Below is the resignation letter of two former members of the Labor party in NSW, Jairo Quintero and Edgar Pena (both formerly of the ALP Parramatta branch). This follows the February 17 resignations of Luis Ernesto Almario and Rosendo Duran.
They have decided to support the Socialist Alliance in the March 26 NSW election.
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Attn: Kristina Keneally, NSW state premier
CC: Michael Lee, NSW ALP president, Sam Dastyari, NSW ALP general Secretary, Pierre Esber, ALP candidate for the seat of Parramatta
March 8, 2011
Dear comrades,
After much consideration and thought, we have decided to follow the path of other fellow branch members, and many more ALP members across New South Wales, and have decided to resign from the party.
We have taken this decision because we no longer believe that the ALP represents the interests of ordinary working-class people. Instead, the NSW government, run by the ALP, has worked systematically to undermine all those things that the party once stood for.
This government, under Kristina Keneally and the right-wing powerbrokers that have destroyed our party, has been marked by its ever-increasing drive to sell-off what rightfully belongs to the people, to run down services such as public transport, and wipe out community consultation on issues that directly affect them.
With its determination to the sell-off our electricity retailers to corporate interests, the current leadership of the ALP has demonstrated that it would rather commit political suicide than stand up for the interests of working people — the ones who will pay the costs in higher bills and poorer services.
Such anti-worker policies have been accompanied by a sustained attack on internal party democracy, such as that which occurred in our local branch where, against the wishes of local members, Keneally imposed her own candidate.
We feel that the ALP leadership has made clear that there is no room for dissent. Those that have tried to oppose the current right wing, pro-corporate, anti-worker course of the party have been ferociously attacked, knifed in the back and discarded as worthless, despite years of dedication and commitment towards the party.
All of this means that the working people of NSW will most likely face a Liberal government after March 26 that we know will only be even worse.
We want to make one thing clear: any possible Liberal government will be the direct responsibility of the rotten, corrupt, anti-working class policies of the current leadership of the ALP. It is you, not the voters who are sick of your government, who are responsible for what will inevitably come next for the people of NSW.
However, unlike the ALP leaders and parliamentarians, who like rats on a sinking ship are scurrying away towards the comfort of their cushy parliamentary pensions and jobs in the corporations that they so loyally supported in government, we will continue to fight for justice and workers rights.
It is for this reason, like many others, we have decided to support the Socialist Alliance, which represents a working-class and progressive alternative in these elections.
Regards,
Jairo Quintero, Parramatta
Edgar Pena , Parramatta
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