By Peter Boyle
MELBOURNE — "Whether the Liberal or Labor party wins the October 3 state election, we can expect more attacks on public transport, health, education and workers' rights", Dave Holmes, Democratic Socialist candidate for Melbourne, predicts. "The Liberals would be worse, but that doesn't say much for Labour".
The Liberals had lost some of their early advantage because of their anti-union New Zealand-style employment contracts proposals, he said. But Labor's alternative industrial relations package, based on ACTU-promoted "enterprise agreements" was simply a longer road to the same destination.
Labor is talking big on the environment, he told Green Left Weekly, and it scored significantly higher than the Liberals on a questionnaire prepared by the Green Politics Network in association with the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Conservation Council of Victoria, the Wilderness Society and the Victorian Parks Association. (Greens, Democrats, Democratic Socialists and progressive independents scored higher than Labor.)
Labor has promised to:
- create a major national park in the central highlands after a Land Conservation Council review;
- amend the National Parks Act to provide increased protection;
- protect all remaining wetlands;
- maintain controls on the clearing of native vegetation;
- build a train line to the outer eastern suburb of Doncaster and provide an express track to Ringwood;
- adopt targets for greenhouse gas emissions, increased public transport patronage, energy efficiency and renewable energy resources;
- implement actions agreed to by the federal government at the Rio Earth Summit.
"This sounds good", said Holmes, "but there is a hidden clause attached to each of these promises which says: 'subject to financial considerations'. Since Labor has committed itself to continue cutting public expenditure, many of these promises will fall by the wayside, especially if they have a significant cost."
An independent audit recently commissioned by the Kirner government to public transport and health expenditure. If the opposition wins, it has promised to carry out its own audit (Des Moore of the right-wing think-tank, the Institute of Public Affairs, has been nominated by Liberal leader Jeff Kennett for this job). Moore says that the education budget should be cut by about $300 million.
"An ecologically responsible government would have to dramatically increase outlays on public transport. If public transport was run for profit, there would be a major decline in usage. Without more reliable, regular and higher quality public transport, patronage is not going to increase significantly. The Victorian Community Council Against Violence showed that the public was afraid to use public transport at night because of reduced staffing, yet Jeff Kennett wants to replace staff with vending machines", said Holmes.
"Both Labor and Liberals accept that debt reduction should be a priority and that this should done by slashing social spending and axing public sector jobs", he noted.
"Debt reduction can and should be put off while there is record unemployment. State debt today is a smaller proportion of total economic output than it was for most of the postwar period. And when unemployment is eliminated, state debt can be reduced by increasing taxes on the wealthy and big business and by cutting the significant hidden subsidies to big business."
The recent audit had shown that the subsidy through cheap electricity to Alcoa's Portland aluminium smelter could amount to $2.4 billion over the next 20 years. Many of the asset sales, lease-back arrangements and special funding arrangements ended up saddling the government with higher interest payments than it would have incurred by borrowing directly. The difference was, in effect, a subsidy to the financial institutions involved, Holmes said.
"The banks and financial institutions have destroyed the lives of many people in the last few years, and their speculative activities have wreaked havoc on the economy. They should be nationalised, and lending policy should be based on social considerations. First home buyers and beleaguered farmers should have low interest loans, and there should be a moratorium on repossession of homes or family farms."
The bipartisan policy of leaving the economy to big business had failed, Holmes said. Privatisation and deregulation have brought record unemployment, bankruptcy and social degradation. It was time to reverse directions.
The Democratic Socialists' platform calls for job creation through public spending on health, housing, education, public transport, child-care, renewable energy, industrial and domestic recycling programs and environmental protection. It also calls for extension of democratic rights, including the right to strike and organise, proportional representation in parliament and local government, the right to citizen-initiated referenda and affirmative action for women, Aborigines, lesbians and gays and people with n