|
Hi
Could you please let me know your partys' views and policies
on welfare. In particular, I would be interested to know your
views on the work for the dole scheme, equality and tax reform.
I would also like to know how your party stands in relation to
One Nation. I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
LM
Dear LM,
The Socialist Equality Party's views on welfare express the fundamental
principle on which our party is based--social equality. Welfare
assistance--including unemployment and sickness benefits and
payments for single parents--must be a basic right, available
to all who need it.
Over the past 15 years, cuts to welfare programs and the reduction
in levels of payments have been accompanied by a strident ideological
campaign aimed at discrediting the entire concept of government
provision of welfare. Politicians from the Labor Party through
to One Nation declare at every opportunity that welfare recipients
can no longer expect to receive "something for nothing".
The familiar catchwords such as "government handouts"
and "dole-bludgers" (the latter term coined more than
twenty years ago by ALP leader Clyde Cameron) are aimed at blaming
the poorest and most oppressed sections of the working class
for problems which are, at root, social in character. More recently
new terms have been coined, such as "mutual responsibility",
"reciprocal obligation".
From this standpoint, the SEP is completely opposed to all work-for-the-dole
schemes. If society cannot provide workers with adequate employment,
then the unemployed should be provided with benefits equivalent
to a living wage. While the professed purpose of the work-for-the-dole
schemes is training and self-esteem for the unemployed, their
real aim is to hand employers a pool of cheap labour which can
be used to replace the existing workforce. In this way work-for-the-dole
serves not only to undermine the rights of those involved, but
to lower the wages and conditions of all working people.
The principle of social equality is that goods and services should
be available to all on the basis of need. Of course, the needs
of the population in 1998 are far different from those of 100
years ago. Social equality does not refer simply to the provision
of food, clothing and shelter. To function as a full and active
member in modern society all workers and young people must have
access to the most important products of modern technology and
communications, as well as culture and recreation.
Genuine social equality will never be achieved under capitalism.
The capitalist market, which produces and distributes goods and
services on the basis of profit, is inherently regressive and
unjust. The present tax system is a perfect example. Under the
Keating Labor government, corporate tax rates were reduced from
49 percent to 36 percent (then raised slightly to 39 percent)
resulting in estimated savings for big business of $17 billion
a year. According to a recent report from the Australian Taxation
Office the majority of taxation is raised from ordinary PAYE
wage earners.
As a first step toward redressing the growth of inequality, the
SEP advocates a progressive taxation system. All personal income
over $150,000 a year should be taxed 100 percent while the taxes
paid by ordinary workers should be lowered, cutting out altogether
for earnings under $20,000. In this way billions of dollars would
be made available to vastly upgrade and expand public health,
education, transport and areas of social endeavour such as science
and the arts.
Your final question concerns the SEP's attitude toward Pauline
Hanson's One Nation party. One Nation is an extreme right wing
nationalist organisation, which seeks to divide the working class
on the basis of race and nationality and in this way divert attention
from the real cause of the social crisis, which lies in the operation
of the profit system. The conditions for its emergence, and rapid
growth, have been created by the policies of both Labor and Liberal
governments. In fact, the growth of right-wing and fascist groups
is part of an international phenomenon, which raises before the
working class the urgent need to build a new mass party based
on a socialist program and advancing a progressive solution to
the growth of unemployment and poverty.
Hanson's nationalism is simply one end of a continuum that stretches
through all the other capitalist parties-Labor, Liberal, National,
the Democrats, the Greens--right through to the middle class
radical protest organisations, such as the Democratic Socialist
Party, Resistance and the ISO. In advocating tariff protection,
foreign investment controls and rural subsidies, One Nation represents,
not the interests of the working class, but those sections of
business, large and small, that have been unable to compete on
global markets.
The SEP's program is grounded on internationalism. As we explain
in our election statement, "the fundamental division in
society is not between 'Australians' and 'others', but between
those in every country who have to work in order to live, and
those who profit from their labour."
We advocate an end to all forms of immigration control and restriction,
so that anyone can live in the country of their choice, with
full citizenship rights and full access to social benefits, including
welfare payments.
We would be interested to hear your own views on these issues.
With regards,
Laura Mitchell
For the SEP
Further Reading:
Extreme
right-wing gains in Queensland election
A critical turning point in Australian politics
[24 June 1998]
25
years since the Henderson inquiry
Poverty and inequality worsen in Australia
[8 April 1998] |