IVF and Politics The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, August 23rd, 2000. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au> Subscription rates on request. ****************************** IVF and politics Behind the uproar over the Federal Government's intention to amend the Sex Discrimination Act so that single women and lesbian couples may be denied access to IVF programs, lies some deep political manoeuvring, even conspiracy. There is much more to it than an act of blatant discrimination against some women. Behind the stands being taken are hard-headed political calculations and little principle. So hurried was the decision of the Liberal Party caucus that it voted to go ahead with amendments without even seeing a draft of the proposed legislation. But what about the ructions in the Labor Party created by Joe De Bruyn, National Secretary of the Shop Distributive Union, and John Della Bosca who suddenly jumped into prominence when he called for the abandonment of the ALP's policy to roll back the GST? It has to be remembered that both men come from the extreme right- wing of the right-wing of the ALP. Both men are calling for a conscience vote when the IVF Bill comes before Parliament. The defection of only two ALP members in the Senate would give Howard a victory. Some go so far as to suggest that those who are "wrestling with their conscience" over the IVF issue might cross the floor and vote with the Coalition Parties. There are those who would justifiably say that once having crossed the floor they should stay there and join the Liberal Party where they rightly belong. But this is not their game. It is necessary to have a look at the present political situation and recall some history to understand what is really involved. It is extremely unlikely that the Coalition could win the next election given the disillusionment with the Government in the countryside, the GST impact that has yet to hit home, the possibility of higher inflation and rising interest rates. In these circumstances the ALP would be favoured to win government. Despite the fact that in some circumstances the ruling powers in our society do not mind having a Labor Government in office, the coming period is not one of them. It is all about power and control. The big corporations want their direct representatives in power in the crunch period ahead. Furthermore, the ALP has made a number of pledges on industrial questions whose implementation would be of benefit to the working people and the trade union movement. A sizable bust-up in the Labor Party is one event that could significantly increase the Coalition's chances of scrambling back. The extreme right-wing of the Labor Party has played the game of spoiler once before. The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) successfully kept Labor Governments out of office over a number of elections in the 1950s and early 1960s. The DLP was the product of Catholic Action whose virulent anti-communism and conservatism included as one of its objectives the re-election of Coalition Governments while keeping Labor out. The Catholic Action nest of traitors was kicked out of the Labor Party when Dr H V Evatt called a special conference of the ALP in 1956 to do just that. People such as De Bruyn and John Della Bosca are the silent continuers of DLP politics although they are now coming out into the open. A similar operation as that performed by Doc Evatt is needed now, but is Kim Beazley another Evatt? At the recent ALP conference held last month, Della Bosca and De Bruyn were seemingly embraced by the top leadership of the Party. In fact, Beazley actually quietly rolled back his commitment concerning rolling back the GST presumably in deference to the views of Della Bosca. There is a view in the labour movement that no-one should "rock the boat" and that everything should be decided by consensus with everything worked out behind closed doors. But years of pursuing this philosophy, in the Labor Party and in the trade union movement has seen the right-wing (who only reached consensus on their own terms) strengthened while the voice of the left was submerged into the quagmire of right-wing politics. Unless the boat is rocked sometimes, how is it possible for the people to see what difference there is between right-wing and left-wing politics in the trade union movement or between the Liberal and Labor Parties? -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
