It’s not enough to ‘punish Labor’: We need to build a real alternative

“Labor has betrayed us” is now a strong sentiment among large numbers of trade unionists, who are outraged at the Anthony Albanese government’s union-busting assault on the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU).

The attack has been applauded by building industry bosses, who are now trying to renege on enterprise bargaining agreements so they can cut wages, conditions and weaken safety standards on the job.

Australia’s Palestinian and Lebanese communities, and their supporters against Israel’s genocidal war, also feel betrayed by Labor.

First Nations communities are being betrayed as Labor presides over the racist criminalisation of poverty. Its “law and order” push inflicts yet another traumatic cycle of incarceration, forced removals of children and deaths-in-custody on the original custodians of this continent.

Supporters of peace and justice rightly feel betrayed.

Labor has gone along with the Coalition’s all-the-way-with-the-United States imperialist war policy by endorsing and excusing more and more bloody wars. It is also committing hundreds of billions of dollars in public funds to dangerous weapons projects, such as the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines.

While the CEOs and shareholders in the global arms industry rub their hands in glee, ordinary folk suffer, as money is being diverted from programs that could address urgent social and environmental needs.

People fighting for real action in the face of the global climate crisis are also furious at the betrayal by a Labor government, which claims to support climate action, but continues to approve the expansion of coal and gas mining.

Millions of people, hurting badly from the cost-of-living and housing crises, also feel betrayed by a government headed by a prime minister that forever reminds us he grew up in public housing, yet sings the same tune as the big landlords and property developers who are stubbornly defending capital gains and negative gearing tax scams.

Families struggling to service their mortgages also feel betrayed by a government that stands back as the Reserve Bank of Australia makes working people bear the pain of “fighting inflation”, while the corporate monopolies are allowed to carry on price-gouging and profiteering.

With local government elections in Victoria, the Queensland election on October 26 and a federal election before next May, calls to “punish Labor” are being voiced by many. But how do we do this without bringing in Coalition governments that will even hurt us more?

Should we just accept Labor as the lesser evil and turn a blind eye to its betrayals? This is what some trade union bureaucrats are urging their members to do, in what has become a familiar display of self-serving political gutlessness.

The call to turn our backs on Labor will lead many workers to vote for the Coalition or the small far-right parties.

Simply voting Labor will be a green light it to continue betraying us — on all fronts.

The conditions to build a real left-wing alternative to the major parties do exist.

Voters are increasingly distrustful of the major parties. The September 30 YouGov poll found that Labor’s primary vote is down to 30%, with the Coalition on 39% and the Greens at 14%. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s “satisfaction rate” was –22: that is, 36% were satisfied and 58% dissatisfied.

The simple fact is that it is not enough to “punish Labor” in the coming elections. The real challenge is to build a political alternative to Labor that will act for the majority, not slavishly serve the billionaire class.

While that working-class political alternative does not yet exist, we must use the coming elections to strengthen some of the forces that will eventually have to come together if there is to be a real political alternative to the bankrupt two-parties-for-the-rich system.

In the meantime, using the preferential voting system does allow you to maximise your political impact by making sure that Peter Dutton’s Coalition and the far-right parties are put last.

Where there are socialist candidates, Socialist Alliance urges you to give them your first preference and your second to the Greens.

Where there are no socialist candidates, we urge you to give the Greens candidate your first preference.

However, simply voting socialist and Greens is not enough.

The type of working-class political alternative we need must be able to help build the movements in our communities, campuses and workplaces. It has to be campaigning every day for progressive change, not just at elections.

Joining the Socialist Alliance, an activist-based party committed to real system change, will allow you make a bigger difference.

[Sue Bull, Jacob Andrewartha and Sam Wainwright are the national co-convenors of the Socialist Alliance.]