Campaign opposes privatisation
By Maurice Sibelle
BRISBANE — Ian McLean, state secretary of the Communications Workers Union, and a former long-serving president of the state Labor Party, is prepared to fight the party's moves towards privatisation. Since being dumped as president at the state ALP conference in June, he says he is now more willing than ever to campaign against the sale of public assets.
The state ALP conference was a defeat for the left, whose calls for the decriminalisation of abortion and marijuana use and for a review of Queensland's draconian prostitution laws, were defeated.
To add salt to the wound, the right-wing Australian Workers Union and the Labor Unity faction were able to split the socialist left which resulted in McLean being dumped in favour of tourism minister Bob Gibbs, also from the socialist left.
McLean told Green Left Weekly that "I think the sort of pressure that has been applied both to me and Brian Howe to shut up about these things has actually liberated us a little from within the party. There's a bit more freedom for us and I think the party members have taken fright at the excesses.
"Members start to get nervous when they see people knocked of because of their political positions, positions which, by and large, they share. I know that within the left of the ALP we are actually stimulated by the attacks. There'll be a little bit of a fightback and that's healthy."
A committee against privatisation was formed here on July 13. The initial impetus for the campaign came from the federal government's proposal to sell of Australian National Line (ANL), Federal Airports Corporation (FAC) and the Australian Industry Development Commission (AIDC).
According to Bob Carnegie from the Maritime Union of Australia, "It is vital for the entire trade union movement and the general community to unite as one to thwart the federal government's push to privatise public assets and services. The end result of this madness will be higher taxes to fund what is left of public health, education and social services, and higher charges for those assets which have been privatised".
Carnegie stated that those public services already lost in full or part and those threatened with privatisation include: ANL, FAC, AIDC, QANTAS, Commonwealth Bank, aircraft factories, naval dockyards, Telecom and Australia Post. In Queensland, Greenslopes Hospital, Suncorp, TAB, public transport and national parks are also being considered for sale.
A rally and march has been organised for August 4 to highlight opposition to the federal government's plans.