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Issue No. 164 | 06 December 2002 |
The Politics of Security
Interview: Trade Secrets Industrial: It�s About Overtime, Stupid Unions: Full Steam Ahead Bad Boss: The BBQ Battle Axe Economics: Different Dimensions of Debt History: Raking the Coals History Special: Wherever the Necessity Exists History Special: Learning from the Past History Special: A 'Cosy Relationship' Politics: Regime Change for Saddam International: World War Corporate: Industrious Thinking Review: Jack High Culture: Duffy�s Song Satire: A Nation of Sooks Poetry: Mr Flexibility
African Immigration Scam Widens School Staff Block Parents� Pay Yarra Operators Dodge Accident Probe Financial Windfall in Radio Sale Vic Anti-Union Campaign Backfires Coles Myer Breaks Out Of Sweat Police Sick of Being Kicked Around Jobless Dumped on Drought Farms Men Only Scholarships Hit Snag
The Soapbox Awards The Locker Room Bosswatch Month In Review
The Golden (Th)Ong Overtime Cap is Flawed Outsourced Education
Labor Council of NSW |
Editorial The Politics of Security
As a junior media officer with the Carr Government circa 1996 I remember it being drummed into me: "safety and security" - we had to put the words in every media release; industrial relations, transport, health and of course that hoary old chestnut law and order got the treatment. They've been playing the security card up at Macquarie Street ever since: making people feel scared, then convincing the same people to thank them for getting tough on the things they fear. This week, the NSW Police signalled they'd had enough of this politicising of law and order. I suspect most of the public has too; after all the fear has moved onto a much broader international stage. It is insecurity that drives anti-globalisation and the Fair Trade movement, as well as the reactionary Hansonism that John Howard has absorbed into his own political doctrine. And then security became terror as September 11 and October 12 shook us from insular complacency to insular paranoia. All of which is why John Howard is still in The Lodge and the Federal ALP is in disarray - a party seduced by opinion polls and the easy grab is now caught in the wedge between its conscience and the flaws in its modern modus operandi. Labor is stuck in a phoney discourse that requires a 'tough government' digging in and defending us from our perceived and real vulnerability to the dangerous hordes; to the Other. Labor will never win on this turf. As the Party of change it needs to shift the debate to the broader stage about values. Values not fear. The debate surrounding asylum seekers is threshold because it reflects the broader dilemma facing the ALP. Labor values demand it take a position that will actually make it harder to win short-term political backing. It is this long-termism and the necessary pain that Labor must conquer before it will win office federally again. A dialogue based on Labor values of fairness, equity and, yes compassion. As a movement we need more federal MPs like Carmen Lawrence, prepared to put values above expediency to give us a Party worth fighting for. The challenge for the union movement is to support Lawrence and others, from all factions, who are prepared to stand up for true Labor values. Because only when they are prepared do this, will they also be prepared to promote a union agenda. As one ALP Insider observed this week: "when Australians want a piss-weak, do-nothing, middle of the road government, we're a shoe in". They don't, they won't and they never will. Until the Federal ALP accepts it has to stand on its principles, even in the face of opinion polls and right wing ranters, it deserves to languish in Opposition. Peter Lewis Editor This is our last weekly edition for the year. Our bumper Year in Review Edition will be posted on December 20
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