Francesca Davidson
Do you see any of the alternative parties breaking through the two-party system?
It's unlikely that any of the parties as they currently exist can do this.
In Victoria, there's Rainbow Alliance, Green Alliance, the Democrats (if you can call them to the left), Democratic Socialists, Independent Network, and the National Greens are trying to form themselves here.
None of these parties, individually, cater adequately to the range of people who are pissed off with the Labor Party. There are a lot of progressive people who wouldn't be interested in a National Greens project in and of itself because of the positions they've taken on the question of abortion and on gay and lesbian rights. On the other hand there are progressive people who don't feel Green Alliance focuses enough on "pure" green issues. There are a lot of people floating around who aren't happy with any of the alternatives.
So, do you see building alliances as the way forward? How do you see these taking shape?
It's the only way we're going to break through the two-party system. The greatest strength of the progressive movement is the breadth of interests and issues of the people involved. At the same time, there are clearly common points on interest too.
An alliance would allow us to draw on these strengths. It's unclear how it's going to unfold in Australia. There are very specific concerns the different groups focus on, and this is not at all a bad thing, but there are also grounds for a common platform of concerns. It's essential that the process be a very inclusive one. Everyone who agrees with the platform uniting these groups should be part of this process.
What do you think of the New Zealand Alliance experience?
I think it's a very exciting and positive development. We can learn a lot about the way forward. The NZ program of privatisation and driving wages down is the direction we're heading, opened by 10 years of Labor government. There were certainly real differences between the groups involved but they kept at the forefront of their thinking that an alternative be built. The breadth of the Alliance is very positive — the NewLabour Party, the Maori party, the Liberals, Democrats and Greens. There is a similar breadth in Australia that we could draw on.
How do you think the membership of Green Alliance would respond to working with other progressive groups?
Green Alliance is very much looking forward to this happening because the strength coming from an alliance would be so much greater than from any of the individual groups involved. Obviously, it would require a lot of work — we have no illusions that it would be
But Green Alliance would be delighted to take part in a democratic and inclusive process. It would need to begin from a modest agenda of some common principles and build from there. It would certainly enable us to reach a lot more people than we all reach now and to put forward our perspectives with more strength.
What perspectives and strengths would Green Alliance bring to a broader alliance formation?
Green Alliance has a very broad agenda and is very much an anti-capitalist project in a similar way to the German Green project. It's commitment to grassroots activity and to fundamental social change as the prerequisite to solving the environmental crisis is its strength. There is a real ability here to reach out to people who identify firstly with issues other than the environment but whose concerns intersect very directly with it. It's becoming clearer that this includes every issue, every area of the lives of working-class people in this country.