Readers are invited to submit letters to The Guardian.
Letters may be e-mailed to guardian@cpa.org.au.
Letters of 300-400 words are preferred.

Letters to the Editor:

From the working people's perspective

The editorial "The right-wing push" (Guardian 
3/11/2004) is making a serious misjudgement by suggesting that 
the workers harbour illusions about the capitalist system. The 
majority of workers know they are being exploited.

More serious, however, is the conclusion that this knowledge 
"will have to be explained again and again by those who recognise 
this truth". Many workers will be offended by what will be seen 
to be a patronising attitude. Many will simply continue to regard 
the Party as being of no account. It also has a bearing on the 
ability of the Party to win new members. Presumably it is the 
communists who are faced with the lengthy task of doing the 
explaining to that vast majority, as a precondition for militant 
action.

The problem of the absence of a militant attitude and the answer 
lies elsewhere. The foremost priority for working people is to 
feed themselves and their families. All other considerations take 
second place.

Given the choice between what is perceived as an immediate 
benefit, however minor, as opposed to benefits that might 
materialise in the future, particularly if they require struggle, 
the individual worker will choose the former. This is the 
situation that must be taken into account in the difficult task 
of building living connections with the working class.

The working people can see the system is in crisis, and they are 
clutching at straws. With the ALP, in order to get into 
government, set to continue or modify policies aimed at gaining 
the support of big business and of those working people who 
aspire to better themselves by striking out independently. The 
way is being left open for the Marxist Left to win the support of 
"the army of blue and white collar workers who remain the driving 
force of production and the economy".

The workers are looking for dynamic leadership. They would 
support policies that are feasible and geared to take effect 
immediately. The CPA, unfortunately, proposes that the situation 
can only change with the formation of a People's Government.

Bob Saltis
Adelaide, SA

I wish to raise my concerns with you all as to the condition 
that Bob Carr's Labor Government has the state of New South Wales 
languishing in. Let us examine just how bad things really are 
with most government services.

1) Health

Let me start by reminding readers of the situation at a major 
hospital in Sydney's south west that had an elderly woman with a 
broken leg and needing to be admitted straight away was kept on 
an ambulance trolley for eight hours in a waiting room before 
being finally admitted. Since then her condition has became worse 
that she now has serious complications causing great concern to 
her family.

I'm sure that there are plenty more similar cases. You just have 
to visit your local GP and see first hand the utter chaos that 
the Carr Government has the health system realing under — the 
seamless never-ending queue to get to see your overworked 
friendly GP. If you are unfortunate enough to need admission to a 
state-run hospital with overworked and underpaid nursing staff, 
what chance do you have of making a speedy recovery?

2) Transport

In a recent survey done on the performance of Bob Carr's City 
Rail services it showed that 90 percent of trains that were 
surveyed on that particular day were running late and the trend 
seems to be on-going with no solution in sight. Bully-boy Michael 
Costa has his sights set on the train drivers saying they are to 
lift their game by not having so many days off sick.

Well Mr Costa, do something positive about drivers' wages and 
conditions and we will see a vast reduction in drivers calling in 
sick. The Carr Government has to look at spending a lot of money 
on the rundown City Rail infrastructure to keep our rail network 
running on time. Is it too much to ask that the train you depend 
on gets you to work on time and if your lucky home again?

3) Water

The one thing that we humans must have is a clean water supply. 
Before the recent rainfall in some of Sydney's catchment areas 
the storage level had dropped to thirty-nine percent of capacity, 
very low in anyone's terms.

In recent years the Carr Government has seen the numbers of 
outdoor staff employed by Sydney Water slowly decrease to a mere 
skeleton staff. In the past Sydney Water employed many workers 
attending breakdowns and patrolling the large water mains that 
carry water to homes and businesses in the city and metropolitan 
areas.

Does Mr Carr know how much water is wasted by leaking or burst 
water mains and slow response times by repair crews? All too 
often we see water running away from a burst main and repair 
crews nowhere in sight, this problem could be averted by re-
employing more people and stopping the privatisation.

4) Power

Since the Carr Government decided to privatise the supply of 
electricity, the price of electricity has steadily climbed to 
unprecedented levels. It costs more and more to run the average 
home with electricity and there is no end in sight.

In recent months the warmer weather in Sydney brought on 
increased demand for power, overloading the ancient and outdated 
electricity sub-stations in northern Sydney and causing a major 
blackout.

It caused major problems to the traffic flow through the city and 
storekeepers had to discard some of their frozen stock as it 
melted.

It was reported that the remaining on-line mostly overloaded sub-
stations were being cooled by garden hoses running water over the 
cooling fins on the transformers. Not good enough Mr Carr, these 
sub-stations are old and out-dated and millions of dollars needs 
to be spent on a major up-grade of the electrical infrastructure.

The state of NSW is in bad shape and Bob Carr and co. have a lot 
to answer to as state owned services slowly crumble under the 
pressure of daily life.

I ask, "Has Bob Carr lost the plot?"

Peter Kennedy
Muswellbrook, NSW

Today a young man listens to the planes and waits. His eyes 
are black with fear and his face is pale.

It is Perth Airport. The planes are Emirates Airlines. The young 
man is a Christian and he fears he will be forcibly deported to 
Iran.

Australia may not take his religion seriously, but the Iranian 
authorities certainly will.

Under Sharia Law is it a serious offence to turn away from Islam 
for another religion.

And he will be forced, like others before him, to carry his own 
damning evidence with him. There is a Bible in his bags, and his 
Baptismal Certificate.

Will this young man be one of Christianity's  newest martyrs?

Does the Howard Government think it has a mandate for hard line 
policies that are cruel, inhuman and anti-Christian?

Elaine Smith
West Haven, NSW