By Tom Flanagan
HOBART — Ian Jamieson, former president of the Tasmanian Mining Industry Union Council and current chair of the Rosebery Hospital Action Committee, is to contest the seat of Lyons as an independent in the February 1 state election.
The 39-year-old former miner, retrenched in March for his union activities, sees his role as one of involving people in defending their own rights and putting real power into their hands.
He sees basic social services like education and health care as fundamental, arguing that local communities must assert their right to have the final say regarding what services are necessary and what staffing levels are appropriate.
Jamieson argues that appeals for "stable government" miss the point. "A stable government will only be created when Tasmanians have a secure future. Labor, Liberals and the Green Independents have all shown their policies on employment to be bankrupt. Where have they acted to prevent mass sackings and to provide real socially useful employment for the young and long-term unemployed?"
Jamieson sees unemployment as the key issue. He proposes legislation to force companies to justify any future lay-offs and retrenchments.
Retrenchments are often the result of better technology. In order to ensure that the whole community benefits from these advances, Jamieson calls for a shortening of the working week in line with increased productivity.
He argues for breaking the traditional counterposition of jobs and the environment, pointing out that job creation projects can be directed towards recycling and the repair of environmental damage.
In August 1990 Jamieson organised the "Fair Go for the West Coast" rally which brought about 1500 West Coasters to protest on the streets of Hobart against cutbacks to community services.
In the lead-up to this rally, Jamieson argued that setting aside wilderness areas as the key plank of an environmental platform was inadequate. Since human activities such as mining were socially necessary, it was important to address the ecological impact of these activities where they occurred, and to work to make them as environmentally benign as possible. Only then would it be possible to have a realistic discussion as to where and under what conditions mining could proceed, and where it should be ruled out.
In the same vein, Jamieson says that severe environmental problems in the cities have been virtually ignored in comparison to the attention given to the wilderness issue. In his view, addressing these environment issues as they impact on ordinary people is necessary in order to overcome the capacity of the major parties to divide the community over environmental and social issues.
Jamieson will address a public meeting in New Norfolk on January