Socialist Alliance Media Release

Socialist Alliance outrage over the state government budget, including dangerous cuts to mental health services

5 August 2011

Socialist Alliance members were outraged by the harsh neo-liberal budget handed down by the Tasmanian Labor-Greens government on June 16. The government has pushed for and then backed down on a plan to close 20 schools. Now the government wants to slash over $110 million from the health budget in the next financial year alone. Mental health services in the south of the state have been one of the first targets.

Inpatient and community teams have been told that they will lose clinical case management, nursing, allied health, admin, emergency crisis worker and diversional therapy positions. Staff at the 12-bed mental health residential facility in Campbell St have been told that the service will be closed down or transferred to an NGO and the Department is even considering outsourcing the Mental Health Helpline - the critical gateway into the service which is responsible for responding to crisis calls! Staff have expressed anger and alarm to Socialist Alliance about the impact that these proposed cuts will have on people with serious mental illnesses who need treatment and support.  

All the community mental health teams already have big waitlists for people needing case management. Existing staffing resources are not enough to meet even the current needs of the seriously mentally ill. Professor Patrick McGorry has convincingly explained that mental health services in this country remain drastically under-funded in comparison to other health services. Burnout, stress and work overload is already an issue amongst Tasmanian mental health staff.

“If the Health Minister goes ahead with plans to cut all these frontline clinical positions, we will see more people with serious mental health conditions going untreated and unsupported and the stress on existing clinicians will be extreme. This is likely to lead to more hospital admissions, more social disruption, greater physical harm and more risk of suicides,” warned Linda Seaborn, spokesperson for the Socialist Alliance.

Seaborn asked “How can these cuts make economic sense when you consider the long-term costs to our community of not treating illnesses early? This is true even if you just consider the economic costs of increased hospital admissions and potential loss of working capacity.” The Socialist Alliance says “Hands off mental health services’ frontline positions!”

Socialist Alliance members are disappointed that Greens MPs are supporting and actively implementing this budget. Greens leader and MP Nick McKim said in a media release: “The Greens welcome the move to a new fiscal strategy.” He said that they have “rolled up their sleeves” to take “tough remedial budget action” and they won’t “shirk from this responsibility”. 

 “This Labor-Green government has got its priorities all wrong”, said Rose Matthews, spokesperson for the Socialist Alliance. “The government is punishing ordinary people by slashing into the services we really need. Nobody believes that you can axe millions of dollars and over a thousand jobs from health, education, and police without leading to poorer services.  They may even slash the Royal Hobart Hospital’s budget by 20% ($70 million), the Launceston General Hospital by $39 million according to reports today. Grassroots workers will be the ones to face the sack, not the top-levels of the bureaucracy.” 

The Socialist Alliance pledges to stand side-by-side with the mental health and other public sector workers that are currently campaigning against cuts to their services.

“In fact, we need to defend health, education, housing and child protection services across the board.   Cuts will lead to the most vulnerable people in our community suffering. They will also result in a loss of skilled staff to the mainland and more flow-on unemployment in the private sector,” Matthews said.

“Governments need to stimulate the economy by maintaining a strong public sector and investing in jobs, especially in times of economic crisis.”

Yet Premier Lara Giddings is too eager to listen to its ex-TCCI (Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) economist who she recruited to be her senior advisor. Roz Madsen from Unions Tasmania pointed out that last year, the state government cut land tax, payroll tax and tax on betting exchanges which led to a reduction of $185 million in government income. The government has also spent taxpayers’ money on propping up Gunns and other favored businesses, with no public benefit.

The Socialist Alliance advocates an alternative approach that protects services and boosts the economy. We call on the government to:

-          Boost grassroots professional jobs in essential services like health, mental health, education, child protection, ambulance services etc to meet the needs of all Tasmanians

-          Take up the offer of the Federal Government to fund 50% of an evidence-based EPPIC (Early Psychosis) treatment service for young people, which we badly need in this state.  

-          Invest in rail, renewable energy, national parks and public housing, going into debt in the short-term if necessary, in order to stimulate jobs and the economy

Instead of slashing essential services, they could balance the budget by doing things like:

-          End subsidies and pay-outs to Gunns and other private companies (especially when there are no guarantees of long-term jobs)

-          Increase corporate payroll tax

-          Increase mining royalties significantly from the meager rate of 5.5%

-          Reduce the frivolous budget spent on maintaining a full-time governor and Government House

-          Charge market rates to the three big corporate electricity users instead of selling our electricity to them at below-cost

-          Tax the excess gaming profits made by Federal Hotels (which according to Greg James on Tasmanian Times, amounts to $225 million per annum)

-          Take action to recoup the $721,000 owed to the government by the Walker Corporation for planning costs associated with their failed Ralph’s Bay marina application

-          Return water and sewerage to council control

-          Reduce parliamentary and top-bureaucrat perks, privileges, superannuation and wages

225 Murray St, Hobart, TAS 7000 Phone: (03) 6234 6397  

hobart@socialist-alliance.org

Socialist Alliance expresses outrage over the state government budget, calls for a socially just alternative.

24 June 2011

Socialist Alliance members were outraged by the harsh neo-liberal budget handed down by the Tasmanian Labor-Greens government on June 16.

The budget slashes a total of $1.4 billion from the public sector over the next four years, including a $100 million cut to health within the next financial year and the closing of 20 schools. Up to 1700 full-time equivalent jobs will be scrapped, including 100 police jobs. The 5 per cent cap on water price rises was increased to 10 per cent, meaning price rises of up to $100 per quarter for households.

Public sector workers will have their pay rises capped at 2 per cent a year, with the possibility of an extra 0.5 per cent through productivity improvements, still well below rising inflation and cost of living increases.

The government has also passed laws to make it easier to sack public servants by limiting the redeployment period from twelve to six months. Both Labor and the Greens gave a public commitment before the last state elections that they would not sack public sector workers.

We are shocked and disappointed that Greens MPs are supporting and actively implementing this agenda. Greens leader and MP Nick McKim said in a media release: “The Greens welcome the move to a new fiscal strategy… [it’s] a welcome change of position from Labor.” He said that they have “rolled up their sleeves” to take “tough remedial budget action” and they won’t “shirk from this responsibility”. As Education Minister, McKim is now leading the charge to close down 20 public sector schools.

 “This Labor-Green government has got its priorities all wrong”, said Shaine Stephen, spokesperson for the Socialist Alliance. “The government is punishing ordinary people by slashing into the services we really need. Nobody believes that you can axe millions of dollars and over a thousand jobs from health, education, police and other services without leading to poorer services.”  

The Socialist Alliance pledges to stand side-by-side with the communities that are fighting for the survival of their schools.

“The fact that savings from 20 school closures have already been included in the budget suggests that McKim’s pledge to visit those schools and consult with them doesn’t mean much”, Mr Stephen said. “We understand that in some rural areas and tight-knit communities, schools can be the lifeblood and the centre of those communities. Closing them down, against the wishes of teachers, parents and students, could devastate those communities and seriously impair those children’s education. It’s also bad for the health of families and the environment because instead of parents being able to walk their children to school, children will need to travel long distances by road.” 

Socialist Alliance also pledges to assist public sector workers and their unions in their fight to protect jobs and services. Rose Matthews, Co-Convener of Hobart Socialist Alliance, said: “We have members working in mental health, acute health, education and child protection and they are saying loud and clear that these services are already struggling. They also worry that the workers left behind won’t be able to deal with the stress of increasing workloads when jobs are cut.”

Ms Matthews continued: “Some people think of the public sector as being full of over-paid department heads and paper-pushing bureaucrats but actually research by Anglicare shows that the increase in public sector job numbers in recent years has been mainly through more dentists, doctors, teachers, ambulance officers, allied health professionals and nurses. We know that grassroots workers will be the ones to face the sack, not the top-levels of the bureaucracy.” 

Socialist Alliance also believes that these actions will be bad for the economy. Many economists, including authors of the report by the University of Newcastle’s Centre of Full Employment and Equity commissioned by the unions, say that these cuts will have a negative flow-on effect into the private sector and raise unemployment. Governments need to stimulate the economy by maintaining a strong public sector and investing in jobs, especially in times of economic crisis.

Yet Premier Lara Giddings is too eager to listen to its ex-TCII (Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) economist who she recruited to be her senior advisor. Roz Madsen from Unions Tasmania pointed out that last year, the state government cut land tax, payroll tax and tax on betting exchanges which led to a reduction of $185 million in government income. The government has also spent taxpayers’ money on propping up Gunns and other favored businesses, with no public benefit.

The Socialist Alliance advocates an alternative approach that protects services and boosts the economy. We call on the government to:

-          End subsidies to Gunns and other private companies (especially when there are no guarantees of long-term jobs)

-          Increase corporate payroll tax

-          Reverse land tax cuts

-          Increase mining royalties significantly from the meager rate of 5.5%

-          Reduce the frivolous budget spent on maintaining a full-time governor and Governor House

-          Reform forestry – cancel native forest logging permits to big companies like Gunns without compensation and instead seek to maximize the carbon storage and tourism value of our forests while supporting a transition for workers into a small-scale value-adding timber industry.

-          Charge market rates to the three big corporate electricity users instead of selling our electricity to them at below-cost

-          Tax the excess gaming profits made by Federal Hotels (which according to Greg James on Tasmanian Times, amounts to $225 million per annum)

-          Take action to recoup the $721,000 owed to the government by the Walker Corporation for planning costs associated with their failed Ralph’s Bay marina application

-          Return water and sewerage to council control

-          Reduce parliamentary and top-bureaucrat perks, privileges, superannuation and wages

-          Invest in rail, renewable energy, national parks and public housing, going into debt in the short-term if necessary, in order to stimulate jobs and the economy

-          Boost grassroots professional jobs in essential services like health, mental health, education, child protection, ambulance services etc to meet the needs of all Tasmanians 

For more info:  Shaine Stephen: 0422 849 641   

Rose Matthews: 0407 550 805

Press Release: Socialist Alliance opposes refugee detention centre at Pontville

Socialist Alliance opposes refugee detention centre at Pontville, calls for community-based processing and housing of refugees.

15 April 2011

The Hobart branch of the Socialist Alliance was angered to hear of the plans to build a refugee detention camp in Pontville , Tasmania because we oppose mandatory detention of refugees. We call on the federal government to use community-based processing and settlement alternatives that respect human rights. “We want to welcome refugees into the state and into our communities, not see them locked up behind barbed wire”, said Jenny Forward, Socialist Alliance’s refugee spokesperson. 

“Mandatory detention is inhumane and breaches fundamental human rights. The treatment of asylum seekers in this country has been shameful and we do not want our state to continue this legacy. The detention process has resulted in the intensification of trauma and irreparable mental health issues. Furthermore the entrustment of the detention centres to a privatised company, Serco, shamelessly prioritises corporate profit over human lives”, Forward said.

The suicide of Mohammed Asif Atay in Curtin detention centre on March 28 was the sixth known refugee to die in detention in the past seven months. Victoria Martin-Iverson from the Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) in Perth said she was told there was a suicide attempt every day at the Christmas Island detention centre.

Socialist Alliance is pleased to hear that there are plans to house women and children in the community, but we call on the government to also treat the 400 men who will be imprisoned at Pontville in the same way. “They do not need to be kept under 24 hour guard while their applications are assessed. The Kosovo refugees were not locked up in this way – they were free to come and go at will - so neither should these current refugees be locked up,” Forward said.

Refugees are not criminals. Mandatory detention was only brought into effect in Australia in 1994.  Australia is the only developed country in the world that detains asylum seekers who arrive without a valid visa. "Understandably some in the Tasmanian community resent that $15 million will be spent on preparing the detention centre at Pontville when many public services are facing cut backs. The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre states that it is widely recognised by the UNHCR, an Australian parliamentary enquiry into the cost of detention centres and DIAC that community arrangements are far more cost effective than a detention centre," Forward said.

“We support the protests that will be held by refugee advocates at the Curtin, Villawood and Maribyrnong detention centres over the Easter weekend to call for an end to mandatory detention. In summary, we would welcome a project for housing new migrants and refugees in Tasmania but we oppose the building of yet another refugee detention camp”, Forward said.

For more info: Jenny Forward 0400 701 902

Resource public services, not Gunns! For a healthy, socially just, sustainable and democratic state

  

 225 Murray St, Hobart, TAS 7000 / Phone: (03) 6234 6397 / hobart@socialist-alliance.org

Socialist Alliance opposes Gunns’ pulp mill, calls for referendum

24 March 2011

Socialist Alliance condemns the recent decision by Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke to give final approval to Gunn’s Tamar Valley pulp mill. Socialist Alliance also opposes the decision by the State government to continue propping up the mill by promising to build mill-related infrastructure for Gunns.

“We could never support the Gunns pulp mill in the Tamar Valley, due to the corrupt nature with which it was approved,” said Susan Austin, Socialist Alliance spokesperson. “In addition we oppose it because of its likely toxic effects on the environment and the community.”

Socialist Alliance joins with other community and environment groups in expressing grave concern about water usage, toxic effluent, odours, air pollution, greenhouse emissions, wood-fired power processes and the intensification of an already-harmful plantation industry in the state.   

“The permits for the mill must be revoked by the state and federal governments. Approval for any pulp mill needs to pass a rigorous, independent scientific assessment, such as the RPDC,” Austin said.

“Further, we acknowledge that there have been serious social and environmental issues concerned with pulp mills in general, wherever they have been built and therefore we believe that this and all other pulp mill proposals should in addition be subjected to a Tasmania wide referendum. This is a much more accurate way to determine the social license for any pulp mill and will allow everyone to have a say about whether we want a pulp mill or not,” said Austin.

Socialist Alliance also supports campaigns around the world by other communities who are also battling similar pulp mills.

“There will be no jobs on a dead planet. There are many ways that the government can support jobs and the environment, but supporting this toxic, job-poor project is definitely not one of them!” Austin concluded.

For more info: Susan Austin 0418 643 133