"He who rises on the interest rate, falls on the interest rate."
John Howard looks like doing just that. Last election he promised to keep interest rates at an all time low. There have been six interest rate rises since. Middle Australia has been hurt. He has tried to sidestep by claiming that this promise was made by the Liberal Party machine in a one-off TV ad that aired for only two days. A lie! Howard himself made this promise on ABC radio. Middle Australia is angry.
Howard has a reputation for lying and getting away with it. He lied on children overboard; Iraq having weapons of mass destruction; on not introducing a GST and work place reform. Last election, Middle Australia accepted his gross dishonesty because he brought home their bacon. They identified, in fact, with his chauvinism. Howard has made them feel empowered by stating �We decide who lives in this country�. Even those who hated Howard on issues such as indigenous reconciliation voted for him for fear of losing their homes.
This election is different. Voters' hip pockets have been affected by rising home interest rates and reduced wages, penalty rates and holiday pay from the introduction of WorkChoices. Last election, Howard promised no significant industrial reform. He couldn�t resist the temptation, however, when the Coalition won control of the Senate. He genuinely expected the unions to lie down and die. He was wrong!
Despite a massive taxpayer-funded PR campaign promoting WorkChoices, workers realise rights like penalty rates and holiday pay are being thrown out the window. WorkChoices has become a dirty word. So Howard abolished the name but not the fundamental reforms. Voters are not fooled - it is hard to sell his industrial relations policy to an understandably skeptical public.
Meanwhile, Labor is getting its act together. Kevin Rudd has been selling himself as a John Howard with a friendly face and a bit of personal decency. Howard has discovered that many of his voters were lumping his dirty tricks rather than liking them. Kevin Rudd puts his cards on the table: �I am an economic conservative�. He states his position clearly without any opposition or challenge. Labor Left leader Anthony Albanese on Channel Nine�s Sunday show proclaimed his opposition to Rudd�s policy on uranium but was sympathetic to his chumminess with business leaders, including Rupert Murdoch.
The Kevin Rudd way of political struggle is either to say �me too" or to sweep the issue under the carpet. He has backed the Federal military invasion of the Northern Territory. His main concern is the drain on state police forces. In the Northern Territory Black people have been deprived of their money. There has been a wholesale government takeover of communities with the government given itself the right to exclude any individuals as it sees fit, for any reason whatsoever! Basic rights have been tossed out the window!
Rudd has backed the abolition of the CDEP, the Black Work for the Dole scheme. This abolition will provide a few jobs at full award rates of pay. Many Black workers will find themselves with nothing to do. Black communities relied on CDEP for infrastructure which will now run down. Neither this nor other measures offer a solution to child abuse which was the reason Howard justified his invasion.
Rudd has been silent about the Howard Government�s despicable racist campaign against Sudanese. He has also been silent about Howard�s vicious attacks on the social security system. In 2006 when Howard introduced laws forcing some disabled off the pension and onto the dole queue, Labor�s then shadow minister Penny Wong promised they would be attacked even harder. Today, under Howard, victims of cystic fibrosis may be forced to work even though this could reduce their life expectancy!
Rudd probably considers his minimalist approach to be tactical. He feels that by reducing the campaign to a few key issues, a clear choice will be shown and voters will prefer him. This is, of course, a massive sellout. He sees the main issues as home interest rates, Iraq and Afghanistan, the environment and a plan for the future.
The government has been exposed as liars on the economy and on interest rates. However, Rudd and Swann have an uphill battle presenting themselves as credible conservative alternatives. Howard and Costello have runs on the board. �Learner Latham� was an easy target. Rudd has more Establishment credibility but still has to show that he can deliver.
Rudd is certainly under pressure on industrial relations. The Liberals have promoted the fact that 70% of his cabinet has a union background as some sort of major threat to the economy. A worried Rudd reacts by expelling from the ALP any union member who threatens an employer. Capitalists are welcome within Rudd Labor. Union militants are not. This message is coming over, loud and clear
Rudd has promised to scrap WorkChoices and tear up AWA�s. Whilst this sounds promising, his proposed alternative is aptly nicknamed Work Choices Light by many union militants. It is, in fact, a serious attack on workers� rights:
The right to strike has been seriously restricted - the only time you may strike is within the negotiating period and there must be a secret ballot. It bans strikes in solidarity and in response to an unfair employer who, for example, victimses a union official or carries out unsafe work practices.
It bans the right of entry to union officials in the name of �getting the balance right�. This makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for unions to organise!
John Howard seduces the middle class by appealing to their nastiness - their chauvinism. Kevin Rudd seduces them by appealing to their niceness. Both Howard and Rudd are recruiting them to a reactionary, conservative, capitalist programme. They blatantly and honestly admit to being economic conservatives. It�s not a case of exposing Rudd when he gets into office. Rudd has put his reactionary cards on the table even before getting there. He is totally unworthy of any support.
Unions and unionists already suffering from the Rudd machine should draw up a balance sheet of the events that have led to this reactionary conservative take-over of the ALP. It started off as a party dedicated to serving working people. The Rudd take-over is no accident and stems from the failings of yesterday�s reformism. A total break from reformism must be made.
This election Communist Left is giving critical support to the Socialist Equality Party. We do this because, unlike other groupings, it puts socialism on the electoral agenda. Socialist Alliance calls itself socialist but does not raise the demand for socialism in any form in its programme. The SEP does.
However, the SEP has some major failings. It is sectarian to trade unions, justifying its actions by pointing to the rotten role of the trade union bureaucracy in drawing up the Prices and Incomes Accord. This was a major strait jacket on class struggle. Workers correctly understand that they need defensive organisations to protect their unions when attacked. The answer is not to abstain but to fight for a revolutionary party leadership. This the SEP refuses to do.
The SEP claims to defend �the authority of the International Committee�. The International Committee for the Fourth International was dominated for decades by the clique around Gerry Healy. He and his associates ran a bureaucratic machine that made treacherous deals with the likes of Colonel Qadaffi of Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The ICFI under Healy sold its principles for cash. It is an insult to the great revolutionary Leon Trotsky that his fourth International was associated with this treacherous outfit.
Whilst we certainly don�t suggest you join the SEP, voting for it is a step forward politically. Voting for Labor, the Greens or Socialist Alliance is not.