Liah Lazarou, 28, is standing as a youth candidate for the Socialist Alliance in the South Australian seat of Adelaide, currently held by Labor MP Kate Ellis.
She was interviewed by Resistance member Liam Conlon about why she is standing in the election and what she is trying to achieve.
How did you get involved in political activism?
I grew up in a very working class background and was raised by a single father. He took me to my first rally, which was against Pauline Hanson in 1996. I was eleven years old.
I initially became radicalised around issues of class and gender stemming from my lived experiences.
I learned early on that we can't just reform a system which thrives on poverty, inequality and exclusion and allows the corporate elites to continue with business as usual. We need to radically transform it.
What do you think of the track record of Kate Ellis and the Labor Party?
I don't think Kate Ellis and the ALP represent working people. Behind the rhetoric what we have seen is a race to the right by the two major parties, with the ALP having launched an offensive against the most vulnerable sections of society such as sole parents, welfare recipients and refugees.
Whilst doing this it has also slashed funding to tertiary education in a time when industries in the banking and mining sectors are making billions. Kate Ellis must be held accountable for this.
What are the goals you want to achieve in Adelaide
My goals and the goals of the Socialist Alliance are to build the social movements and to challenge the corporate agenda. We are running to show that there is a real alternative that is based in grassroots activism and social justice.
Why are people suspicious of the big parties and what needs to be done to win the trust of the people.
I think representative democracy — where the only way we can exercise our democratic rights is to vote for the lesser of two evils every three years — is, by design, making people disengage from the political process.
People are suspicious of the two big parties because they do not represent them and people are not offered a real choice. The two parties represent the corporate elite and the 1%, and working people are being squeezed more and more by the neoliberal agenda.
How much more obvious can it get when the government takes more money from single parents, 90% of whom are women, than from mining magnates like Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer?
As a single mum I am disgusted by this and it shows there is a need to demand radical change.
As part of its election campaign, the Socialist Alliance is proposing that Australia’s mines and banks be owned and run by the public, and the profits used to fund health, education and welfare. Why is this nationalisation campaign important?
By controlling the wealth of key industries like the mining, energy and banking sectors — currently in the hands of the 1% — we could adequately fund public infrastructure and sectors like education and health, fund public transport, reverse huge cuts and increase welfare, while respecting Aboriginal rights, the environment and social justice.
It would allow much-needed investment in large scale renewable energy such as building a solar thermal power plant in Port Augusta which would create local jobs while beginning to address the climate change crisis.
These sectors need to be publicly owned, not just to redistribute their profits, but also to stop their destructive practices and service the community.
The mining industry needs to stop uranium mining and phase out coal and other fossil fuels as we transition to 100% renewable energy. This is both possible and necessary if we are to address the unique challenges that we must confront in the face of climate change and whilst providing solutions embedded in participatory democracy.
Why should people get involved in the Socialist Alliance?
Capitalism is in crisis and people are suffering. The endless need for capitalism to increase profits is incompatible with creating a just and sustainable future. The inspiring examples of Latin America, particularly countries like Venezuela, shows that an alternative system is not only possible, but is greatly needed.
We need to replace corporate greed with human need and replace corporate power with people power — socialism of the 21st century.