Peter Collier explicitly called for future protests to be called off.

This proves that the protests which not only blocked city streets in Melbourne and occupied the town hall in Brisbane, but more importantly have proven capable of mobilising large and growing numbers of people, are having an impact.

It is not the time to call off the protests but to continue the momentum until the WA government is forced to fully withdraw from any community closures and the federal government is forced to not only restore but increase the funding to these communities.

[Comment by Alex Bainbridge.]

Nine News interview about offensive "bomb Gaza" game

Perth protest against the budget

Hundreds of people marched through the streets of Perth on July 6 on a blistery day to protest the budget. Tens of thousands marched around the country.

This video shows Socialist Alliance national co-convenor Alex Bainbridge speaking on behalf of March Australia - Perth at the rally.

[Photos by Zeb Parkes and Christie Woodleigh. Video footage by Zeb Parkes and Alan Woodcraft.]

Politics in the Club: How can we stop Abbott's killer budget - Wed 18 June

Politics in the Club - all welcome

Abbott's killer budget
How can we stop it?


Speakers:
Richard Hamilton (President elect, Notre Dame NTEU)
Angela Hartwig (long time women’s rights activist )
Alex Bainbridge (Convenor, Socialist Alliance)

6:30pm, Wed 18 June 

Fremantle Workers Club, 9 Henry St

Sponsored by: Green Left Weekly

For more info: fremantle@greenleft.org.au or 0415 922 740

Attend on FaceBook:
www.facebook.com/events/512068062248321

Construction workers face government moves to seize homes, cars

For the first time in Australian history, construction workers are facing government moves to seize houses and cars in relation to an industrial dispute.

The 33 workers affected took part in an eight-day strike in north-west WA in 2008. Mick Buchan of the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) told the ABC that the dispute between workers and the company was resolved at the time.

“It was some time later that the ABCC [Australian Building Construction Commission] intervened and brought charges against individuals”, he said.

The ABCC was established by the former Howard government in association with the Work Choices legislation. When Kevin Rudd was elected prime minister, the ABCC was eventually incorporated into the Fair Work Commission with most of its powers intact.

Before the 2007 election and while the Your Rights At Work campaign was ongoing, Rudd deliberately created the impression he would “rip up Work Choices”, even though this was not his policy.

Instead, Rudd created the Fair Work Commission, which was labelled by unionists as “Work Choices Lite”, because it retained most of the anti-worker provisions of Work Choices.

It should be emphasised that the dispute in question took place under Rudd's government. Had he “ripped up” Work Choices — instead of pretending to do so — 33 workers would not now be threatened with the loss of their houses and cars.

The situation was escalated sharply when Tony Abbott won government last year. He reappointed Nigel Hadgkiss — a class warrior on behalf of the bosses — to head Fair Work Building and Construction (the new name for the ABCC).

It is Hadgkiss who has taken the step of trying to seize property from workers who have not paid fines.

Hadgkiss told media that “if you break the law, you've got to be prepared to pay the consequences”.

However, the real question is, are these laws fair? Of course, the answer is no.

An Australian Manufacturing Workers Association spokesperson told the April 4 West Australian: “These fines highlight the [FWBC] has nothing to do with industrial fairness or productivity and everything to do with intimidating workers into not standing up for their rights.”

Militant unionists have long realised that bad laws need to be broken.

Nobody should criticise the workers who took industrial action — which is, after all, a worker's fundamental right. Equally, nobody should criticise those workers who did not pay their fines.

The labour movement needs to stand up to this aggressive escalation of industrial bullying with a determined resolution to not allow a single house or car to be seized.

In the same week that Labor is facing criticism for having preselected arch-conservative Abbott supporter Joe Bullock into the number one Senate position, this latest move against workers' rights should be a wake-up call about the role of Labor.

Bullock may well be among the most offensive of Labor's spokespeople, but he is not the sum total of the problem.

This issue was caused because Rudd refused to rip up Work Choices, even though he had the political conditions that would have made it possible.

People who support workers' rights need to build a party of their own that will help organise and defend their interests.

[This article by Alex Bainbridge was written for Green Left Weekly #1005. He was a Socialist Alliance candidate in WA's recent Senate election re-run.]

Greens winners as Labor, Liberals slump in WA poll

The Western Australia senate election re-run has resulted in a big drop in support for the major parties and significant swings to the Greens and the Palmer United Party (PUP).

Greens, PUP and Labor have won one seat each while the Liberals have won two seats. The final seat will be decided by preferences and is expected to go to either Liberal or Labor.

Prime minister Tony Abbott has sought to play down the swing against the government, claiming it was a “typical by-election result”. This ignores months of consistent bad polls for the new government, which has been the “least popular incoming administration in four decades”.

Following the March in March, the result is a further demonstration that there is a strong mood to resist the Abbott government's agenda.

In this context, the dramatic swing against Labor — which scored its lowest vote in a WA senate election — reveals it is not just the Liberals who are on the nose. It can't have helped that the day before the election it was widely reported that Labor's lead senate candidate Joe Bullock claimed that Abbott had the “potential to be a good prime minister”.

He also claimed that Labor members were mad, that the party can't be trusted and he made offensive comments about the sexuality of his running mate Louise Pratt.

This demoralised ALP members on the eve of the election and has resulted in significant public criticism of Bullock, including a call for his resignation by United Voice secretary Carolyn Smith on April 10, who was one of the unions that guaranteed his preselection at the top of Labor's ticket.

However, much of the comment within Labor has focused on Bullock's role as a former trade union official rather than his conservative political views. Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten immediately reacted to the senate result by vowing to sever the link between unions and the parliamentary party.

Popular local member Alannah MacTiernan has argued a similar view.

This is essentially an organisational response to the political problem that Labor has moved so far to the right. Senator Mark Bishop and state Labor leader Mark McGowan are advocating political change by putting forward right-wing views, such as arguing against Labor’s mining tax.

The truth is that none of these versions of looking to the right will fundamentally solve Labor's problems, which are much bigger than just Bullock.

More interesting is an examination of the support base of the PUP. Abbott accurately claimed just before the election that Palmer was trying to buy seats in parliament. Palmer reportedly spent ten times the advertising budget of the major parties.

In the final week of the campaign, a number of other establishment figures came out to warn people not to vote Palmer. The West Australian ran a front page article one week before the election titled: “Sold a PUP: Palmer cannot deliver on absurd promises to WA voters”.

The front page editorial the day before the election argued: “The state will be best served by electing credible candidates from either of the major political parties'” and encouraged voters to elect the Liberals.

The editorial said Palmer’s electioneering style “is all about slogans but has little substance and most of his promises do not stand up to scrutiny”. On election day, the Liberal party produced posters for polling booths that read “Clive is in it for WA” with “WA” crossed out and replaced with a handwritten “Clive”.

These interventions, while generally accurate, amount to an admission by the establishment that they are worried by the Palmer phenomenon. This arguably enhanced Palmer's standing among people who are dissatisfied with Labor and Liberal.

The Greens were the stand out winners of the campaign, winning a 6% swing or a total of 15% of the vote. Senator Scott Ludlam easily won his seat in his own right without the need for preferences flowing from other parties.

The Greens' campaign was characterised by an impressive mobilisation of members and supporters who felt that they had something at stake in Ludlam's seat. This campaign is worth studying by all socialist and progressive activists — both to try to replicate it during future election campaigns, but also in extra-parliamentary campaigns as well.

The Socialist Alliance result was small, but it was nevertheless a campaign worth waging. The size of its vote confirms that the socialist movement in Australia is speaking to a very small audience at the moment. But the fact is that the audience we were speaking to in this election was much larger than just the people who voted for us.

The Socialist Alliance was saying something that no other political force was saying — that we need to decisively break the power of the big corporations in this country if we are to solve the pressing social justice and environmental problems that we face.

It was the only party that ran explicitly on a platform of breaking the power of the big corporations — starting with the public ownership of mines and banks. Running in the election made it possible to spread this message further than if we didn't.

We are still at the initial stage of popularising these ideas and winning an audience to the idea that these apparently radical policies are both feasible and necessary.

Baloney Abbott turns up on polling day


[This article by Alex Bainbridge was written for Green Left Weekly #1005. He was a Socialist Alliance candidate, pictured with Chris Jenkins (middle), in the WA senate election re-run. Greens Senator Scott Ludlam above. Video by Zeb Parkes.]

How to vote Socialist Alliance

Socialist Alliance how-to-vote card for polling day.

It is not too late to volunteer to help on your local polling booth. Ph Kamala 0417 319 662 if you can help.

Our preferences go to Greens, other progressive parties then Labor before Liberal. This makes a vote for Socialist Alliance a "safe" vote for progressives and the truth is, we really need your number one vote!

The West profiles Socialist Alliance

As part of their series profiling smaller parties in this election, The West Australian published answers we gave to their questions.

Here are our answers as supplied to The West:

Do all your candidates live in WA? If not, where, and what connection do they have to WA?

All our candidates live in WA and are hard working grassroots activists with a strong record of community engagement. That said, we believe it is more important to know what a candidate stands for than where they live.

The pitch - why should West Australians vote for you: (120 words or fewer)

Labor and Liberal have misused power by governing for the super rich.

Our plan to improve people's lives includes bringing the mines and banks into public ownership because they are among the most profitable monopolised industries.

We need to take this wealth from the billionaires who are destroying the planet and ruining people's lives, and put it into the hands of people and communities. This is the only way to ensure a fair and effective transition to an economy without carbon pollution where social resources are used democratically to meet needs like education, health and public transport.

We are an activist party. Voting for us strengthens the campaigns against Abbott's attacks and for social justice. A better world is possible.

If elected would you consider forming an alliance/voting bloc with any other party/Senator and if so, which/who and why?: (25 words or fewer)

The Socialist Alliance stands for the interests of workers, social justice and the environment and will independently assess policies from this standpoint.

Should the mining/carbon taxes be rescinded or kept and why? (25 words or fewer)

We support genuine climate action but carbon trading does not work. Increase the tax on mining profits and abolish the GST which hurts the poor.

Do you support deep cuts to the Budget and if so, in what areas? (25 words or fewer)

We support deep cuts in military spending and cuts to corporate welfare to fund higher spending on renewable energy and social services.

Vote Climate gives Socialist Alliance equal top marks

The scorecard below has been produced by Vote Climate:

Explaining the scorecard they say:

"Parties were scored on climate, renewable energy, coal and gas policies. They were sorted according to their preferencing into three groups - those whose preferences flow to the Greens, those whose preferences flow to the ALP and those whose preferences flow to the Coalition or to climate change denying micro-parties."

Murdoch Guild rates SA higher ed policy with "distinction"

The Murdoch Student Guild has rated parties contesting the upcoming senate election on their higher education polices and given Socialist Alliance a "distinction".

A post on the Guild's Facebook page explained that "the Guild went to the trouble of analysing each party's higher education policy" given there is a "special bonus chance senate election this Saturday".

"It was disappointing that many parties, even major ones like Family First and the Nationals don't even have any higher education so we only graded those who do."

"To get a high distinction, parties had to award knighthoods to all university students," the note declared. "Sadly, no party aimed this high."

It turns out that the criteria for getting a distinction is that a party has to promise to abolish university fees.

The Socialist Alliance education policy demands: "Free, quality, secular education. No upfront university fees; abolish the Higher Education Contribution Scheme; abolish all TAFE fees and fees for post graduate and overseas students."

Further the policy demands also "a guaranteed independent income for students. A fully indexed, living wage for students set well above the poverty line; abolish the student loans scheme, pay apprentices at least the base rate for a qualified tradesperson during their training."

These demands are eminently realistic and can be achieved with a reorienting of social priorities towards the needs of people instead of the greed of billionaires.

Socialist Alliance needs your number one vote

If you support what Socialist Alliance stands for, then we need your NUMBER ONE VOTE.

The truth is, anything else won't get counted!

Our preferences will flow to the Greens and to other progressive parties before Labor and then the Liberals. 

So your vote for Socialist Alliance will help re-elect Greens senator Scott Ludlam.

But it is better to show your support for the strongest platform in support of the interests of ordinary working people, grassroots democracy and for the environment. The only way to register your support for the ideas we put forward is to vote for us number 1.

Also, the strongest vote you can make against Abbott's agenda is to vote 1 for Socialist Alliance.



Support our ThunderClap

Alex Bainbridge speaking at GetUp candidates forum

Introduction by Alex Bainbridge at GetUp "Party On - 2014 WA senate by-election smaller party candidates forum".

The forum was attended by around 100 people in the Perth Town Hall.

"You'd be hard pressed to find anybody that doesn't have some problem or another with contemporary capitalist society," said Bainbridge. These problems are not accidental he explained but are caused by the corruption of the electoral process by corporate money.

@alex_bainbridge need to bring mines under public ownership to fund education, health, deal with climate change, democracy #auspol #wavotes
— Zeb (@ZebParkes) March 30, 2014

The Socialist Alliance believes that the power of the big corporations has to be broken and that the first step is to bring the monopolised mines and banks into democratic public ownership.

@FromMe2Ewe @ZebParkes You could "tax appropriately" but they will squeal just as much. Better to break their power once for all.
— Alex Bainbridge (@alex_bainbridge) March 30, 2014

Progressive parties in the WA senate election

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam at anti-fracking forum

After 1370 votes went missing during the Western Australian senate election last year, the vote was declared void. Another election has been called for April 5.

The difference between this election and the last one is that the agenda of prime minister Tony Abbott is clearer. Anti-Abbott sentiment was particularly dramatic at the March in March rally, which drew 3000 people in Perth.

Commenting on the March in March, Greens senate candidate Scott Ludlam told Green Left Weekly: “This government is unifying people across a very broad base of Australian society, such that you can have land rights activists, trade unionists, people campaigning on marriage equality, forest protection or refugee rights right across the board.”

Rural Western Australia has also been galvanised. March in March rallies were held in Geraldton, Margaret River, Denmark and Broome. The rural rallies reflect profound changes in the political landscape. Rural WA has become increasingly politicised in the past few years, particularly over the James Price Point gas hub, the coalmine proposal for Margaret River, gas fracking, genetically modified food, and education cuts.

Many people disaffected with the Abbott government are helping the Greens campaign for Ludlam to win a senate seat. According to Ludlam, over a thousand people will volunteer for the Greens on election day.

“I've never seen a volunteer mobilisation like this before,” Ludlam told GLW.

“I think in part what we are seeing is a positive reaction to our agenda, and a very strong counter-reaction to the aggressive tactics being pursued by the Abbott government. These are hard times for people with progressive values in Australia. People are being murdered in our care in prison islands. It's hard to keep our focus when we're being attacked from so many different fronts. But people aren't taking it lying down.

“Just to speak for Western Australia, I am really encouraged by the strength of the movement we're building.”

Socialist Alliance senate candidate Alex Bainbridge also emphasised the importance of mass movements, looking toward Latin America as inspiration. “Even if we had a socialist government in Australia, we would still need the support of active grassroots campaigns to genuinely break the power of the big corporations,” Bainbridge told GLW.

“There is the current process of social change unfolding in Latin America where countries like Venezuela and Bolivia are beginning to take mines and other industries into public ownership or cooperatives to be used for the common good. The Latin American revolutions are beacons of hope to the world and we want to bring that hope to this country as well.”

Progressive parties are campaigning around a wide range of issues during the election campaign. The Greens are campaigning around energy, climate change, transport, affordable housing, refugee rights and the renewable energy target. As well as the usual animal rights issues, the Animal Justice Party is also campaigning around the hugely unpopular shark cull.

The Socialist Alliance and the WikiLeaks Party have both emphasised the need to break the back of corporate power, as well as campaigning around a wide range of progressive causes

Alex Bainbridge

Speaking about the Socialist Alliance campaign to bring the mining, banking and energy sectors under public ownership, candidate Alex Bainbridge told GLW: “The mines and banks are some of the most profitable industries in this country. We need to take this wealth out of the hands of billionaires who are destroying the planet and ruining people's lives, and put it into the hands of people and communities.

“This is the only way to ensure a fair and effective transition to an economy with zero carbon pollution and to begin a process of democratisation of investment decisions in the economy.

“The mines and banks belong in the hands of the community to be used for social good, not the greed of billionaires. These are highly monopolised industries that were not created by the likes of Gina Rinehart but were built by the hard work of the people who are employed by these corporations.”

In contrast to the dishonesty of the Abbott government, the Greens, HEMP and the WikiLeaks Party have all emphasised honesty and accountability in their campaigns.

WikiLeaks Party campaign coordinator Gerry Georgatos said: “WikiLeaks has stared down lying governments and transnational agencies for eight years, we will do likewise in the Australian Senate.”

A total of 77 candidates are running. There are many progressive parties running, but not all of them are preferencing other left-wing parties, choosing to enter into unprincipled deals with right-wing parties in the hope it will get them elected.

HEMP is preferencing Labor and the Palmer United Party ahead of the Greens, and Katter’s Australia Party ahead of Labor. This is despite the Greens having a much better policy on drugs and harm minimisation, compared with Labor, Katter’s Australia Party and the Palmer United Party, which do not support marijuana decriminalisation.
Independents Russell Woolf and Verity James and The Sex Party are all preferencing Labor ahead of the Greens.

A “small parties coalition” is also confusing the preferences. Some small parties have cut deals with each other simply because they are small, regardless of policy. HEMP has cut a preference deal with the right-wing Shooters and Fishers Party, preferencing them ahead of Labor and the Greens.

WikiLeaks is preferencing Labor’s Louise Pratt ahead of the Socialist Alliance, the Pirate Party, and every Greens candidate except Scott Ludlam.

Expecting a preference deal, HEMP and the Sex Party preferenced the WikiLeaks Party highly. WikiLeaks partially backed out of the deal and preferenced Ludlam ahead of them because he has been an outspoken supporter of many of the issues WikiLeaks stands for.

On the whole, the Greens and Pirate Party preferencing is principled this time around. The Greens are also pushing for an end to group voting tickets, to make it possible to vote for preferences above the line. The Socialist Alliance proudly renounces any deals, strictly preferencing according to policy.

[This article by Farida Iqbal and Kym Rowe was written for Green Left Weekly #1003.]

Socialist Alliance versus Abbott: We need your help on polling day!

The Abbott government's agenda is clear to see: attacks on workers, women, Aboriginal people, lining up the ABC and SBS for privatisation, undermining Medicare, underfunding public education, raising the pension age, cutting even the pretense of taking climate change seriously, opening up world heritage areas like the Great Barrier Reef and Tasmania's forests for devastation, approving Barnett's shark cull policy, preparing to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (a bill of rights for corporations that will take away rights for people) - the list goes on. And all the while, efforts to distract attention from their attacks on people and planet, their subsidies for corporate welfare and war, with the shameful vilification and abuse of asylum seekers and refugees.

The Socialist Alliance is committed to building the strongest possible opposition to these attacks - grassroots struggles and a political force that unites them in a challenge for the better world we're sure is possible.

The WA senate election offers us a valuable opportunity to build this opposition, and we're asking for your help.

We are running two candidates, Alex Bainbridge and Chris Jenkins, to argue that it doesn't have to be like this. The corporations don't have to rule: we could take the biggest ones (like mines, banks, power sector) into public hands, share the wealth, and make a transition to an economy, society and political life in sync with the needs of people and our environment.

There are three things we're asking you to do to help our campaign.

1. Please vote number 1 for the Socialist Alliance. 

This is the way to register the strongest opposition to corporate greed and the economic rationalists in Canberra who want to keep shifting the balance in favour of the corporations. We don't do grubby preference deals: our preference flow will be on the basis of principles: to the Greens and other progressives before Labor, then the Liberals and the further right-wing parties. A vote for Socialist Alliance is a vote against the Liberals gaining control of the senate and ramming their policies through in record time.

2. Can you hand out how-to-vote cards for the Socialist Alliance on polling day (Sat April 5th)?

There are some areas we particularly want to cover, but even doing a stint at your local polling place will help get the word out that there is an alternative to dog-eat-dog capitalism. Phone Kamala 0417 319 662 or Alex 0413 976 638 to offer your support!

3. Can you make a donation to our campaign? 

Just the deposit to nominate to stand has cost $4000, and other campaign expenses come to around $4000 on top of that. We're almost there, but your donation could be critical to tip us into the black! Donations up to $1500 are tax deductible and, whether large or small, altogether will help us reach out to a broader audience.

Donations to the WA campaign team can be paid by:
* Deposit or Transfer to: Socialist Alliance State Committee [CBA, BSB: 066 003  Account: 1014 0921]
* Post cheque or money order made out to "Socialist Alliance" to PO Box 204, Northbridge 6865
* Come into the Activist Centre (15/5 Aberdeen St, East Perth - next to McIver station) (we're there most of the time but may be best to phone first to check 9218 9608 or 0413 976 638.)
* Make a credit card payment over the phone (ph 9218 9608 or 0413 976 638)

Please get in touch with us if you can help out in any of these ways, or if you have ideas about other ways to promote our campaign.

Regards,

Kamala Emanuel
Socialist Alliance Perth

Public forum: Resisting Abbott's agenda - Tues 1 April

The Socialist Alliance will be holding a forum about building resistance to Abbott's agenda of cutbacks, environmental destruction, racism and attacks on workers.

This is an important issue to address as the successful March in March protests demonstrated that there is major community opposition to the current government.

The forum will include a panel of speakers representing some of the key issues of community objection to Abbott.

Resisting Abbott's Agenda: "People-power" and politics

6pm Tues 1 April

Perth Activist Centre
15/5 Aberdeen St, Perth (next to McIver station)

Organised by Socialist Alliance. Ph 9218 9608, 0413 976 638.

Attend on Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/1465255243691380

Socialist Alliance preferences

Where have Socialist Alliance preferences gone on our group voting ticket?

(The group voting ticket demonstrates where preferences will flow for those who vote 1 Socialist Alliance above the line.)

1 Socialist Alliance

2 The Greens

3 Pirate Party
4 Independent Group C (Save the ABC)
5 Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party
6 Voluntary Euthanasia Party
7 The WikiLeaks Party
8 Animal Justice Party
9 Sex Party

10 Australian Labor Party

11 Australian Democrats
12 #Sustainable Population Party
13 Australian Sports Party
14 Secular Party of Australia
15 Mutual Party
16 Democratic Labour Party
17 The Nationals

18 Liberal

19 Ungrouped independent (Mubarak Kim)
20 Republican Party of Australia
21 Katter's Australian Party

22 Palmer United Party

23 Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party
24 Australian Voice Party
25 Liberal Democrats
26 Building Australia Party
27 Smokers Rights
28 Australian Fishing and Lifestyle Party
29 Shooters and Fishers
30 Australian Christians
31 Family First Party
32 Rise Up Australia Party
33 Freedom and Prosperity Party
34 Ungrouped independent (Theresa van Lieshout)
35 Outdoor Recreation Party (Stop the Greens)

#socialist Alliance group voting ticket submitted. No surprises. Preferences left to right. #wavotes #auspol pic.twitter.com/IBcdtT6JqU
— Alex Bainbridge (@alex_bainbridge) March 15, 2014

Vote for a real opposition

Today's West Australian reported that:

Mr Bullock, an Anglican and former Sydney University ally of Tony Abbott [and Labor's lead senate candidate], brushed off a suggestion he had more in common with the Prime Minister on abortion and gay marriage than most of his party colleagues.

But asked what Mr Abbott's weaknesses were, Mr Bullock initially refused, before it was pointed out that Mr Shorten had declared the April 5 poll a "by-election on Tony Abbott" and hadn't he better think of one.

"He speaks without thinking a bit," Mr Bullock eventually offered.

Wouldn't it be better if the ALP preselected candidates that actually opposed Abbott's policies?

If you want a real opposition, vote for the Socialist Alliance. Socialist Alliance opposes Abbott not just with words but with policies that actually challenge his agenda (which is largely shared by Labor it must be said), and with the perspective of building a grassroots people's power movement that can truly bring about change.

Vote 1 Socialist Alliance for public ownership of mines banks and energy

Ordinary people are under attack
Nobody doubts that Abbott’s upcoming budget will feature major attacks on ordinary people. Medicare, pensions, ABC & SBS, education funding, women’s rights, Tasmanian world heritage forests, unions and workers’ rights, the Great Barrier Reef, anybody who cares about climate change, refugees, Aboriginal people and sole parents are all under attack. And the list goes on.

Attacking refugees won’t create jobs
It won’t create more houses, public transport or shorter hospital queues either. Abbott campaigned to “Stop the boats” because he wants you to blame refugees for society’s problems, not the politicians and billionaires who are responsible. Locking up refugees in offshore detention centres is a human rights abuse designed to distract attention from Abbott’s real agenda: cutting social services and the public sector and attacking trade unions. To defend our own interests we have to say “no” to Abbott’s human rights abuses against refugees.

Our solutions
We advocate bringing the mines, banks and power companies under public ownership so they can be run democratically for the public good. This would be the only way to ensure we move as fast as possible to 100% renewable energy. It is also the best way to ensure that the wealth produced by the community can be used for the benefit of the community. The detailed policies on our website can be summarised as standing for the billions, not the billionaires.

Preference progressives Socialist Alliance preferences go first to the Greens and other progressive candidates and then to Labor before Liberal. Socialist Alliance never engages in dirty preference deals. We support candidates with policies closest to our own. We need your number one vote in order for your support to register.

Our pledge
We promise, if elected, to reject the high parliamentary salaries and perks and to live instead on the average wage of a skilled worker. All excess will be donated to social justice and environmental campaigns.

Alex Bainbridge is a trained teacher and coordinator of the Perth Activist Centre. He is an active campaigner for refugee rights who joined the socialist movement in 1990. Chris Jenkins is a nursing student at Notre Dame university who campaigns against the federal government’s attacks on education.

New senate election in WA with Abbott on warpath and no serious opposition

The High Court declared last year's senate election in WA void on February 20 at a time when the government is in damage control about the refugee crisis on Manus Island in which the government lost control of the detention centre and a refugee was killed by Papuan police. In response to this crisis, the Labor "opposition" has barely said "boo".

Western Australians will head to the polls, possibly as early as March 29, to select six senators because the vote in September was incredibly close and 1300 votes went missing. Therefore it is impossible to determine the last two senate spots from that election.

The exact date of the election is not year clear and will be determined by the WA governor, likely at the recommendation of the prime minister.

Coalition senator Michael Ronaldson has told media that "the people of Western Australia ... will rightly be aggrieved that the actions of the Australian Electoral Commission will force them to vote again in a fresh election". This follows a narrative presented by establishment media and politicians that voting is a chore that ordinary people should seek to avoid.

By contrast the Socialist Alliance has been enthusiastic about the prospects of a new election given the unpopularity of the Abbott government.

"Numerous opinion polls have cast doubt on the Coalition's ability to retain the three senate positions they won at the September election," Socialist Alliance candidate Alex Bainbridge told Green Left.

"The reason for this is that people have been able to see at first hand that the policies of the Abbott government represent a sharp escalation of the attacks on ordinary workers, the environment and social services compared to the similar attacks implemented by the previous Labor government."

Mainstream media commentators are trying as hard as possible to present the new election as a challenge for Labor whereas Antony Green – among the more neutral commentators – has written that "[f]or the Abbott government the Court's ruling is a blow... A re-election could put one of the Liberal's seats in doubt."

"While it can't be denied that the democratic nature of our electoral system is virtually negated by the corruption of big money and the major influence of corporate media, any doubts about the electoral outcome should be determined by the people via a new election," Bainbridge said.

A new election makes it very likely that the Greens' Scott Ludlam and Labor's Louise Pratt – arguably the most progressive Labor senator in WA – can both retain their seats.

The loss of one of the three Liberal seats – even if it were won by the Palmer United Party – would make it harder for the Abbott government to get's its reactionary agenda implemented.

The Socialist Alliance will be running an energetic campaign with candidates Bainbridge and Chris Jenkins.

"We don't have a lot of chance of winning but we are running seriously and genuinely asking people to support our campaign," said Bainbridge.

"People in power – both Labor and Liberal and their corporate masters – have misused that power. Now we face the challenge of building a new society in which social and environmental problems can genuinely be solved," he said.

"This means breaking the power of the big corporations and pushing for grassroots pressure for climate action, wealth redistribution, social justice and genuine democracy.

"It is not going to be an overnight victory but Socialist Alliance is the only party that is putting this message forward and anyone who cares about our future should consider giving us support."

[This article by Kamala Emanuel was written for Green Left Weekly #998.]

Organic farmer Steve Marsh fights the GM monster

"Steve's case is really a case about all of us," declared renowned Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva in a support statement for Steve Marsh. It is about our right to "have the freedom to eat healthy safe organic food".

Marsh is an organic farmer from Kojanup in Western Australia who is embroiled in a landmark "David versus Goliath" legal case about GM pollution on his farm.

In 2010, his neighbour Michael Baxter started growing genetically modified (GM) canola. The same year, shortly after harvest, a strong wind blew and Marsh found stalks and seed heads from the GM canola on his farm.

More than 15 years ago, Marsh started down the road of organic farming, yet he lost the organic certification over 70 per cent of his farm in one fell swoop after self sown GM canola started growing on his land the very first season after the WA government approved GM canola for commercial use on farms.

The National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA), which is responsible for organic certification, has a zero tolerance policy in relation to GM. To be certified organic, there must be zero presence of genetically engineered plants on the farm

"There was evidence of GM seed growing on his property; we know that was not his fault, that it was not deliberate, but that is not the issue," the NASAA's Jan Denham told The Australian in 2013.

"NASAA's national certification standards and international export standards clearly state that 'any GM organism is prohibited' [on an organic farm] so [Marsh] had to be decertified because there was clear evidence of contamination of genetically engineered canola on his place," she said.

Supporters of GM technology, such as then Agriculture Minister Terry Redman, blame organic standards for being too strict. "The threshold for accidental presence in organic crops is an important issue which needs to be addressed to enable coexistence," Redman wrote to Marsh in 2010. He said that zero tolerance for GM in organic crops is "unrealistic". This continues to be the position of the WA government and the Pastoralists and Graziers Association (PGA).

However Scott Kinnear from the Safe Food Foundation told Green Left Weekly that it is the right of the organic standards bodies to set their own standards.

A zero tolerance threshold, in relation to particular diseases for instance, is not unheard of when classifying grains in circumstances unrelated to organic certification, according to Kinnear.

In any case, he said, "organic standards have been around a lot longer than GM crops".

The loss of his organic certification was a major financial blow to Marsh, leaving him with no choice but to sue his neighbour and lifelong friend. (Both farmers are well regarded in the community and both come from families that have farmed the region for generations.) The matter is due to start on February10 and is scheduled to run for three weeks.

There are well established common law provisions in agriculture which give legal protection to farmers from their neighbours over-spraying or contaminating crops with diseases. However, there are currently no provisions relating to GM pollution.

Therefore this is a landmark case which will set a precedent in relation to GM pollution. It is internationally significant. It could well be the first case in the world where an organic farmer is taking legal action over GM pollution.

While Monsanto initially declared that they would support Baxter, they later reversed that position according to Kinnear. He said there is currently no evidence that Monsanto is giving material support to Baxter.

However the PGA is supporting Baxter with media comment and a fighting fund. PGA spokesperson Sheldon Mumby told Green Left that Monsanto is not supporting Baxter or the PGA and has no involvement in the case. Mumby presents the case as being simply a matter of one farmer suing another farmer.

Nevetheless, the case will have an internationally significant impact in relation to the rights of farmers to choose to grow organic produce and the rights of consumers to choose non-GM food. Already a wide range of environmentalists, farmers, chefs and others have come out in support of Marsh.

Gardening Australia presenter, Costa Georgiadis, for instance, has appeared in a support video for Marsh saying "Steve Marsh may be in Western Australia, but he's actually in your pantry, in your fridge, in your local supermarket, wherever and whenever you put something in your mouth."

This is because as soon as GM crops are allowed to be commercially grown, contamination is inevitable. "If we lose this case, you can kiss goodbye to our right to eat organic food," said Kinnear.

Socialist Alliance candidate for the expected WA senate re-election, Chris Jenkins, puts it this way: "It is not possible for GM and non-GM crops to coexist separately. As a community, we have to choose one or the other."

"If you asked the people, most people would choose GM free," said Jenkins. "Instead of deciding democratically, governments and corporations are imposing the GM option on us. That is why we are supporting Steve Marsh."

"This is a system of food dictatorship," Shiva says in a similar vein. "We've got to stop before it is too late."

[This article by Alex Bainbridge was written for Green Left Weekly #995. Steve Marsh can be supported via the Safe Food Foundation.]

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