Dick Nichols
How likely is it that any of the alternative parties will break through the two-party system?
I don't think that any of the parties by themselves have got a clear enough grasp of the politics of what needs to be done or a broad enough support base in the community. That said, I think that each individual contributor to an alliance would bring a very necessary and radical component. The way forward to an alliance would be through much greater collaboration and discussion between the various potential components.
Would you feel confident giving any sort of time frame for this process?
It very much depends on all the people involved. On the one hand we're talking about alliance, which means there are existing differences. The key question is what attitude do people have to those differences — do they want to see them diminished or allow them to form immovable blocks? If they really value the idea of an alliance, I think their attitude would be the former.
If they think an alliance might be a nice ideal and might come along sometime, then it won't come along. It would develop very much out of each party wanting to make that sort of contribution.
Is that your assessment of the success of the New Zealand Alliance?
Yes, that's very much what happened in New Zealand. Everyone thought it was impossible for the range of parties involved to come together. Yet once they actually concentrated on the question of what are we serious about, what is it that unites us that's opposed to the policies of the existing parties, then it became a reality. That's very much the sort of approach we need here.
Do you think the New Zealand Alliance formation was given added impetus by the heightened economic difficulties the country faced?
I think there's a degree of truth in that. But the key factor was the NewLabour Party, which made a significant break with the Labour Party, which was ruthlessly implementing the policies of Thatcherism or Rogernomics. The ALP, while it's following the same path, is doing so in a more nuanced and more subtle way. This makes a difference. But I certainly don't preclude similar things happening in Australia, because while the economic situation here is not as bad as it is there, it's not qualitatively better.
What is the attitude of the Democratic Socialist membership to the idea of working in alliances?
Our attitude is that we are open to the possibility and welcome discussion. We proposed, for example, in various states to have parties and individuals standing about the elections, about our different approaches, about what we agreed and disagreed upon. This was done precisely in the framework of building alliances beyond the election.
In some places those discussions were held. We will continue to make that an issue because we see that politics can't go forward for working people in this country without a break of this kind. We don't see any other way. We certainly don't see any left break within the Labor Party taking place.
But whatever happens in these elections, let's work together against the effects of whatever government gets elected, because the austerity will certainly continue. Let's have a strong, collaborative approach in response to this.