While the tyrant reign of John Howard is over, another is just beginning. The need to fight a Rudd government is quite clear. Many of Kevin Rudd's so-called "reforms" are just slight changes to Howard's monstrosities.
Labor's IR policy is a watered-down version of Work Choices — it doesn't come close to up holding its promise of ripping up Howard's legislation. It will be illegal to attend rallies during work hours, such as the "Your Rights at Work" mobilisations. Unions will still be restricted in their access to workplaces, and access to unfair dismissal laws will still remain limited. While the laws are an improvement on Howard's, they are still far from acceptable. We need to pressure the Rudd government into changing laws to give working people the right to organise.
AWAs (individual contracts) will be kept until 2012. We deserve better than that. The Australian Building and Construction Commission secret police will be kept until 2010, when its powers will be handed over to another repressive body.
Labor promised an "education revolution", yet it's a revolution that will maintain Howard's funding of private schools. Labor has promised a $2 billion "National Health and Hospitals Reform Plan", which won't stretch far between Australia's 750 public hospitals.
Labor's stand on climate change is also weak. Although it supports signing Kyoto, it refuses to sign onto a new greenhouse regime unless Third World countries have greenhouse gas targets as well. It supports the "clean coal" technology and has set an inadequate CO2 emissions target of only 60% of 1990 levels by 2050.
From Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Northern Territory invasion and same-sex marriage rights, Labor's positions are inadequate. All signs are that we need to be prepared to continue to stand up for our rights — to continue demonstrating and organising and putting up a fight. We can make a difference.
[Taryn Brown is a member of Resistance, a socialist youth organisation affiliated to the Socialist Alliance. Visit http://www.resistance.org.au for more information.]