For far too long, workers’ wages, conditions and bargaining positions have been sacrificed at the altar of the economy or some conservative political agenda, but things are changing.

BY CAESAR BAROÑA
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 43, December 2-8, 2007

Australia has a new government. The Australian Labor Party (ALP) was swept to power after 11 1/2 years of conservative rule of John Howard and the Liberal-National coalition. Australia is now wall-to-wall Labor. The Labor Party dominates all state governments and now also holds the Federal reins.

Even more humiliating for Howard, he has lost his seat of Bennelong – a Liberal seat since its formation in 1949 – the first sitting PM to have been booted out from parliament since 1929. It didn’t help him that the 25 percent rising Asian population in his electorate was reminded of his racist comments about Asian immigration in 1988, as well as the turning away of constituents who have had enough of his polarizing policies.

Howard has claimed responsibility for Australia’s 17-year continued growth (due mainly to the resources boom and the demand from India and China for metals); but according to new PM Kevin Rudd, Howard has squandered this advantage by not investing in education and infrastructure.

Australians clearly voted on how they perceived working families were being treated in the Australian economy. The workplace changes the former ruling coalition introduced scrapped unfair dismissal laws and workers dues like overtime penalties and leave entitlements, and just gave too much power to the bosses.

Despite the scare campaign against the trade union movement, most Australians are working people. They thus resisted the campaign to demonize unions, as in union activists wearing ‘union thug’ buttons to satirize the campaign. In the end, Kevin Rudd praised the “great Australian trade union movement” that has been largely responsible for his victory. It also helped Labor that paid advertisements were complemented by a grassroots campaign centered on the “Your Rights at Work (YR@W)” slogan, where activists campaigned hard especially in marginal electoral seats.

Howard has also been out of touch with the Australian people’s opinions with regards to issues like climate change and the Iraq war, leading to a total rejection of his war-mongering and his lack of action on the environment, which has shown Australia the costs of inaction in terms of water shortages and other environmental concerns.

The rise of interest rates in an election period didn’t help much the coalition’s chances. It also didn’t help the coalition that some of its members pulled off a racist stunt by distributing leaflets that tried to frame Labor as supporting convicted bombers in Bali, a sure sign of desperation in the coalition’s final hours. Those members were subsequently booted out from the Liberal party.

It is indeed a referendum on the future, as Australians voted on matters like public health and hospitals, education, interest rates and a national broadband network, which made the popularity of Rudd soar. Rudd commented that Howard may have managed the economy, but has lost touch with modern Australia on new age issues like climate change and the Internet.

What this means of course is that the U.S. will remain the only industrialized nation to reject the Kyoto Protocol, as the new government has sworn to sign it at once. It also plans to withdraw from Iraq, over significant opposition from the new shadow government.

Labor has gained a clear majority even with 3/4 of the votes counted. Even in electorates where Labor lost, a clear swing to Labor was seen, with corresponding swing away from Liberal or National candidates.

Howard has taken responsibility for the coalition’s drubbing. Howard has been one of Australia’s most successful politicians, having been the second longest-serving PM in Australian history, and has been serving his electorate for 33 years. The electoral results, however, have stamped the end of the conservative Howard era.

The Australian elections are an indication of what is being felt throughout the world: the people have tried conservatives and right-wing extremists, and they have seen the drastic results on their lives and that on the planet’s. For far too long, workers’ wages, conditions and bargaining positions have been sacrificed at the altar of the economy or some conservative political agenda, but things are changing. Contributed to Bulatlat

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