Qld election and movement building
LANA HALPIN spoke to GRAHAM MATHEWS, the Democratic Socialist candidate for Brisbane Central in the May 13 Queensland election, about the Democratic Socialists' campaign.
Question: Why are the Democratic Socialists contesting this election?
We are running in order to help build a real opposition to the anti-people, anti-environment policies of the major parties. We don't expect to get elected, that's pretty certain, but we can raise the issues and make the election a focus for building the campaigns against racism, for women's right to abortion, and for worker and trade union rights especially.
We also want to draw more public attention to many environment issues which the larger parties are ignoring, like the dangers of uranium mining and the complete disaster that the Hinchinbrook development is for the environment of northern Queensland.
Question: What does One Nation's entry into this election mean for Queensland politics?
The media in Queensland have given an extraordinary amount of coverage to One Nation and Pauline Hanson, in a certain sense pushing their agenda of scrapping Aboriginal programs to provide better funding for "family" purposes, and legislating for zero nett immigration, supposedly to combat unemployment.
We are campaigning most strongly against One Nation and its lies about Aboriginal people and migrants, but we also need to expose how the mainstream parties have been supporting — sometimes tacitly, sometimes quite openly — the kind of policies One Nation is advocating.
The National Party in Queensland has not only directed preferences to One Nation, it has, as the government, been implementing parts of One Nation's agenda. And the state Labor Party has retreated from any commitment to native title.
Question: What about the other alternative candidates?
In this campaign, the Australian Democrats are running on their position on industrial relations. Under Cheryl Kernot's leadership, they were crucial to Peter Reith's successful attacks on trade unions and workers. With Kernot now in the ALP, however, the Democrats in Queensland are still pushing their anti-worker position, supporting the law against secondary boycotts and the extremely harsh penalties which are encapsulated within that law.
The Greens definitely provide a better alternative. Still, they have refused to really lead in terms of building ongoing public campaigns.
In previous elections, the Greens have given their preferences to the National Party. They're not proposing to do that this time, but they still sometimes try to justify their earlier stance by saying they were following the grassroots.
The Queensland Greens are eclectic and don't have consistent policies on things like tax reform, workers' rights or indeed what sort of transformation society should undergo. The only thing that unites them is the commitment to the environment, which is commendable but somewhat limited.
The Democratic Socialists are more than a one-issue alternative. As socialists we want to fundamentally change this society; we're not interested in simply tinkering around the edges. Nor are we willing to compromise on the most fundamental issues.