By Janet Parker
In the face of flagging support for the Labor Party — both state and federal — the federal minister for transport, Laurie Brereton, has announced a budget plan to "fast-track" construction of Sydney's second airport at Badgerys Creek. Contrary to the expectation that this plan would win back disillusioned Labor voters, it is widely regarded as a cynical election stunt.
"This is nothing other than pork-barrelling before the election", Michelle Calvert, No Aircraft Noise Party candidate for Ashfield, told Green Left Weekly. With some 1000 members and many more supporters, the NAN Party seems set to pull a big vote at the state election on March 25.
Labor, it says, is scared of the support that NAN has been able to muster in the two short months since its formation. "There are a lot of disaffected people out there", Calvert continues, "both disaffected Labor and disaffected Liberal voters who are saying to us, 'You're our voice, you're our chance of saying to the government enough is enough, we're not going to put up with it any more'."
A poll, conducted by the Sun-Herald some weeks before NAN had even announced plans to run a candidate in Drummoyne, indicated that some 9% of voters in that electorate would be voting No Aircraft Noise. A March 6-7 AGB McNair poll suggests that NAN's vote in Drummoyne is likely to be closer to 12%. Even NAN candidates admit to being surprised at the surge of support they have received.
"I've been amazed, knocked out by the hundreds of people that we've had attending our meetings and walking the streets — doorknocking and letterboxing for us", NAN Party candidate for Marrickville Kevin Butler told GLW. "To me that's totally new in politics in the inner city. Exactly how that will translate into votes, I'm not sure; I don't know what the multiplier is, but there's a lot of support out there."
NAN is unfazed by the criticism from some quarters for running against state Labor MPs who have voiced opposition to the third runway. " I find it interesting", Calvert comments, "that they can say they fought the runway right down the line, because when it comes to the nitty gritty, not one of them has offered to resign from the Labor Party in protest. None of them had the commitment to the issue to do that.
"When I had a toe to toe discussion with Bob Carr at his launch of their health policy, he refused to give a clear commitment on the third runway; he would not go against the Federal Labor Party. They're continuing to play the party game."
As a single issue party, with a very diverse membership, NAN has had to discuss the question of how its representatives, if elected to parliament, will vote on issues not related to the airport issue. "We have adopted a set of principles that are related to the airport issue which include the issues of honesty in government, community consultation and quality of life", Butler explained, "and we will extend those principles to many issues that come up in parliament.
"In addition to that, we'll be seeking to form an agreement with whichever party forms the minority government — that in return for their developing a policy that we can accept on airport-related issues, we will allow them to govern and put their finance and administration bills through as the current independents do. We won't be committing ourselves to the full range of their policies if we don't agree with them, and because one of our basic principles is community consultation, we'll get back to our members and our electorate on issues that require a conscience or social justice vote."
Green and Democrat candidates have labelled the NAN Party "destructive" because of its unwillingness to direct preferences. Greens candidate for Marrickville Bruce Welch argues that this will end up helping the major parties who are responsible for the third runway debacle.
In response, NAN insists that it was the only course it could take. "A general meeting of our membership decided that we would not direct preferences, though we will be urging our voters to give preferences to the parties and independents of their choice", Calvert explained.
"In the upper house, we have to direct preferences to a certain extent to be able to use the box above the line that makes voting so much easier. The general feeling of the party was that Liberal and Labor are out. We could not, in all conscience, direct preferences there. The minimum number of preferences we are required to give there will be negotiated by party officers. In doing that we'll choose parties and individuals who share our views on the aircraft issue.
"There's nothing undemocratic about that", Butler adds. "Our party members didn't want to get involved in the intense horse trading that is happening at the moment in those lower house electorates, and we wanted to avoid the potential for disruption and possible conflict within the party."