By Ben Reid
BRISBANE — A rally of 250 people here on February 26 slammed the federal Coalition and its attacks on young people. In particular, the rally condemned the Liberals' policies of "vouchers" for university degrees, a $3/hour youth wage and cuts to Medicare.
The rally, organised by the student unions of Griffith, University of Queensland and QUT, was part of an attempt by a number of student unions, led by the National Union of Students, to focus attention on the Liberals' "Fightback" package in the lead-up to the federal elections. The slogan of NUS's push is "Put the Liberals last".
Speakers from the student unions and from the Trades and Labour Council, in condemning Hewson's plans, were explicit that the only real solution was to vote Labor on March 13.
Dani Shanahan, QUT welfare officer, said that "this election ... presents students with a choice between the idea of giving everyone a fair go and the idea of making students suffer".
Sandy Brown, president of the UQ Union, in her speech, claimed, "Whilst there are many things that the ALP has done that are real attacks on education, the idea that the education policies of the ALP and the Liberals are much the same is atrocious. The Liberals' policy is clearly different."
After a brief stop in the Queen Street Mall, the march proceeded to QUT Gardens Point campus, where the debate around student movement tactics in the elections continued.
In speaking against a proposal to focus the next rally, scheduled for March 9, solely against the Liberals, Brisbane Resistance organiser Sean Healy said, "Some seem to have conveniently forgotten the real record of the Labor Party on education — it was Labor that reintroduced the tertiary fee, for instance. By concentrating solely on the Liberals' anti-student policies, they let Labor off the hook.
"The student movement has to campaign against any party that acts against the interests of students, both inside and outside of election periods."
Susan Price, the Democratic Socialist candidate for Brisbane, said, "The key issue in this election is: how are working people, women, students, young people in general, going to escape the present two-party bind?
"For 10 years, Labor has been launching attack after attack against us, and now they come and tell us, 'You have to vote for us, the other lot are worse'. We reject this logic. Recognising Labor as the lesser evil doesn't mean having to support them — it simply shows the necessity of building an alternative that does defend our rights."
"A policy which says 'Put the Liberals last' without discussing the need for a real alternative is simply an underhanded way of saying 'Vote Labor — For More of the Same'", Healy added.
[Rebuilding the student movement: page 10.]