No Greens deal on Telstra

[On May 31, Greens Senator Bob Brown told ABC radio that he would consider
helping the government to sell the remaining third of Telstra if the government
was prepared to end old growth logging. Later that day, a press statement
from Brown's office reaffirmed the Greens position of opposition to the
sale of Telstra, and the Greens June 1 National Council meeting unanimously
voted to oppose the sale.

[A June 1 press release from Brown's office clarified that no Greens
senator would be voting for the sale of Telstra, and said that Brown's
initial offer had “had come out of his personal passion against the record
rate of destruction of forests, woodlands and wildlife in Australia.”

[Below, Greens activist and former Victorian Greens state secretary
CHRIS CHAPLIN explains in an article written on May 31 why the Greens should
oppose the sale of Telstra.]

Bob Brown's announcement that he might consider negotiating a conditional
full-sale of Telstra in return for an end to land-clearing and old-growth
logging came as a bombshell to most Greens. State Greens offices were inundated
with calls, many furious that the Greens should contemplate such a move.

Senator Brown's apparent midday reversal might have mollified some,
but it left many in the party wondering what the Greens' parliamentary
leader was playing at. Was it a ploy to focus media attention on our forests?
An attempt to split the Coalition or even the Democrats? Or part of some
internal power play within the Greens? Whatever his thinking, it has ensured
that the Greens national council at the Electrical Trades Union headquarters
in Melbourne will be a lively meeting.

However, let's make one thing clear. There is no possibility whatsoever
that the Greens will support the sale of Telstra.

Firstly, we have at least two policies that specifically state that
the Greens oppose the privatisation of utilities such as Telstra.

Secondly, to change these policies would require the party to go through
the lengthy process of consultation with its members on the issue, and
the earliest opportunity to debate this would be at the Greens national
conference in September.

Thirdly, there is tremendous opposition within the Greens to the very
principle of privatisation, and while there are certainly some members
who are so devoted to saving the forests that they would willingly sacrifice
Telstra, these are very much in the minority. There is no possibility that
this minority could achieve consensus within the party, and without consensus
they would have to resort to a vote (a rare phenomenon within the Greens!)
and achieve more than 75% support for their cause. Again, quite impossible.

Lastly, the Greens by and large know where their bread is buttered.
We're a small party that relies very much on our image as a party of fearless
progressive principles. As more voters become disillusioned with the old-party
politics of populism and pragmatism, they are turning to the Greens in
the hope and expectation that we will provide a genuine alternative — not
just progressive policies, but a party that stands by its principles.

Bob Brown's very suggestion that we might compromise on these principles
has caused considerable damage to our reputation, no matter how good or
clever his overall intentions might be (and we're all still guessing at
this stage). But rather than bemoan a political misjudgement, the Greens
should seize this rare media attention to further the progressive agenda.

A resounding confirmation by the Greens National council of our absolute
opposition to the further privatisation of Telstra will make it clear that
we are not ruled by our parliamentary wing (in contrast to Labor and the
Democrats), and will also demonstrate that our principles are not for sale
either, no matter how desperate the circumstances.

Just as importantly, we can make a powerful point of just how dire and
desperate the forest situation has become, and hopefully build more community
support for the campaign to save our irreplaceable but fast-disappearing
national environmental assets. The broad left has regrettably been silent
on this issue, preferring to concentrate on social justice concerns; it's
about time that the left provided some much-needed solidarity with our
forest activists, and enthusiastically joined the campaign for an end to
land-clearing and old-growth logging. The current controversy that Bob
Brown has created is as much a challenge to the far left as it is to the
Greens. Let's all seize the moment.

From Green Left Weekly, June 5, 2002.

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From GLW issue 495