One of the few bright spots of the federal elections was the strong showing of the Greens, and one of their best performances was by Pamela Curr, the coordinator of the anti-sweatshop group Fairwear and a highly respected activist, who polled 15.8% of the vote in the seat of Melbourne.
Curr spoke to Green Left Weekly's SARAH PEART about her result and the future of the Greens.
You got the highest ever vote for a Greens candidate in the House of Representatives. What do you think were the factors that led to this result?
I think it shows, particularly in the seat of Melbourne, that a large number of people really do care about the refugee issue.
I stood very firmly on the refugee issue and against the war. My first leaflet that went out was all about the refugees and about refuting some of the myths that are perpetuated by the mainstream political parties.
The result also illustrated that there are a lot of people out there who are questioning the bipartisan stance on a whole range of issues between Liberal and Labor. There is no doubt that part of the increased Greens vote is from disaffected Labor voters who were saying "look, I have never voted anything but Labor — not this time".
The bipartisan position is clear on a range of issues. On the issue of education — the government is busily funding private education to the detriment of public education. Labor was going to kick a bit more money but not that much more.
In terms of education the Greens outlined a comprehensive policy putting $4 billion into education that would bring Australia's education spending up to the OECD average. Education is essential for the economy and the social capital that it builds in the community.
Can you outline the Greens policy on the issue of refugees?
The Greens policy is totally different to the major parties bipartisan position. The Greens talk about refugees coming to reception centres, not detention centres. We talk about them being assessed and being supported to enter the community. We talk about the closure of the desert detention centres — an end to this inhumane policy.
The reception centres would be places where refugees would go and where their identity and health and a number of other assessments would be carried out. They would then be released into the community or they would be assisted in these reception centres where they could stay until they had found places to live. This would all be assisted by government funding.
There was a debate in the Greens about a decade back about what kind of population we could sustain in this country. That has been turned around by a very clear assessment that the needs of human beings have to come first. The needs of the environment are in there but we have to look at human beings having a safe place to live as well.
Do you think the Greens should support opening the borders?
I think that in view of the current climate, to advocate a position of completely open borders straight away is just not possible. The Greens policy is about a generous reception to people who are fleeing.
The Greens have been advocating a United Nations intervention in the war in Afghanistan. What exactly does this mean?
The Greens argue that we should use the international agencies that were set up after the Second World War to help ensure that war was not the first reply to aggression.
The terrorist attacks in New York and resulting loss of life were a tragedy. Given this tragedy it would have been easy for America to seek from the international community the right to extradite and try those who they believe are responsible.
What has happened instead is that America, the richest country on earth, has put all its might into attacking one of the poorest countries on earth. There is no need to kill hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan to right the wrong that was done in New York.
The Greens believe that an international court of justice under the agency of the UN would be needed to give its approval of the extradition of Osama bin Laden, if he was indeed the perpetrator.
Given your assessment that the clear anti-war and pro-refugee positions of the Greens were the key factors in achieving such a high vote, will you be calling on your constituency to mobilise on the streets around these issues?
The Greens have already been very active in the anti-war movement and the refugee movement. The result of this election will see the Coalition hardening up its position on the war and refugees and I would see that the Greens will be responding. It will be a natural continuation of their position already.
The Greens is an activist party. We all know that challenging the decisions on the streets is to lessen the power in the parliament. I think it is important that the Greens should stand up and be counted as they have been and will continue to be.
Will you be encouraging your constituency to come out on the streets on Human Rights Day, December 9?
I don't have to encourage them; they will be there.
You have been an activist for many years, what made you decide to run in the elections as a Greens candidate?
I have been an activist on community issues for over a decade. I saw that standing for parliament this time was a way of extending the debate around the refugee issue into groups that perhaps hadn't thought about it.
I believe the way we can bring about change is to use a multi-layered approach. I see that action in the streets can be complemented by standing in parliament, as indeed the Socialist Alliance has done. They obviously see that there is a way to extend that debate by being active in many different forums.
As a Green I just see that's a natural way of extending that activism by standing for parliament.
Will you be working in the framework of the Greens in an ongoing way?
I would be keen to stand again as a Greens candidate. I made a decision some years ago when I joined the Greens that changing horses midstream is never a good policy. The Greens policies are the sort of policies that I feel proud to stand behind, they stand up for the issues that I really care about.
Coming from an activist background yourself, do you see your role as shifting the Greens towards a more activist, grassroots, on-the-streets campaigning direction?
I believe that there is a real place for grassroots activism. That is the way in which people connect with issues and with parties. I see that there is a real place for this in the Greens.
If we look at the campaigns the Greens have waged over the last decade, they have had a strong grassroots base. The environmental campaigns have been about people going to out of the way places in harsh environments and sticking at it. There is a real background to that grassroots activism in the Greens.
Will the Greens be using money from the elections to help build the anti-war and refugee rights campaigns?
For the first time the Greens in Victoria finally have some money and we will be thinking how we can best use this over the next few weeks. We have a tiny office with donated equipment and this will be the first time that the Greens have the money to organise themselves.
What is your opinion on increasing joint work between the Greens and the Socialist Alliance?
I can see that there are many similarities in policy between the Greens and the Socialist Alliance. But I think there is a strength in diversity; there are groups that more naturally gravitate to our organisations. That strengthens the electoral process giving people avenues to align themselves outside of the two major parties.
The Greens and the Socialist Alliance take principled stands on issues and present them openly and honestly to people and the people who stand besides us are taking the same principled stand.
Can you conceive of a red-green alliance sometime in the future? Do you think that would be a positive step forward?
I think that the future holds all sorts of promise. Who knows? I wouldn't like to say at this stage. It will be interesting to see whether the alternative groups find common ground or whether they stay as separate parties but work closer together. There are all sorts of possibilities.
From Green Left Weekly, November 21, 2001.
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