Socialist Alliance stands for Lord Mayor.

BY KATE STOCKDALE

DARWIN — Socialist Alliance's campaign for Lord Mayor of Darwin was launched on February 1 at a protest in support of refugees. The alliance will be running Ruth Ratcliffe in the March 16 poll.

"The campaign is an excellent opportunity for Socialist Alliance to speak out on local, as well as international issues — particularly in a city like Darwin where injustice is so visible and the need for an anti-racist, progressive alternative is so clear", Ratcliffe said.

Ratcliffe has pledged to hand over the keys to the city to refugees, and campaign for the closure of all detention centres. She condemns the recently constructed Coonawarra detention centre, and opposes the building of a permanent asylum-seeker prison in Darwin. Instead, Ratcliffe proposes to fund non-residential, non-compulsory "welcome centres" to provide English speaking classes and community support.

The alliance will also use the elections to campaign against "public order" laws that enable police harassment of Aboriginal people and users of illegal drugs. It has also pledged support for safe injecting rooms.

Ratcliffe, a feminist and refugee rights campaigner, is the Darwin branch secretary of the Democratic Socialist Party.

From Green Left Weekly, February 6, 2002.

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From GLW issue 479