RALPH NADER'S 2.7 million votes (3%) in the US Presidential election is a great breakthrough for the Left in the US, and by definition, throughout the world.Nader stood for the Green Party, despite being a member of the US Labor Party, a relatively new formation backed by some unions whose leaders refuse to allow it to stand in elections.

The Socialist Party's sister group in the US, Socialist Alternative joined with many radical trade unionists, environmentalists and especially thousands of youth in participating in Nader's campaign. We did so critically as he offered no socialist alternative despite his devastating critique of US big business and the two major parties who are play things for the rich and powerful.

Nader's rallies were attended by thousands of people, and were far bigger and more youthful than anything Gore, let alone Bush, could attract. Some faint hearts suggested that a vote for Nader could lose Gore the election (which is true) and therefore he was wrong to stand. But if you accept that there is no mass radical alternative in the US and that one needs to be built then there is a logical next step-it must take on the hold of the Democrats over people of colour and trade unionists. The inroads Nader's campaign made in this reactionary stranglehold is far more important than the secondary question of which capitalist gangster won the Presidential election.

For two decades now the Democrats have being shifting to the Right and under Clinton the social security system has been devastated, Iraq bled white, and unions attacked.

The key benefit of the Nader phenomena for socialists is that it lifts the confidence of thousands that a left alternative is possible and brings people into action. This in turn provides a bigger stage for socialists to present their ideas and strategy for the working class and youth. The Greens were hoping for 5% nationally, so that the party would receive massive federal financial funding. This didn't happen but in some states and cities Nader did very well eg 10% in Minneapolis and Alaska, 5% in New York City and 4% in LA. In contrast, far Right candidate Pat Buchanan, of the Reform Party won only 200,000 votes.

Eight years of conservative, arrogant Court Liberal government has brought West Australians markedly reduced living standards and a drastic cut-back in services.

The public sector has been devastated with thousands of workers having lost their jobs and privatisations in many areas of government service. Because of Kierath's deregulation of the labor market, average women's wages are now less than 60% of men's wages. Casualisation in our largely service-sector economy has ballooned. Thousands of workers are living a piecemeal existence, wondering how they will pay the rent and grocery bills. Indeed 12,000 people are homeless in this state. The third highest homelessness per head of population in Australia. 46% of them are of Aboriginal descent.

This is the same Court government that supposedly upholds "family values". The long promised social dividend has never materialised. They are seen as arrogant enemies of ordinary workers, giving themselves $10,000 pay increases, building bell-towers and convention centers in their memory while their business mates are doing thousands of pensioners out of their hard-earned pension funds in the mortgage broking scandal.

Social policy has gone backward under the Liberals. Mandatory Sentencing and other "get tough on crime" measures have seen an alarming increase in prison numbers. Aboriginal people continue to bear a disproportionate burden of joblessness, homelessness, lack of services, imprisonment and suicide. The Court government has aggressively opposed any progress on Gay rights, Aboriginal land rights, Sex worker rights and gender re-assignment legislation. Socially destructive policies of imposing a women's prison on a registered sacred site on Bassendean riverland next to the Swan Valley Nyungah Community are pursued instead. But what will Labor offer us? The Burke years and WA Inc. proved that Labor has shifted to the right. Gallop has supported WA's Mandatory Sentencing laws and other "tough on crime" legislation. Keeping individual contracts with a no-disadvantage test is a cop-out. Promises of increased funding for health and education, for heroin trials and drug law reform and Gay law reform are not promoted. Too often Labor has made promises before elections that they drop after. Only this time, the promises are fewer. Most voters see the major parties as tweedle-dum, tweedle-dee.

Even now during the so-called Boom and the windfall royalties from high oil prices, the state budget is increasingly in debt. The next State government will be faced with a clear choice of increasing taxation on the millionaries or cutting back services for the community. With it's pro-economic rationalist policies, it's clear Labor will not impinge on the profits of business.

Nevertheless, working-class communities will vote for Labor in record numbers in the coming election in an attempt to get the hated and arrogant Court government out. We suggest voters demand representation from Labor and vote for Neil Gray first who will hand your vote to Labor. I will use my profile as an MP to assist the mobilisation of the community against all the economic rationalist anti-worker policies of the next government. Like all Socialist Party members, I put my words into deeds. I have been an activist in Perth for many years, along with the Socialist Party. I have helped many different campaigns, from Trade Union struggles against the Court Government's IR Legislation to anti-racism and Gay Rights campaigns. I helped initiate the Queer Radical Lesbian and Gay Rights group and was arrested while at Pauline Hanson One Nation Protests.

I am one of a number of organisers in the campaign to stop the Court government imposing a prison on a sacred site at metropolitan Bassendean. If elected I will stand on a workers' wage and donate the rest of my parliamentary salary to the workers movement. My accounts will be open for inspection for all. The Socialist Party believes that all working-class representatives must be fully accountable to their community and experience the same living conditions in order to best represent them. I will fight for all the privatised services and utilities to be re-nationalised by the State government with compensation given to those in genuine need.

There should be a massive increase in taxation from big business to provide much-needed funds to eliminate waiting-lists for hospitals and provide decent free education, housing, public transport, and services for all. This massive increase in expenditure on government services could be used to take up the unemployed and provide them with decent long-term skilled jobs.

John Moore, President of the St. Vincent de Paul Society has pointed out that while overall inflation rose by 10.3% from 1994-99, food rose by 15.6% and health costs by 19.1%.

The South Australian government is funding companies $15,000 per job to invest in that State while slashing funding on health and education.

200,000 people were fined for "social security breaches" last year, not surprising as the forms are so complicated. These fines raised $170 million for the Howard government (probably handed straight over to the elite private schools). ACOSS President Michael Raper pointed out that "the most common penalty for a rule infringement was $763-this is higher than the average fine imposed by NSW courts for a break and enter offence ($706)."

Seven years after protestors defending Richmond Secondary College from closure were battened by Victorian Police, some justice was achieved with an out of court financial payout to 30 people last month. The school had been closed by the Kennett government in late 1992, but locals and supporters stopped this by occupying the facility for 360 days and nights.

During this time they ran a "rebel school, and waged a major political and legal campaign against the government's closure order. After being evicted a 13-day picket line was run (which was battened on December 13th 1993) until the government was forced to sit down and reach a settlement with the campaign.

The Socialist Party (then Militant) was part of the leadership of the campaign and three of its members were claimants in the civil action case against the police.

On the 19th October, I was invited by the SouthEastern Division of the Australian Manufacturing Worker's Union to address their Delegates Meeting and inform them of the situation at the Lyndhurst Landfill. I asked them to pass a motion backing our campaign to fight the Lyndhurst Landfill's management: Pacific Waste Management Australia Pty Ltd. I succeeded in getting a motion passed, giving full AMWU support for the campaign, and that the AMWU would be doing their own investigations into the activities of Pacific Waste Management. Obtaining official trade union support is a vital step in any campaign.

Every Saturday morning the Socialist Party is holding a stall at the Dandenong Market, to advise people of the Lyndhurst Landfill, and the threat that it represents. The Dandenong Market stall will be a regular feature of the campaign, so be sure to call in and see it in action. On the first day, three of us were in attendance, and two sheets of petitions were signed and just under $35 was raised.

After speaking at recent demonstration against Bracks and contacting alternative media outlets, such as 3CR and the Indy Media Website, the convenor of the campaign, Ms Robyn Thompson, has received quite a few telephone calls from people interested in being a part of the campaign. Just in case anybody did not see my previous article, Pacific Waste Management have applied for a permit from the EPA to take more toxic waste, and they plan to uncap, or unseal, all of their landfills in order to do this. As the situation currently stands, six of PWM's workers, together with nearby residents have suffered mysterious illnesses, including respiratory ailments, due to the current level of toxicity at the landfill.

One can only imagine that uncapping the landfills will definitely increase the levels of toxic fumes, causing more mayhem to the health of both the landfill's workers and nearby residents. Residents Against Toxic Waste In the South East (RATWISE) are holding a public meeting around 8 PM, following a very brief Annual General Meeting on Thursday, 9th of November. The venue to be the Hampton Park Community Centre, Stuart Ave, Hampton Park. Please come along to this meeting, where we will discuss whatever appropriate action is to be taken. RATWISE also needs more people in their ranks, so it can operate more effectively. Your help will be greatly appreciated. To get involved, please contact either Ms Robyn Thompson ((03) 5996 7036) or Ms Lotte Dawes ((03) 5996 3880).

At the time of writing 70 workers at Brownbuilt were still locked out. They have been picketing their plant, at 382 Huntingdale Rd, Huntingdale for seven weeks.

They are demanding a 5% pay rise each year for the next three years as part of the current round of enterprise bargaining. The boss was only prepared to offer 4%, but seems more concerned to smash the union. Brownbuilt has factories in Sydney and Adelaide and products from these factories are now being distributed in Victoria. To win this dispute the workers will need the support and solidarity of the labour movement and the community.

his dispute is part of the AMWU's Campaign 2000 which has already delivered 15% rise over three years to many of the members. The workers at Brownbuilt have indicated they are prepared to do what it takes to win their dispute. Last week they sent a delegation to Adelaide and staged an occupation of the Melbourne plant. Readers are urged to visit the picket line.

The Community Campaign for Heroin Reform (CCHR) has been busy organising an up coming rally to support the trial of injecting facilities.

The rally will be a joint effort of the injecting facility Alliance groups and other interested groups. We hope to hand over all our petitions on the day. Those from CCHR and the Socialist Party and also CCHR's petition to Melbourne City Council in support of a facility in Melbourne's central business district. Hopefully we will get some more influential people to accept them and put the thousands of names to good use. If anyone has any ideas for the rally or would like to help out please ring Denise (after hours only) on 9489 8103 or Jim on 0409 857657. CCHR and the Alliance hold weekly meetings, if you'd like to come along please phone Denise or Jim for details.

The loony right was appalled. 3AW's shock jocks labeled them canon fodder. Steve Price blamed the parents while Neil Mitchell pompously shook his Grey head in despair.

This was the commercial media's line towards S11's inclusion of young people in the WEF protest at Crown Casino. The 'children' interviewed were lectured, ridiculed and had their views generally discounted by a paternalistic media, horrified that these ungrateful brats dared to discard their Nintendo's and scooters and take up politics.

Why are young people in Australia being alienated? why are their opinions censored, shut down and ridiculed? Perhaps it's because 'the kids' are uneducated. After all, today's students get their information from text books, theories and technology, not from a tabloid newspaper or a commercial radio station. Maybe it's because young people aren't entitled to vote and are therefore not entitled to an opinion.

The world is changing more rapidly than at any point in history. An economic and social system is emerging where former ideas and practices are becoming obsolete every day. Today's youth are at the coal face of this transition and are the ones who will ultimately have to grapple with the consequences of globalization. No group has more right to become politically active, to protest, to have their opinions heard.

Throughout history, youth has been the engine of ideas. It was young people who stopped the Vietnam War, young people who stood in front of tanks in Tienamen Square and young people who broke through the corporate bureaucracy to get aid to Ethiopian famine victims.

We need ideas that reflect the times, we need fresh thought. It's natural for parents to want to protect their children from the world - it's a hard place, but are parents really doing their kids any favours by creating another generation of 1950s clones, a scenario some politicians would prefer? It's young people who inhabit this world - they haven't yet suffered the terrible disability of nostalgia or the inertia and social cowardice that seems to infect many so called adults.

It's a crime to discourage young people from becoming politically active. It's wrong to isolate them from taking an active role in the decision making process.

Trades Hall and leaders of the CFMEU, AMWU, CEPU and TCFUA met with S11 representatives last month for a debrief of the events. The meeting also allowed a dialogue to develop between unions and the Left that will prove useful for future mass demonstrations that will occur against the State Labor government and around May 1st 2001. The Socialist Party will participate in a second meeting on November 22nd.

Last month S11 first aiders met in Collingwood for a traumatic debrief. They also decided to established an ongoing group of union first aiders to be available for future big events by unions and the community. To get involved contact the SP.