BY RUTH RATCLIFFE
DARWIN — The Northern Territory Socialist Alliance branch has thrown itself into the August 18 NT elections, using the short election campaign to build opposition to the rampant racism of the Country Liberal Party government.
The Socialist Alliance is standing in three seats. Anti-racist activist and Democratic Socialist Party Darwin branch secretary Peter Johnson is running for Fannie Bay, youth-worker Meredith De Landelles is contesting Wanguri and drug-reform campaigner Gary Meyerhoff is running in Nightcliff.
Fannie Bay and Wanguri are contested by just three candidates — one each from the Socialist Alliance, the ALP and the CLP. In Nightcliff, four candidates have nominated — Meyerhoff, CLP member (and son of the incumbent) Jason Hatton, ALP member Jane Aagard and Peter Ivinson from the Territory Alliance, formed by disaffected CLP and ALP members.
The central plank of the Socialist Alliance platform has been opposition to zero-tolerance policing, mandatory sentencing, and the new anti-social conduct act.
According to Meyerhoff, these policies constitute "the entrenched harassment of indigenous people, exacerbating their disadvantage and marginalisation".
"All these measures give more powers to the police", Meyerhoff told Green Left Weekly. "Mandatory sentencing legislation means that once the police have decided to press charges, the court has no power to mitigate the sentence. The anti-social conduct act gives cops to power to deem any behaviour at all 'anti-social', to confiscate any property associated with the behaviour and to punish the 'offenders'. The cops here are notoriously racist — and the incarceration rate of young indigenous people is higher than it has been in years."
Since the anti-social conduct bill was proposed in June, the Socialist Alliance has organised a systematic campaign against it. As the bill was passed, protesting alliance members were removed from the public gallery of Parliament House. On July 6, a Socialist Alliance-organised rally of more than 100 people condemned the racist approach of the NT government.
A follow-up rally on August 3 was attended by more than 200 people, including a sizeable contingent from the local homeless Aboriginal population, the "long-grassers". The main speaker, long-time indigenous Larrakiah rights campaigner and Socialist Alliance member June Mills, was greeted with a highly enthusiastic response.
The Socialist Alliance campaign against the bill has received support from the Greens, the NT branch of the Australian Association of Social Workers, the Long-grass Association, the Northern Territory University Student Union women's department, former Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union secretary Rob Hitchcock and indigenous activist Bill Day.
Policing has also been the main plank of the major parties' election campaign. The ALP is promising to double the drug squad, impose a 10pm curfew on young people and increase police numbers. The CLP is promising to continue its current approach. Neither party has commented on the Socialist Alliance's proposals to reorient the justice system to rehabilitation, to legalise drug use and to pursue an non-custodial approach to petty crimes.
When questioned about "independent" (i.e., non-mainstream) candidates, CLP president Suzanne Cavenagh said, "unfortunately, we live in a democratic society".
The Socialist Alliance has been refused access to all local shopping centres, being told that "the ALP has booked it out" or "the CLP has an office here".
Although the alliance has received considerable coverage on Radio Larrakiah, the local ABC radio station will only let Socialist Alliance speakers on air once a week. The CLP, the ALP and ex-CLP independents are receiving daily coverage.
Socialist Alliance members are confident, however, that their electoral work has been effective in building the campaign against racist legislation. Nightcliff candidate Gary Meyerhoff told ABC Radio this week, "this is a three-year campaign at least, we are only just getting started".