BY JIM MCILROY
BRISBANE — "No to war! No to racism! Tax the rich!" were the main themes of the October 24 campaign launch of the Queensland Socialist Alliance team, attended by around 90 supporters.
Karen Fletcher, one of the two Socialist Alliance Senate candidates, argued that rebuilding of the health, education, and welfare sectors could be done by merely raising company taxes to the level they were in the mid-1980s — 49%.
Sam Watson, lead Senate candidate for the Socialist Alliance, focused on the racism of the Howard government's policies on Aboriginal people and refugees and called for a genuine treaty between the Aboriginal people and the Australian government.
Ashley Lavelle, the Socialist Alliance candidate for the seat of Brisbane, took up the theme of the growing campaign against the war on Afghanistan.
"The Socialist Alliance has the clearest stand of complete opposition to the war", he said, vowing that the Socialist Alliance will use all its campaign resources, during and after the election, to broaden and strengthen a mass anti-war movement.
For more information and to offer help with the Socialist Alliance campaign, phone (07) 3831 2644.