BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS
MELBOURNE
On November 4, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks called an early state election
for November 30, the earliest date that an election could constitutionally
be called.
Bracks, whose government rules with the support of three independents, claimed the early election was necessary to provide a mandate for the Labor Party to govern in its own right. With electoral redistribution favouring the Liberals however, the ALP must win six seats in the November poll to be able to form a majority government.
Both major parties spent the first week of the campaign making new promises on health and transport spending, while actually offering very little change from their jointly agreed economic rationalist agenda.
The Greens are the acknowledged third force in the state election campaign. Polling 12-14% across Victoria, the Greens are targeting five inner-city seats (Melbourne, Northcote, Brunswick and Richmond districts and Melbourne province), which they consider winnable from the ALP. The Greens will be aiming to contest all seats on November 30, however.
An offer from the Liberals not to field a candidate in the Melbourne and Richmond districts (and Melbourne province) in exchange for Green preferences in marginal seats (potentially allowing for a Cunningham-style Green victory) was rejected by the Greens after discussions with federal Greens leader Bob Brown. However, the Greens are threatening not to direct their preferences to Labor in some marginal seats, should the ALP fail to give greater environmental concessions.
The Greens' campaign is targeting a wide range of social issues, from education and health funding to opposition to war. However, their main campaign emphasis remains on environmental issues, from the cessation of logging in old-growth forest to opposition to the building of an athletes village for the 2006 Commonwealth Games at Royal Park in inner-city Melbourne. The Greens are aiming to win the balance of power in the new state parliament.
To the left of the Greens' campaign is the Socialist Alliance, which is contesting six seats the inner-city districts of Melbourne, Northcote, Brunswick and Footscray, the outer-eastern working-class seat of Dandenong and the Geelong-based seat of Lara.
The Socialist Alliance is contesting the election on six main issues opposition to any war on Iraq, opposition to the mandatory detention of refugees, an end to attacks on militant unions and unionists, increased spending on healthcare and education by taxing the rich and reversal of the privatisation of public transport and government utilities.
[The] Socialist Alliance is an anti-capitalist party, the alliance's campaign leaflet states. We stand for socialism democratic ownership and management of the social wealth. We believe that a society based on satisfying human need can be created, but only by taking power from the elites who now rule.
We stand for a society run by and for working people, both here, but also internationally. We believe that socialism will be won by the power of the masses on the streets and in the workplaces. We seek election to parliament not to 'represent' the movements, but to help build them, resource them and help them win. A better world is possible. Together we can build it.
In line with this perspective, the alliance will be using its election campaign to galvanise community opposition to government attacks, as well as to build the next major Melbourne anti-war demonstration to be held on December 1.
We oppose the war on Iraq, said Jackie Lynch, Socialist Alliance candidate for Northcote. We are approaching the moment when the richest country in the world with the most destructive arsenal ever accumulated is about to unleash a torrent of destruction on Iraq.
The Socialist Alliance stands in favour of the biggest, most powerful democratic anti-war movement this country has ever seen. We commit ourselves to building such a movement in Northcote, as do other branches of the alliance in their local areas.
The Socialist Alliance candidates have signed a pledge to forego the privileges of parliamentary office should they be elected, and to live on an average worker's wage. All extra income would be used to help fund campaigns for progressive social change.
[Graham Matthews is co-convenor of the Socialist Alliance in Victoria. For more information on the campaign or to offer assistance email < melbourne@socialist-alliance.org>.]
From Green Left Weekly, November 13, 2002.
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