Ruth Ratcliffe, Sydney
As human beings we have the capacity to imagine an alternative future, one which is not based on deception, cruelty and injustice, Sister Susan Connelly from the Mary McKillop Institute for East Timorese Studies told a public meeting on the federal election at Parramatta Town Hall on July 1.
The meeting, organised by the Now We the People — a Campaign for a Fairer Australia group, was also addressed by Professor Ian Webster from the University of NSW's public health department and Hashim Elhassan from the Granville Multicultural Centre and African Communities Council.
Parramatta is one of the most marginal federal electorates in NSW. While local candidates from the ALP (Julie Owens), from the Democrats (Robert McFarlane) and the Greens (Doug Williamson) all addressed the meeting, the sitting Liberal MHR, Ross Cameron, did not bother to show up. Lisa Macdonald, the Socialist Alliance candidate for the nearby seat of Reid, also spoke.
Discussing the worsening plight of refugees and new migrants as a result of the Howard government's introduction of user-pays migrant services, Elhassan argued that migrants and refugees are not simply being deprived of basic human rights, they are also being silenced.
While Owens claimed that there "are great differences between the Labor and Coalition parties", she was later forced to admit that Labor, like the Coalition, was for the mandatory detention of adult "illegal" asylum seekers.
Challenged about Labor's backflip on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and its support for public funding for private schools, Owens ducked for cover behind the standard "I am bound to present official ALP policy even if I don't agree with it" line.
Williamson explicitly contrasted the Greens' policies with Labor's, stressing his party's consistent support for refugee rights and public health care. He also condemned the Australian government's theft of East Timor's oil.
Macdonald, who is standing in one of the safest Labor seats in the country, argued for the removal of the Howard government but asked if a Labor government will be noticeably better. She argued that voters needed to exert the maximum possible pressure on Labor both before and after the federal election by building strong, politically independent movements for social justice.
From Green Left Weekly, July 7, 2004.
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