By Russell Pickering
CANBERRA — The Democratic Socialists are the only progressive party contesting the ACT election who will be recommending where their supporters direct their preferences.
Sue Bull, Democratic Socialist candidate for Molonglo, told Green Left: "The lack of political commitment shown by the other parties not to direct their supporters is a symptom of the opportunism that has been developing in electoralist politics in this country. It seems that hedging your bets in order to get a few extra votes is more important than a principled political stand.
"The Democratic Socialists believe it is essential to distribute preferences on the basis of which parties we agree with most. It is also important to distinguish between Labor and Liberal. One of those two parties will form a government after February 21 and it is important to be clear about which party you think will be least harmful to ordinary people, no matter how distasteful both seem."
The Democratic Socialists have issued a how-to-vote position calling on voters to mark the ballot paper: Democratic Socialist in positions 1 to 3; Progressive Labour Party (PLP) in 4 and 5, and ACT Greens in 6 to 12. At the foot of the how-to-vote is a note directing voters to preference Labor ahead of the Democrats, and "do not give preferences to the Liberals, Christian Democratic Party, Shooters Party, the Osborne independents or Nick Dyer" (Dyer is an ultra right independent).
"We have decided to give our first preferences to the PLP", Bull told Green Left, because "it is the only other party to publicly pledge not to support the election of a Liberal government. While we disagree with some of its policies, the PLP is the closest to us in terms of defending the interests of working-class people. Unfortunately, the PLP have decided not to direct preferences.
The Democratic Socialist decision to preference the Greens ahead of Labor is based on those parties' policies. "While we are very critical of the Greens' decision to vote for a minority Liberal government after the last election, their overall record has been better than Labor's", Bull explained.
"Their defence of the public sector, schools, health and the environment have been good. Nationally, Senator Bob Brown's defence of the maritime union and opposition to the Workplace Relations Act, plus their uncompromising support of native title have been very important."
The call for a vote for Labor ahead of the Australian Democrats is based on the latter's national record.
"While the Democratic Socialists do not believe the ALP is working in the interest of the working class, it is a lesser evil in relation to the Liberal Party", Bull said. "It is in this context, and principally because of the Democrats' support for the Coalition's Workplace Relations Act, that we cannot support the Democrats ahead of Labor.
"While some of the Democrats' policies on social issues are more progressive than Labor's, such as their opposition to Australian involvement in the Gulf, their passing of the industrial relations legislation allowed serious attacks on working people, most recently the maritime workers."
By not preferencing the Liberals, the Democratic Socialists are ensuring that no progressive votes will help elect a Liberal government. "This basic fact seems to have escaped the other progressive parties", Bull said. "An apolitical position on preferencing is a blight on the progressive vote and must be exposed for its negligence."