Anger at Anthony Albanese is growing. The cost of living keeps getting worse and all the government can offer is more cuts.
Inflation has jumped to 4.3 per cent. Interest rates are now at an 18-year high after the Reserve Bank hiked borrowing costs for the fifth time this year.
And there is no end in sight to Donald Trump’s disastrous war on Iran, which is pushing up petrol and food prices. He is expected to escalate the war further now the US midterm elections are done.
Instead of any further efforts to protect workers’ living standards Albanese is giving in to the ruling class demands for budget cuts. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says there is “enormous effort being placed … on the savings side” as the government prepares the mid-year budget update.
But it’s not government spending that is driving inflation. Forcing through cuts will do nothing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or push down oil prices. All it will mean is more pain for workers.
Albanese’s failures are boosting One Nation and their racist demands to cut immigration.
Victorian election
The outcome of the Victorian election on 28 November, a test for both One Nation and the major parties, will be felt around the country.
Here a Labor government even more unpopular than Albanese is facing electoral wipeout. Like federal Labor, Victorian Labor Premier Ben Carroll has sought to respond to his government’s falling popularity by moving to the right.
Carroll has attacked public sector workers, trying to hold down wages in a cost-of-living crisis.
He has promised to be more pro-business and launched a royal commission into the CFMEU that will lead to more anti-union measures.
Victoria faces a very right-wing government under Liberal leader Jess Wilson. One Nation is polling around 20 per cent. The Liberals may be forced into coalition with One Nation if it wins lower house seats.
Even if the Liberals win government in their own right, One Nation is almost certain to take the balance of power in the upper house—meaning the Liberals will need their support for any legislation. One Nation will demand even more racist and reactionary policies.
The Liberals have promised to cut the state’s debt as well as reduce taxes. This is likely to lead to cuts well beyond the attack on public sector jobs they have already announced.
They will axe support for the Treaty with First Nations people and impose even more draconian bail and sentencing laws that will throw more Indigenous and African youth into prison.
The Liberals also want to attack the right to protest through a permit system for demonstrations and police move-on powers to disperse protesters. This is targeted at support for Palestine in particular, alongside plans to ban the slogan “Globalise the Intifada”.
In Victoria, whether you vote Greens, Labor or socialist at the election to stop the right—preferencing Labor above the Liberals and putting One Nation last—what’s more important is organising to resist the Liberals and One Nation afterwards.
The Unite against Racism protests against One Nation and the far right have made an important start in bringing together activists from across unions and the left.
The public sector union strikes in the lead up to the election by teachers and school staff, council workers, doctors and allied health workers show the possibility of working class resistance to falling real wages and the Liberals’ plans.
Global revolt
The revolt spreading across Europe shows what’s needed to fight cuts and falling living standards, as well as push back the far right. The high school student protests in France, which blockaded and shut down the school system, have transformed the political situation.
Instead of the far right setting the agenda students and workers have shown that it’s possible to resist the cuts to education and public services and fight to improve living standards.
The student protests have become a lightning rod for a much broader fightback, with enormous demonstrations weekend after weekend. There is serious pressure on the union leaders to call action, with a general strike being held on 5 November as we go to press.
In Portugal and Spain there have been mass protests over the cost of housing. In Albania, Italy and Germany as well as in India young people and workers have taken to the streets.
One Nation and the far right feed off despair about housing prices and the cost of living, diverting anger onto migrants and refugees. The revolt in Europe has polarised society on class lines, pointing the finger at the billionaires and CEOs who are responsible for destroying our lives and our future. The strikes are a glimpse of the working class power that can shut down capitalism.
We need to bring this spirit of global rebellion here.
