Greece eyewitness speaking tour with Green Left correspondent

Green Left Weekly's European correspondent and Socialist Alliance member Dick Nichols, usually based in Barcelona, was in Athens for the historic win. He is speaking across the country about SYRIZA's challenge to austerity and elite rule. Radical leftist party SYRIZA has swept to power in Greece promising to end austerity and threatening to spark an anti-austerity fight-back across Europe. Dick will be speaking this Sunday in Hobart - so don't miss out on this opportunity to learn about this historic victory.

End of Year BBQ

The Hobart Branch of Socialist Alliance invites you to their End of Year BBQ, which will be also be a farewell for Linda and to their last Salamanca stall for the year so please come along and join us. 

Our special guest will be Shamikh Badra who is currently touring Australia as he's the youth and students coordinator for the Palestinian People Party in the Palestinian Gaza Strip - so definitely an event not to be missed!

Vigil for Gaza, Friday 15th August, 5pm at the corner of Murray and Macquarie Streets, Hobart

This Friday we will hold a vigil to stand with the people of Gaza!  We call on the Australian government to: condemn Israel's attack on Gaza and impose diplomatic and trade sanctions on Israel. We call for support for the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.   Please wear red, green or black (Palestinian colours) to the vigil and bring your voices, Palestinian flags, banners, placards, friends and family.  

According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza (PCHR), 9086 people have been injured, Israel has now killed 1922 people during its 33 day assault on Gaza the vast majority of them civilians. More than 300 of those killed have been children.   Israeli targets have included homes, mosques, schools, hospitals, medical centres, ambulances and power and water treatment plants. Even a UN-run school was targeted, killing 15 people and injuring hundreds of women and children who had sought refuge.  

Say NO to Abbott's budget!

Interested in progressive left wing politics? Make sure you come along to see this!

Election Night Party 2014 and we'll also be celebrating the 1000th issue of Green Left Weekly

Meet the Socialist Alliance Candidates in the Tasmanian Election 2014

Socialist Alliance Candidate for Denison,Tasmanian State Election 2014

Shaine Stephen runs a small business in Hobart and lives with his wife in the foothills of Mt Wellington. Shaine is passionate about Tasmania’s potential to be able to deliver the things people really need – a healthy environment, fulfilling jobs, community democracy and good healthcare and housing.

Shaine condemns the recent cuts to health, education and other public services and believes that the government can create jobs, revitalise the economy and look after people by boosting funding to these services. Shaine opposes the partial privatisation of public housing, the attempts to privatise Aurora and the selling of public assets. Instead, he calls for more high-quality, energy efficient public housing to be built and for Tasmania to become powered by 100% renewable energy. He opposes the pulp mill and calls for free, frequent, energy efficient public transport and for an end to handouts to big corporations, especially ones that destroy the environment.

In addition, Shaine supports justice for Aboriginal people and refugees and stands up for workers’ rights, women’s rights and equality for all.

Shaine is an activist committed to building movements that put people and the environment before profit.

A vote for Shaine Stephen and the Socialist Alliance is a vote for a progressive Tasmania!

           

Socialist Alliance Candidate for Franklin, Tasmanian State Election 2014

Jenny Forward grew up in the Huon, where her family has lived for generations, but she now lives in Kingston. She’s well aware of the hardships faced by rural communities and therefore she will stand up for better access to employment, education and training, affordable housing, health care and community services. Jenny will also protect Tasmania’s share of the GST.

She’s currently a public hospital social worker and a union delegate for the CPSU. Jenny has also worked as tenant's advocate and child protection worker so she understands the challenges that many families face in making ends meet. She firmly believes that we need to increase the discount given to Tasmanian pensioners and low-income earners to help them pay their electricity, water, and sewerage bills and explore scrapping water and sewerage charges.

Jenny is also campaigning for: urgent action on climate change, an energy future based on renewables and green jobs, no fracking in Tasmania, no Tamar Valley pulp mill; marriage equality and equal rights for all; public ownership of essential services (including the Hydro) and free and frequent public transport and an increased funding boost for health, education and housing.

A vote for Socialist Alliance is not a vote lost as the full value of your vote will go to your next preference. Your vote for Socialist Alliance sends a clear message to the other parties that there is discontent in the Franklin electorate.

Jenny Forward is standing as a candidate for Socialist Alliance as she believes that together we can build an independent and grass-roots community that places the environment and people before profit. The needs of the battlers must take priority over the greed of big business. Vote for a progressive alternative by voting for Socialist Alliance and join us in the struggle for a better world.

                             

Socialist Alliance Candidates for Tasmanian State Election 2014

 

End of Year BBQ

Celebrate our year of struggle to change Tasmania and the world for the better with the hope that people and the environment count more than corporate capitalist greed at our end of year BBQ. Relax with some scrumptious food, company, drinks and maybe a bit of politics!

Watch our new video from socialist Alliance Hobart

Red Cinema Presents "Capitalism: A Love Story"

Come join us at 6:30 on Friday 2nd March 2012 for cheap meal ($6/$4) followed at 7pm by Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story in which he comes home to the issue he’s been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). ($10/$8) at 225 Murray St, Hobart

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