SP Newsletter No.166
It takes a special sort of leader and a special sort of campaign to make the NSW state Labor Government re-electable – but Peter Debnam and the NSW Liberals managed it! Despite State Labor’s awful record on health, transport, education, and water the Liberals made them look like the pick of the bunch.

Peter Debnam made it clear that he and the Liberals would remove state protection from the recent IR laws for all NSW state employees and would hand them over to Canberra to be covered by Work Choices. This combined with his pledge to sack 20,000 public servants proved disastrous for NSW Labor. It also makes it hard for Howard to claim that IR played no part in the resultant re-election of Labor.

It was hardly a ringing endorsement for Labor with 3.4% swing against them. In fact the voters in NSW when offered the unsavoury choice between Labor and Liberals chose Labor. There was a swing against Labor, and they lost primary votes to many independents standing in key electorates. A deal with the Greens for preferences saved key marginal seats.

The whole campaign for the major parties was based on negative campaigning. Labor adverts featured Peter Debnam’s promise on job cuts and IR changes for state employees. The NSW Nurses Federation ran TV campaigns stating that nurses were trained to save lives, not negotiate individual workplace agreements. The Liberals also ran a negative campaign, focused on three of Labor ministers least liked by the public -Coster, Tripoldi and Sartor. In an election where both the government and main opposition party were almost as unpopular as each other, and focusing on negative and personal campaigning the Green Party failed to make significant headway, failing to win any seats in the NSW lower house.

In ‘safe’ Labor seats voters tended to protest against Labor by giving their primary votes to independent’s. The one notable exception to this was in Wollongong where Labor ran a campaign more focused on Work Choices. Despite the very limited nature of Labor’s campaign on this issue Labor was able to tap into the anger of some workers and record an increase in its vote.

Howard is trying to downplay the impact of the IR laws on the NSW result stating that “to me the IR issues are largely irrelevant to what happens in NSW”. This flies in the face of reality. If the Federal Liberals really believe this it is a clear sign of how out of touch they are with reality of workers lives. A poll on the eve of the election suggested that it was the top issue for most people! The strength on the opposition to the IR laws appears to have stiffened Federal Labor’s opposition to the IR laws, with Kevin Rudd now calling for them to be scrapped. He will no doubt be hoping that token opposition to the IR laws will work as well for him as it did for Morris Iemma.

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The Socialist

Issue 32 of SP’s monthly newspaper ‘The Socialist’ is out now! Readers can pick up a copy at our regular street stalls, from our National Office or by joining the SP subscriber’s list. This month’s paper features articles on APEC, Qantas, NSW state election, David Hicks, Iraq, a report from our councillor in Yarra, G20 arrests, and a centre page spread on the environment.

SP now on My Space!

My Space is an online forum for networking. You can use it to chat, share photos, videos and journals. SP is using it to promote our party and meet people interested in socialist politics. Check out our site here

Regional Activity

Victoria

The Melbourne Branch of SP meets every Wednesday 7pm at Trades Hall in Carlton South. 1st Floor Corner of Lygon & Victoria Streets. This week the branch will host a public meeting titled What would a Rudd ALP government look like? All welcome.

New South Wales

To find out more info or to join SP in Sydney contact Gary - 02 9728 7727

To find out more info or to join SP in Newcastle contact Samantha - 02 4968 1545

Western Australia

To find out more info or to join SP in Perth contact John on – 08 9402 0728

Please note childcare is available at all SP meetings but only by prior arrangement please call ahead first.

News links just a click away –

Iran: Will the US bomb Iran?
By Lynn Walsh, Socialist Party,
Click here

China: Has capitalism been fully restored?
By Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party
Click here

Zimbabwe: conomic meltdown pushes masses to the edge
By Wezimann Hamilton, Democratic Socialist Movement, Johannesburg
Click here

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The Socialist Party is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI).
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