Seeking support
As the incumbent Independent Senator for Victoria I am seeking re-election in the forthcoming election on the 13th of March 1993. I am heading up the Independents' Network Senate ticket which comprises candidates from my network and the Rainbow Alliance, with support from the New Left Party and elements of the trade union and environment movement.
Over the last fifteen years I have been actively involved in electoral politics in Australia, as worker, supporter and for over six years as a politician with a sound record of achievement on social, environmental and economic issues.
In the coming poll I offer the citizens of Victoria the only real and credible progressive alternative. In the new Parliament I will provide an independent voice to champion the rights of the poor, oppressed, disadvantaged, poorly educated and exploited.
Because of the unfair, Draconian, conservative Coalition Fightback policies Liberal/National party candidates will be last on my How-to Vote Cards at polling booths across the State. The GST is a regressive and therefore unjust tax and must be opposed in full, without compromise.
In this election campaign I am calling on all ALP candidates to stand firm against the GST after the election. Whoever is leader of the opposition at that time, should Labor lose the election, must not be allowed to carry through the Keating GST backdown.
In order to run an effective campaign I will need to develop further the network of people who have gathered around me. I would be very grateful to receive offers of support from your readers in terms of finance, volunteer labour and polling booth staffing. They may contact Marcus or Hans on (03) 347 4477.
Effort is required from many people if the progressive alternative strand of political opinion is to retain representation in Federal Parliament.
Janet Powell
Independent Senator for Victoria
Vilification bill
[The following is a copy of a letter sent to the federal attorney general, Michael Duffy.]
I write to express my concern re proposed amendments to the Crimes Act 1914 and the Racial Discrimination Act 1990, to make racial vilification unlawful, ie draft Racial Vilification legislation.
My concern is based on a perceived lack of awareness in the community and the proposed legislation itself.
I do not believe that adequate provision has been made for public debate and comment on the draft legislation. Publicity to acquaint the community as to the purpose of the legislation and how it will work has been almost entirely lacking. Little or no notice was c meeting, held in Sydney on January 28 to discuss the legislation. My information came via a radio interview on the morning of the day on which the meeting was to be held, too late to cancel other arrangements. A phone check of groups and individuals and sections of the media found no knowledge of the meeting or of the proposed Bill to make racial vilification unlawful.
It is highly unsatisfactory that a matter of such importance to all persons be given so little publicity. It is equally unsatisfactory that the community has not been widely canvassed and encouraged to take part in a free exchange of views on this piece of legislation. I have grave reservations in relation to the amendments. The legislation, as proposed, is capable of being expanded and interpreted to further proscribe free speech on any number of contentious issues where serious public debate is necessary.
With a plethora of laws already in place to deal with the area under review we do not need additional laws. More than adequate laws and penalties exist to protect the whole society. What is required is that use be made of the laws currently in place. These are not being used, instance those in place since the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Royal Commission.
Laws are not the answer. The answer is in education and social policy. I request that this matter proceed no further until broad-ranging debate and discussion explores all implications of the proposed legislation.
Jane Howarth
Birchgrove NSW
Student loans
I am a final year Bachelor of Art Education student at the College of Fine Art, Paddington.
I believe I am a victim of discriminatory loan regulations practised by the University of NSW loan system.
I rely almost solely on Austudy supplement, picking up casual work throughout the year, as my income.
For the past three years I have had no trouble arranging university loans at my campus to cover the enrolment fees. I have always paid the loans back within the agreed repayment period.
This year, however, since City Art Institute became part of the Uni of NSW, I have been told quite flatly that they do not give student loans to help pay their fees. Administration has effectively denied me the right to enrol, therefore denying me the completion of my education. This is yet another hoop of fire the working class/non-elite students have to deal with when trying to educate themselves!
Educate the elite and not the masses rings through again and again.
Sadie Schieb
Newtown NSW
Contrasts
The US blocks Vietnam because after the Vietnam War some US troops were missing. Yet, when General Colin Powell was asked for an r of Iraqi soldiers killed during the Gulf War he answered "It's not a number I am terribly interested in."
On March 3, 1991, the London Times estimated 200,000 Iraqi soldiers died. A French military intelligence source gave the same number to the Nouvelle Observateur.
When the ground war began on February 22, 1991, the Iraqi troops, defeated by the aerial bombardment, walked, unarmed, with their arms raised in surrender, towards the US positions. The commander of the US unit fired an anti-tank missile through an Iraqi soldier, then everyone in the US unit began shooting, the surrenderers were slaughtered, their bodies burned by fuel air explosives or buried by bulldozers.
On September 12, 1991, Newsday broke the most horrifying story: Many of those bulldozed into the ground were not Iraqi soldiers but foreign workers fleeing from Kuwait.
Betty Downie
Erskineville
Unions and the election
At a Public Sector Union delegates seminar on enterprise bargaining, the afternoon was devoted to discussing a strategy for defending ourselves against a likely Federal Coalition government.
The officials' strategy is the same disastrous line being followed by the Victorian union leadership in the fight against Kennett — subordinate the anti-Kennett campaign to Labor's re-election. We were told by our union officials that the PSU would be campaigning "against the Liberals" in four marginal seats and that volunteers were needed to letterbox.
I said I wouldn't be advising members to support this campaign or vote for Labor. Instead I would educate members on the anti-worker policies of both the Labor and Liberal parties. Given the attacks that Labor has made on living standards and working conditions over the past 10 years, I said I would be advising members to vote for progressive alternative candidates and put the Liberals last.
This struck a chord with many delegates, who also began to challenge the officials' line. When pressed, the bureaucrats agreed with every criticism of the ALP but couldn't see any other course of action but to support it. It transpired that some discussion had taken place among them as to whether the PSU campaign slogan should be "Vote Labor" or "Put the Liberals Last". They concluded that members wouldn't swallow the former.
Not everyone was critical of the bureaucrats' position, however. Delegates who are members of the International Socialist Organisation fully endorsed the officials' strategy. Not a word of criticism for the ALP crossed their lips. They said that the Victorian elections showed that the working class had returned to the fold of the ALP, that this was good and boded well for the federal elections. Tailending the union bureaucracy, they lauded the officials for taking
No doubt the ISO will be leafleting in support of the Labor Party as they did in the Wills by-election last year. With the anti-Kennett campaign floundering due to interference from the ALP and with Keating financing massive job cuts in the Victorian public service, the need for a break with Labor has never been more apparent.
Ray Fulcher
Melbourne
Exports
The emphasis placed on the expansion of exports by both major parties indicates an abandonment in fact, if not in words, of any pretence of caring for the environment.
Expansion of the sugar industry will be at the expense of the health of the Great Barrier Reef, with more pollution from soil erosion and fertilisers and other agricultural chemicals.
The export oriented cotton and intensive beef-raising industries are largely responsible for pollution and algal blooms in the Darling River system, either directly, or indirectly by increasing the human population in that area.
The export oriented horticultural industries in the Murray River basin are largely responsible for the salination problems in that river, while the wool industry, the wheat industry and much of the export beef industry all function by continually exploiting and degrading Australia's arable land.
Our much subsidised dairy industry plays a major part in producing both effluent run-off and the greenhouse gas, methane.
Similar conclusions can be drawn regarding "value added" exports in terms of increased pollution.
Short term monetary gain is no substitute for cautious, long term sustainability.
C.M. Friel
Alawa NT