Industrial Relations Protest!
This is the first time I have updated in ages. The basic reason being that it is exam time for me – and it’s really the crunch this time. I’ve had to pull out of the Fabians’ inaugural conference, Magic tournaments and virtually every other extra-curricular activity to prepare for perhaps the most important exams in my life. The next two weeks will decide whether I am indeed going to be a doctor in a couple of years time or destined to go to the scrapheap.
I should have stayed home and studied, but today’s industrial relations protest was just too important to miss – as an activist for fairness and equity it was an overriding priority. It was perhaps the largest single organized protest in Australian history with turnout for the Melbourne demonstration nudging a quarter of a million – far higher than even the ACTU had expected. The crowds stretched through dozens of blocks along the mile-long route from Federation Square to the Exhibition Gardens which are next to my house.
My comrades from Young Labor Left and I marched with the LHMU and I was pleasantly surprised to see the teachers at my old primary school marching too. Most of them from when I went to school have retired, but it was gratifying to see that those who were still there kept the red flag flying.
The Reactionary Forces, of course, dismissed the protests, saying that over 95 percent of workers chose to remain at work. I’m sure that they can offer any kind of wording manipulation to spin the situation in their favour. What cannot be argued with is that time and time and time and time again every single opinion poll about the industrial relations issue shows that the vast majority of the Australian population are against the changes. I believe that even less people will be impressed with their spending tens of millions of taxpayer money on a deceptive advertising campaign of propaganda and deliberate moves to gag debate while rushing through the laws in the shortest possible time.
People from a non-English speaking background will be even more vulnerable as employers will have more scope, through Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) to exploit those who have migrated and have less knowledge about the legal system as it pertains to employment and industrial relations.
The Howard Government will PAY at the next election. I have plenty of confidence that this issue will continue to hurt them. In New Zealand, when similar moves were introduced in 1990 by the National government, the incumbents suffered a 13 percent swing against them in 1993, even in the face of an ineffectual opposition and virtually no union resistance. This is more than enough to throw out the present regime.
Our mission now is to maintain the pressure on the Government, to maintain the pressure on Barnaby Joyce to water down the changes, keep the IR “reforms” a big issue in the media, perhaps by mounting a high court challenge, give the regime as little time away from it as possible before the next election. More importantly, our mission is to remind the Labor Party, especially its darker factions, that the only way to winning is to vehemently differentiate ourselves from the evil, inequitable and sadistic regime of the Howard Government!
VSU - Possible temporary reprieve
Today's newspapers have mentioned that Senator Barnaby Joyce of Queensland intends to cross the floor in regard to the Howard Government's Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) laws unless there was some kind of compromise to ensure that essential services such as sporting facilities and childcare were maintained. It was also raised that legislation to deprive the student body of their political voice may not come into effect next year, in effect giving the students a one year reprieve.
I remain skeptical, although Senator Joyce did cross the floor last night, the first government senator to do so since the 80s. After all, he's still a card-carrying member of Evil and like Telstra, it could be easy for Howard, Sophie P et al to stitch up a crummy deal that would see the VSU legislation passed virtually intact. It does seem like the Reactionary Forces do want the IR "reforms" as a priority rather than VSU though, so there is a chance that compulsory student unionism may survive in 2006.
On the other hand, it would be wrong for any of us to go off our guard just because we might be handed this temporary stay of disembowelment. We must continue to lobby Senator Joyce to support the existing system to the fullest extent possible; while he is a foul and beastly dinosaur when it comes to social issues, we cannot afford to let our own ideologies and dogma get in the way of negotiating with the tiger for our very lives. We are on hard times and unpalatable liaisons are a fact of life.
NZ Final Election Results
This morning, the final results for the New Zealand election were released after the special votes originating from university campuses and overseas were counted. The final distribution of seats:
Labour 50
National 48
NZ First 7
Greens 6
Maori 4
United Future 3
ACT 2
Progressives 1
Opposition Leader Don Brash finally conceded defeat, after two weeks of suspense following election night where neither the Left nor the Right could conjure up a majority and the nation hung in the balance to see where the postal votes would take them. In the end, the National Party lost a seat, leaving the Clark Government in control to start negotiations with the minor parties to form a minority government.
This year's campaign was difficult, with the Labour Party's mission hampered significantly by internal troubles caused by members of the Right faction. The National Party shamelessly attempted to appeal to a populist theme, campaigning on wholesale tax cuts which were obviously going to benefit the nation's most wealthy. Notably missing from their campaign advertising to the people was their nefarious and sinister Industrial Relations agenda of scrapping four weeks' leave, overtime, Voluntary Student Unionism and reintroduction of individual workplace agreements which the Left-dominated Clark Government repealed when they were elected in 1999. Typical of the deceptive and gutless nature of all Conservative organisations in the multiverse. And in Aotearoa there is no Upper House with which to moderate legislation!
The mostly likely outcome will be a Labour-Progressive minority government relying on the Greens, NZF, UF and the Maori Party on confidence and supply. The new government will be unable to push through socially progressive agendas, such as gay rights and legislation for the betterment of feminist causes, as support from the Greens alone are not sufficient for a minority and the other minor parties all show fairly regressive social manifestos. Economically, the minor parties will push for a fairer agenda, including raising the minimum wage from $9.50 to $12 an hour, better affordability for university education and better income support for the elderly. The Clark Government will need to work very closely with the minor parties to last through this term but their aptitude for economic management and negotiation will put the in good stead to secure a fourth term in 2008.
I would like to thank Denise MacKenzie, the candidate for the seat of Wairarapa and her campaign team, including campaign manager Roger Beson and IR officer Jills Angus Burney for allowing me to participate in the 2005 election campaign. I would also like to thank J.T. Carter, former president of NZ Young Labour who introduced me to NZ politics on the internet and helping me make the appropriate connections. And congratulations to everyone who did the canvassing and the data chumping and all the hard work which secured the land of Hobbits from the Grim Reaper for another three years.
Petrol prices and inflation
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has called for a round of "decent" tax cuts to counter the influence of rising oil prices on Australian families.
In the last round of tax cuts delivered by the Howard Reactionary Forces, the lion's share of benefit went to the top 3-5% of income earners which included massively raising the top rate threshold and scrapping the superannuation surcharge. People earning less than $58K per annum got a measly $6 a week, which has long since been more than wiped out by escalating fuel costs. The vast majority of Australian families are now worse off than they were a year ago. The only people who stand to benefit are oil companies and the tiny minority of very successful businesspeople and "higher professionals" lucky enough to register six- and seven-figure incomes.
Further, this is having a flow-on effect on the wider market. From next week, the cost of milk, to many a nutritional necessity, will rise by 8%. Lucky I'm lactose intolerant! Inflation is already rising, and this in turn will lead to higher interest rates and higher repayments in an era where home affordability is already at an all time low!
Rather than making wholesale tax cuts which will only make the rich get richer and accentuate inequality, the ALP needs to target tax relief to those who need it most - low- and middle-income families and low-wage single workers. This could be achived with targeted relief in the form of means-tested tax deductions or raising the tax-free threshold to say $14,ooo (from $6000). While it will reduce tax for everyone, the greatest percentage of tax burden reduced will go to those who need it most. Any such move could easily be paid for by removing the provision for Family Tax Benefits for millionaires' housewives by introducing a slowly progressive means test.
There should also be further incentive to develop the nation's skeletal public transport network. It's a crying shame that the outer suburbs of Melbourne have next to no public transport, with many localities getting only three or four buses a day on weekdays. A whole lot of votes are there in the marginals for the taking if funding could be provided for a workable, integrated PT system which would enable families to no longer need to waste petrol money on their 25-mile trek to the CBD daily.
Saving Middle-Earth from the Dark Lord
On Tuesday the Prime Minister of Aotearoa-NZ, Ms Helen Clark, came to visit this electorate of Wairarapa. She received a rousing reception at Masterton Town Hall to give an address to 500+ elderly people and handled their questions, including an unwelcome blast about moral values from the Tory campaign manager, with great finesse. Policy to retain a universal age pension with relief for lower-income pensioners with regard to council rates and caring for lifelong partners was explained clearly and reiterated.
Later that night, the official launch for our candidate in Wairarapa, Mrs Denise MacKenzie, was held at the Tin Hut Pub in the southern town of Featherston. The PM was again the compere giving the main address and it was the major highlight of my trip to have my photo taken with Ms Clark and Ms Georgina Beyer, the current sitting MP for Wairarapa, who is also the first transgender MP in the world.
From there it was back to canvassing and fiddling around with the temperamental electioral roll software and working out how to print labels for a mass mailout to all the teachers in the electorate. Meanwhile, the big issue here in this country is the meningococcal epidemic; a public meeting was held on Monday night at the town hall with Labour committing its unqualified support to the vaccination program; the minor parties seem to have embarrassed themselves in speaking out against the vaccine in a spate of unscientific babble and blatant lies.
Across the Tasman, back in the land of Munchkins, my comrades are keeping up the fight against the Evil Wizard's industrial relations "reforms". The people of New Zealand know all too well about the disastrous changes brought about by Ruth Richardson, the Wicked Witch of the East, in the 1990s National Government, with the introduction of individual contracts and the wholesale abolition of awards. To their credit the Clark Government was able to restore some of the rights of workers in its present tenure.
Today the Palmer Enquiry on the wrongful detention and deportation of Rau and Solon released its report and Howard was forced to apologize to these two women, but clearly there was no commitment to real change and the regime refused to offer a royal commission or a full public enquiry. Just one day earlier Philip Ruddock, the attorney general, claimed that these two women were at least partially to blame for their deplorable fate. Much more work needs to be, and will be, done by refugee advocate groups in Oz to keep the pressure on the evil rulers of this once fertile utopia.
I shall be returning to Melbourne on Sunday after a brief pause in Wellington on the weekend, as I will commence my next rotation in Neurosurgery on Monday. Don't expect me to cure your brain tumour though. I have learnt a lot from my self-imposed exile and will utilize my gains in future endeavours, and will focus my energy on the policy committees in which I am involved. However it remains my intention to obtain a career and experience in clinical practice before I embark on any personal political moves. However, those of you who think I have a chance of sociopolitical or factional realignment during that time in which I gain my life experience might wish to take up marbles or crochet instead.
Niceties and Nuances of the NZ electoral system
On Thursday night I heard the terrible news from London where a number of explosions have occurred, presumably a work of terrorists. My most sincere condolences go to those who have lost family members in the incidents and I certainly hope that the perpetrators are brought to justice quickly. The Prime Minister of Aotearoa, Miss Helen Clark, has signalled that NZ will not tighten its border security policies in response to the blasts, quoting that both NZ and the UK are well prepared for such incidents. I assume that John Howard is doing his best to make as much political capital out of these blasts as he possibly can, again pandering to the fear and xenophobia of the people of Oz.
Yesterday, our plans for a barbeque in the middle of Masterton were thrown out of plumb after our LEC (FEA) secretary drove her car down a ditch in the morning. Luckily, she was virtually uninjured, but her car did not survive and she was badly shaken mentally. The event was rescheduled for today.
In terms of campaign issues, child care is now in the headlines. The National Party are introducing a tax break for one third of child care costs up to $5000 for working families. On the other hand, Labour has budgeted 20 hours of free child care per child aged between 3 and 5 if they go to a not-for-profit community childcare centre. The National’s Policy will remove the free child care to pay for its tax breaks and the net effect will be for private operators to yank up their charges, negating any benefit to parents who can afford to use them. It offers nothing for low and middle income families, especially the many Maori families in this electorate of Wairarapa, many of whom are on sole-parent benefits. It will deny their children a head start on early learning and jeopardise their educational and employment prospects well into the future.
Now a little about Aotearoa’s electoral system. For many years, Aotearoa was divided up into 99 electorates. Voting is optional and MPs were elected on a first-past-the-post (one vote only) basis. This system favoured the two major parties and strong majorities were often obtained. The Senate was abolished in the 1950s and now there is only one Chamber (the House of Representatives). Therefore there is no house of review.
In 1993, the ruling National government passed a referendum to introduce a proportional representation system known as Mixed Member Proportional (MMP). Under the system, the number of electorates was reduced from 99 to 69 and the number of MPs increased to 120. This system allows for representation of minor parties and the provision of non-electorate MPs voted under a list system. Electors are now given two votes: an electorate vote (for their local member, under the old rules) and a Party Vote (a vote for a single party – there are no preferences given). Each party must also publicly release their LIST RANKINGS for their candidates as members who are not successful for winning their electorate may still obtain a LIST SEAT (see below).
Note that there are 62 general electorates and 7 Maori electorates. All Maori persons have the option of going on the General Roll or the Maori Roll.
To qualify for proportional representation a party must win either 5% of the Party Vote or win an electorate seat.
The 120 seats are then distributed according to the relative proportions of Party Vote for all parties who QUALIFY FOR PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION. Then, for each party, the seats are first filled by candidates who won their electorates. The remaining seats for that party are then allocated by LIST ORDER. This means, that if a minor party get 10% for the Party Vote they are entitled to a minimum of 12 seats, even if they do not win any electorates. Also there is no obligation for any electoral candidate to have a list ranking; a safe Labour seat member can have no list ranking if they are confident of re-election based on their demographic position.
Generally, under MMP, a party will rarely garner enough Party Votes to obtain 50% of the seats in Parliament. They will inevitably have to form a coalition agreement with one or more of the minor parties. United Future has said that they will support the major party with the higher proportion of total votes. The Greens will traditionally support the Left, while New Zealand First and ACT will almost certainly support the Right. It is not known which party the Maori Party would support.
Wairarapa Campaign Continues
Yesterday, I spent the morning fiddling around with the EMS computer software that’s used for canvassing and analysing voter data. A major problem is that the machines here are so slow compared to the ones in inner city Oz. But we’ll find a way round everything, I’m sure of that!
At lunchtime, it was onto Masterton, the main town of the electorate, to present a laptop to a school. As we needed the MP to do this, I was able to meet Georgina Beyer MP for Wairarapa for the first time. Ms Beyer is the world’s first transsexual member of Parliament. Having worked in the oldest profession in Sydney many years ago, she was once the mayor of Carterton before vaulting into Parliament. She recently appeared on Dancing with the Stars to promote her campaign this year, and she certainly had more than a substantial sense of fashion. In many ways, politically and socially, she is a mirror image of Pauline Hanson.
In the afternoon I went canvassing for the first time on my own. This is essentially doorknocking, but you carry a clipboard with you, and you have to ask the people who they’re going to vote for. You’ve also got to try to then convince them to vote Labour, and if they were solid Labour voters, you’ve got to attempt to get them to put up a sign in their yard. I remember when I first went doorknocking in Gippsland last year I felt quite daunted and not up to the task. This was many times more involved. Luckily we got some good support in the area I did today.
I’m going to talk about the main parties in New Zealand; next post I’ll talk about the way the electoral system works here.
The Labour Party (NZLP) are a centre-left, social democratic party. Its voter base are traditionally the working-class and the poor, but they also attract a lot of votes from the Maori community (ca. 18% of the population) and the "intellectual left" (or "chardonnay socialists"). The NZLP were dominated by its Right faction in the 1980s under Treasurer Roger Douglas who introduced "Rogernomics" which amounted to Thatcher-like economic rationalism and a spate of privatisation. Douglas’ subfaction later broke away under ACT (see below). Presently, there is about a 65-35 split in National caucus amongst the Left and Right factions. Helen Clark, the Prime Minister, belongs to the former, while Michael Cullen, the Treasurer, belongs to the latter. The Labour Party are progressive socially, and were largely responsible for the passing of the Civil Unions Bill for all New Zealanders. The present Clark Government was elected in 1999 after a National-New Zealand First coalition collapsed.
The NZLP is now as united as it has been in living memory. It includes a number of "sectors" which debate and propose policy on issues relevant to particular groups of the population: a Women’s Sector, Rainbow Sector, Maori Sector, and Ethnic Sector, as examples. The Labour Party is often accused by right-wing parties of pandering to the interests of special interest groups and minorities whilst overlooking "mainstream society".
The New Zealand National Party (NP) or "Tories" are the main centre-right party; their policies benefit the wealthy ruling-class and big businesses. They are campaigning on a platform of tax cuts and industrial relations "reforms", including reintroducing individual contracts (those introduced by the previous National Government were scrapped by the Clark Government in 1999), making it harder for unions to enter workplaces, and the gutting of holiday pay and overtime as well as unfair dismissal laws. It all sounds too familiar for most Australians, but the NZ Tories are not quite as socially regressive as John Howard or Tony Abbott. The leader of the NP, Dr Donald Brash, was formerly the governor of the NZ reserve bank.
United Future (UF) are a self-professed "centrist" party advocating family values and a social conservative agenda, but are centrist ("a wet blanket") economically. The Labour Party rely on them for confidence and supply for issues which the Greens (see below) will not support. Their policy is to support the party with the most seats if they ever hold the balance of power.
New Zealand First (NZF) are a breakaway from the social-conservative wing of the Tories. Their leader Winston Peters has held the party together very much on the sole basis of his own personality. They are a xenophobic, homophobic party with a lot of support amongst the older age groups. However they are not quite as bad and have somewhat greater political nous than Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. The Tories need them to form a coalition if they are ever to form government, which is very worrying, as NZF will use social conservatism as conditions for which to form a coalition with National. This would presumably include repealing the Civil Unions Bill, the Prostitution Reform Bill (which allowed for brothels to operate under a legal framework), and more anti-choice policies for women.
The Association of Consumers and Taxpayers (ACT) are an economically ultra-right party formed as a breakaway of the Labour Right in the 1980s. They advocate wholesale tax cuts, a flat 25% tax rate for all persons, slashing welfare and public spending, removal of union rights and the minimum wage, increased penalties for crimes and are nominally socially liberal (but not in practice). Their politicians are amongst the most unpopular in the country. Somewhat oddly, they have a strong Asian presence.
The Green Party of Aotearoa (Greens) are similar to the Australian Greens; they are economically and socially to the left of Labour. Labour needs to form an agreement with them to govern either as a minority or a coalition government; the political effect may be to drag Labour’s policies somewhat to the left. While this is good, the danger is that National may move to the centre and steal the political limelight.
The Maori Party (MP) are a splinter group from Labour who are only concerned about the interests of the Maori population (currently 18% of the total). They have consistently embarrassed themselves and are totally devoid of political ability and cohesion, and many of their policies would do their ethnic group more harm than good.
