Editorial:

Peter Garrett's colours

"Today, I have nailed my colours to the mast", declared Peter 
Garrett as he was being parachuted into ALP membership and to 
what is regarded as a safe parliamentary seat in a Sydney 
electorate.

While claiming that he wants to "make a difference" his colours 
became immediately apparent as he threw overboard his previous 
opposition to the US spy base at Pine Gap and indicated that he 
was prepared to compromise on the logging of old growth forests 
in Tasmania. "I will accept the decisions of the Labor Party on 
these issues", he said.

Peter Garrett had his ALP membership fast tracked by none other 
than the ALP National Executive. The same National Executive is 
expected to over-ride the opposition of local members in the 
electorate to ensure his nomination.

Garrett's colours can be summed up in one word: opportunism! He 
has joined a political party that is notorious for its 
unprincipled compromises on many issues. In this respect Garrett 
will be at home.

ALP policy decisions have led to massive privatisation, the 
winding down of Medicare (a process started under Labor 
Governments), tacit support for the Howard Government's racist 
policies towards refugees, the disbandment of ATSIC and much 
more. It was the Hawke and Keating Governments that scuttled the 
award system and introduced Enterprise Bargaining Agreements and 
individual work contracts.

Although there appears to be some difference over the stay of 
Australian troops in Iraq, the ALP supports the US alliance, the 
Pine Gap spy base and the militarisation of Australia which is 
directed against Australia's Asian neighbours.

Supporting the US alliance will inevitably lead to more wars of 
aggression, intervention and occupation and Australian 
governments will be called upon to support and participate in 
them.

Garrett's usefulness to the ALP (and there must have been long 
discussions in private before his move to the ALP was announced) 
lies in his anti-war and pro-environment credentials, and his 
popularity, particularly with the youth, as lead singer in 
Midnight Oil. Mark Latham hopes that by having Garrett on board 
the ALP will attract green and younger voters in the coming 
election.

The game is to win votes away from the Greens not to just gain 
their preferences. Both the Labor Party and the Liberals are 
desperate to restore the dominance of the two major parties. In 
recent years this has been challenged by the Australian 
Democrats, the Greens and by a number of independents, as more 
voters become disillusioned with the major parties.

Seen in this light, Latham's objective is thoroughly conservative 
and reactionary. This is the dirty game that Garrett's big-
headedness and opportunism has led him to play a shoddy part in.

Undoubtedly, some Labor Party voters who have already been 
encouraged by the election of Latham to the leadership will be 
further encouraged by virtue of Garrett also joining the ranks. 
Hope springs eternal!

The reality is different. There are many in the past who have 
joined the Labor Party with the intention of "making a 
difference" and turning the Labor Party into a working people's 
party of which they could be proud. It has not worked in the past 
and Peter Garrett would not succeed either, even if that were his 
intention. The Labor Party machine will see to that.

The Labor Party machine is under the tight control of the 
rightwing and that faction has no intention of giving up its 
control even if it tolerates a few left and centre elements for 
the purpose of broadening its fagade.

The basic ideology of the Labor Party has always been one of 
compromise and moderate reform of the capitalist system while 
retaining that system. That is the extent and limit of their 
outlook and prevents them from going any further than these small 
perspectives.