from GREEN LEFT WEEKLY, 20 August, 2001 - www.greenleft.org.au
Socialist Alliance does well in NT poll
BY RUTH RATCLIFFE
DARWIN � After 26 years in government, the Country Liberal Party was rocked
by a 9% swing against it in the August 18 Northern Territory elections.
The final result will not be known for several days, but it is likely that
Labor will win 13 seats, the CLP 10 and independent candidates two. Before
the election, the ALP held only seven of the 25 seats in the NT parliament.
The Socialist Alliance polled well in its first state/territory election
campaign. In Nightcliff, NT Socialist Alliance convenor Gary Meyerhoff won
4.2% of the vote; in Fannie Bay, Peter Johnston won 4%; and in Wanguri,
Meredith De Landelles won 3%.
"Development, law and order, jobs" was the pre-election mantra of both
Territory Labor and the CLP. The Socialist Alliance campaign also focused
on the law and order issue but, in opposition to the Labor-CLP consensus,
the alliance held regular campaigning stalls and actions against the new
Public Order and Anti-Social Conduct Act and mandatory sentencing.
At an August 16 public forum organised by the Socialist Alliance,
Aboriginal Legal Aid Service lawyer Peter O'Brien explained why it was not
an exaggeration to say that under the CLP the territory had become a police
state. He noted that the anti-social conduct bill had been drafted by
senior police officers � indicating a breakdown of the constitutional
separation between the legislature and executive � and that both major
parties had announced their public order policies at the Police
Association's annual conference. O'Brien also pointed out that since the NT
government's agreement with the federal government to introduce
diversionary programs in addition to mandatory sentencing, all of the
funding for this program ($20 million over four years) will be controlled
by the police.
The day before the elections, the NT Socialist Alliance organised the third
successful action against the CLP government's draconian anti-social
conduct act. One hundred protesters gathered outside Parliament House and
reaffirmed their opposition to the new law and the racist policies being
promoted by both the CLP and Labor.
The NT Socialist Alliance campaign against the anti-social conduct act has
received national support through solidarity actions organised on August 17
by the alliance outside NT Travel Centre offices in many capital cities.
During the election campaign the Socialist Alliance also participated in
the launch of a refugee sanctuary network in Darwin. The federal government
plans to build a new detention centre in Darwin and is currently
investigating possible sites. Continuing the campaign for refugee rights
and against any new detention centres will be an ongoing part of the
activity of the Socialist Alliance.
"Before we'd even seen the first results I knew we'd run a massively
successful campaign", Gary Meyerhoff told Green Left Weekly. "However, we
are very pleased that as a result of raising the voice of dissent in
opposition to the Labor-CLP consensus � speaking up for indigenous rights,
for youth, for drug-users and for workers � we have also received a decent
number of votes in all the electorates we contested."
--
Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/
Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink
Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
