Editorial:
The whirlwind to come

The GST "deal" made by the Democrats with the Howard Government has been 
widely condemned. Having sown the seeds of betrayal they are likely to reap 
the whirlwind of rejection at the next elections. Their betrayal of the low 
income and poorer people of Australia is going to really hit home once the 
GST legislation is implemented on July 1 next year.

Through the betrayal by the Democrats, the Coalition Government has 
achieved its long sought-after objective — to get the PRINCIPLE of a GST 
established. Now that has been achieved the short-term concessions made to 
the Democrats will be whittled away.

For many years the Democrats have presented themselves as a party committed 
to small "l" liberal policies many of which were progressive if 
implemented. The deal with the Coalition and their acceptance of Peter 
Reith's industrial legislation previously, confirms that they are 
politically, much closer to the big end of town than they are to low and 
middle income earners. Having done deals on the GST and the undemocratic 
and anti-trade union industrial legislation the conclusion has to be drawn 
that more such deals will be made in the future. Peter Reith is set to 
introduce a "second wave" of even more restrictive industrial legislation. 
With a few supposed concessions, the Democrats can be expected to once 
again put up their hands in support.

By tinkering at the edges, the Democrats claim to be making things "fairer" 
but this leads to unprincipled compromises. This is the case with the GST. 
There is no way that a GST can be made fair. It is fundamentally regressive 
and discriminatory and has to be thrown out completely.

The Democrats are a middle class party which draws its main support from 
professionals, intellectuals and people in small business. They have little 
support among working people. They do not make any class analysis of the 
issues which come before society. They fully accept the social system of 
capitalism going no further than attempting to knock some of the rough 
edges off the practices of the big corporations.

In practice they reflect the outlook of many middle class people whose aim 
is to climb up the social ladder, break through the glass ceiling, or 
become bigger capitalists than they are at present.

The Democrats claim that they have entered the political "big time" and 
that they are now a major political player.

The happy body language of Meg Lees on having concluded a deal with Howard 
on the GST, said it all. It was similar to the body language of Cheryl 
Kernot when she did a similar deal with Peter Reith on his industrial 
legislation — fawning in the company of the real decision makers.

However, the Democrats are suffering from an illusion. They are being used 
by the Coalition and will be spurned once they are no longer useful.

Now that they have effectively joined the "bastards" why should they be 
given voter support? What's the point?

The fact that the Democrats were so easily able to do a dirty deal with the 
Howard Government — on the GST, on industrial legislation and on the 
environment — points to another weakness. The campaign against the GST did 
not reach the level that it could and should have. Where were all the Labor 
Party politicians when it came to rallies against the GST? Only a very few 
trade unions were involved. The ACTU had already come around to accepting 
the inevitability of a GST when it announced that it would make wage claims 
to compensate for the GST. The aim should have been a mighty campaign to 
STOP THE GST from being introduced in the first place. This is what 
happened when John Hewson campaigned for a GST in the 1993 Federal 
elections. Many in the labour movement are simply holding back from these 
main issues. It is more than time to change this "sitting on hands" 
attitude.