The Guardian 12 December, 2007
Editorial
2007 — Look back, look forward:
Let’s build on the election victory
The main event of 2007 was the defeat of the Howard government and the ousting of Howard himself from his seat in Bennelong. The Guardian previously described it as an "historic victory for the labour movement" and that has been confirmed as the vote counting progressed to its conclusion.
Let us now build on the mass involvement of workers in the elections and keep the campaigns on industrial relations legislation and on other issues active and alive. This is the best guarantee that the hopes and expectations of working people will be fulfilled.
It was a victory for the wider labour movement because tens of thousands of workers, trade unions, members of political parties and members of many community organisations provided the ground work over many months which led to the resounding defeat of the government.
The trade unions held large rallies against WorkChoices which saw many workers experience a loss of pay and the virtual elimination of working conditions, penalty rates, holidays and other long held conditions. At the same time Howard had the temerity to claim that "Australians have never had it so good".
By concentrating on WorkChoices the trade union movement led the working class into the biggest trade union actions for a number of decades. Some right-wing Labor Party leaders and trade union officials are now attempting to bring an end to this mass action style of campaigning. They fear the involvement of thousands of workers and others who are making their voices heard in the political affairs of government, preferring to leave it all to the Labor government.
Exchange of preferences
Another very important factor was the agreement between the Labor Party and The Greens to exchange preferences across the board. This resulted in a number of ALP House of Representative candidates being elected which may not have occurred without the preference agreement. It is unfortunate, however, that Green’s Senator Kerry Nettle did not retain her seat in a poll which saw the support for smaller parties squeezed by the pressure to vote for the major parties.
Overall votes for The Greens increased. They won over one million first preference votes in the House of Representatives but did not win a single seat. This again raises the need to change the voting system to one of proportional representation if Parliament is to be reflective of the political opinions of major sections of the community and bring an end to the discrimination against smaller parties.
Although a system of proportional representation remains the policy of the ALP as well as The Greens, the Communist Party and others, it remains to be seen whether the ALP will change the voting laws in this respect without a major popular campaign in the future.
Another major feature of the elections was the overwhelming vote of Indigenous people against the military and police intervention in their communities in the Northern Territory by
the Coalition (see article).
It will take much more than the new prime minister saying "sorry" if the needs of Indigenous people are to be met.
Other nails in Howard’s coffin
The deportation of Dr Mohamed Haneef on trumped up terrorism charges became another campaign during the year. The government’s case was based on contrived evidence presented by the Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, and seized by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews. Both played a despicable role in this affair refusing to face their unjustified allegations and take any steps towards correcting the injustice imposed on Dr Haneef.
Meanwhile the government maintained its fence around Australia, policed by ships and planes to keep out any asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia’s shores. If any succeeded in even approaching Australia’s coastline they were taken into custody and locked up on Christmas Island or Nauru to keep them out of sight and to prevent them having access to Australia’s legal system.
At the same time Howard, his Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer and Attorney General Phillip Ruddock refused to lift a finger to have Australian citizen David Hicks released from the US torture centre on Guantanamo Bay where he had been held by the US administration for five years without any charges or a trial taking place. Even after he was brought back to Australia he was locked up in an Adelaide prison, where he remains today. The injustices look set to continue with the imposition of control orders following his release.
All these events highlighted the lying, meanness and blind subservience to the US administration of the Australian government. But far from Howard’s kow-towing leading to any sympathy or support by Australians for the United States, it has had the opposite effect. In a recent poll over three-quarters of Australians expressed misgivings over the foreign policies of the US administration.
Climate change
The year 2007 was the year in which climate change became a major issue in the minds of an overwhelming number of people. The attempt of Howard to become a "born again environmentalist" fooled very few as he continued to refuse to sign the Kyoto Protocol, refused to take any meaningful steps to develop alternative energy sources and vigorously pushed his plan to build a network of nuclear power stations under the guise of portraying the policy as "clean and green".
The evidence of climate change was plain to see, not only in Australia but around the world. Some of the small Pacific Island states face complete submergence under rising sea levels. Even this failed to bring any sympathetic concern from the Prime Minister who rejected outright any aid or offer of refuge.
Once again Howard lined up with the US in being the only industrially developed countries to refuse to sign the Kyoto Protocol while demanding that all developing countries should accept compulsory emission reduction targets. This policy was used by both the US and Australia as an excuse for them to refuse to accept binding targets for their own economies.
Failure to accept the necessary changes needed to substantially reduce the emission of greenhouse gases will result in irreversible climate changes in the near future and have dramatic and calamitous economic and social consequences for every country on earth.
Democratic rights
Another major event of 2007 was the steady whittling away of democratic rights using the so-called "war on terrorism" as justification. This reached extraordinary heights at the time of the APEC summit in Sydney where over $300 million was wasted on "security measures" — the employment and training of thousands of extra police and troops, a five-kilometre fence to keep people away from the international delegations and Australia’s first water canon.
All this was accompanied by further restrictions of democratic rights which were continued even after the APEC delegations had gone home.
Destruction of welfare
Another major Howard project that received very little publicity was his plan to destroy the welfare system. While claiming that he supported families, Howard called his project the completion of the transition of Australia from a "welfare state to an opportunity society". This project was already well underway against Indigenous communities and also against many who were receiving unemployment payments or who were on disability allowances.
The Howard government launched a vicious campaign against recipients who it claimed had received welfare benefits illegally and implemented a punitive regime that forced people off welfare payments.
The Sydney Morning Herald (10/12/07) carried a front page headline: "Millions lost in legal war on the poor". The Herald said that "the Department [of Employment and Workplace Relations] has litigated against impoverished people even when Centrelink has made the mistakes; when medical evidence supported a person’s need for a disability pension; and when people are destitute and living on the streets. In some cases, people have been left with no income while being subjected to legal action."
Such is Howard’s concern for families! It is nothing more than a hate-filled policy directed against the poorest in the community that aims to intimidate the working people to accept their status as the deprived and powerless section of the community.
There is the huge and rapidly growing expenditure on the military which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has declared will not be scaled back. It is the participation in US wars and the build-up of Australia’s military that are starving schools, hospitals, childcare centres, infrastructure projects — roads, railways and ports — of urgent maintenance and development. Specific spending on the armed forces has reached over $20 billion per year. Even half this amount would meet the main problems of the under-funded education and health systems.
All these issues contributed to the defeat of the Howard government but what change will the election of a Labor Party government bring? During the election campaign Labor Party leaders agreed with many of the policies put forward by Howard and other leading Coalition politicians.
Once again in 2007 workers demonstrated their huge potential to defend their rights and to bring about change. Let’s take that potential into 2008.