The Liberal Party Industrial Relations Minister Peter Reith's current 'indiscretion' is a reflection of the contempt that politicians show for the voting public.

But we could hardly consider these sort of occurrences to be a surprise when we take into account the culture of elitism in bourgeois politics. Big business runs so hand in hand with politics, that corporate "gifts" in exchange for favours is completely overlooked. Even in the Telecard scandal Telstra has already dropped $7,000 off the bill simply because Reith is a "good customer". Ordinary Australians who manage to pay their phone bill regularly do not of course get such a discount from Telstra and Optus. This nature of 'grab what you can while you can' shows a lack of faith in party policy and a desperation to grab the last vestigaces of capitalism before it crumbles around their ears.

And don't think for a minute that this is isolated to the Liberal Party with evidence appearing of ballot fixing within the Queensland Labor Party that could see many high figures serving prison sentences and the example of Victorian Education Minister Mary Delahunty's taxpayer funded sun-roof. We can only imagine the paper shredding that is occurring within the Queensland Labor Party right now and in fact in all the bourgeois parties as the rats frantically try to leave the sinking ship.

Even right-wing journalists are calling for Reith's head and the Prime Minister is calling him "a fool". All loyalties are lost as their dog-eat-dog mentality leaves the voting public to reflect the relevance and usefulness of such people.

At the root of this political crisis is a larger capitalist crisis reflected in the nepotistic actions of those we count on to run the country. Absolute contempt for the will of the people is the very pallet capitalism is painted on, continued doubt in the strength of the world economy has seen capitalist politicians grabbing the last of the beer before the party is over.

This rife corruption is a further sign that the bourgeois parties no longer represent the ideas and desires of the working class. Only a new workers' party that is completely accountable to the working class, with the ability to recall its leaders and representatives immediately when unacceptable behaviour is exposed, can ever hope to destroy corruption in politics.

Dear Editor,

Sorry can't be that hard to say. On that basis I would like to say sorry to Paul Keating for being tipped out for John Howard and his miserable lot. I'm sorry Eddie Mabo didn't live long enough to see the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics. I'm sorry reconciliation cannot be achieved until this government is gone.

I'm sorry that many Australians blushed when Keating labelled the Liberals as "scumbags". How correct he was! When Keating said "Australia is in danger of becoming a banana republic" he should have added "after four years of Howard, Costello and Reith Liberal Party rule!

I'm sorry "never ever" wasn't a core promise after all. I'm sorry the record low interest rates and inflation rates delivered by the Labor government have skyrocketed faster than either Peter Reith's phone bills or the price of petrol. I'm sorry our golden dollar is now worth only a silver 50 cent piece. I'm sorry to the 600,000 unemployed for there being more unemployed than job vacancies and I'm sorry mutual obligation doesn't include real jobs, job training or infrastructure projects/spending. Most of all I'm sorry the next Federal election is 12 months away.

Best wishes

Steve Presley, boilermaker,

Morwell, Victoria

Dear Comrades

Thank you for the books and newspaper, "Global Turmoil" was excellent. I would like to join the Socialist Party and also subscribe to the Voice. I am a full time student at the TAFE college in Cairns and would like to leave for distribution at least ten, no more than twenty, copies of the Voice in the library. I have enclosed $50 for membership, subscription and cost of mail.

Regards

Ken Weaving, Bungalow, North Qld.

Joining the Socialist Party (SP) was not a quick decision for me. I had been involved with the Party for a year and a half before I actually joined. The S11 protests where what changed my mind. Watching the operations and leadership within the SP over the three days and in the lead up to S11 was quite remarkable and gave me the opportunity to see in what way SP is different to other left groups.

Before I found it difficult to see the difference. Over the three days of protest the party members were always prepared to put themselves on the line and refused to operate like many other groups (many of which only seemed intent on recruitment and paper sales). I finally realised the power of being part of a group and that it is hard to get anywhere without others support. I don't know now why I waited so long.

Denise Dudley

During October the Melbourne branch raised a total of $501.55 at street stalls and rallies. The Sydney branch raised $213.70 during the same time. We need to donate $1,000 to the growing WA branch to help their historic election campaign

In Melbourne we have increased our activities to three street stalls a week with two in the city and one in Dandenong. The increased involvement of members in street stalls and public activities gives us a much better chance of reaching our targets Already in the first weekend in November the Melbourne branch has raised $233 and then another $60 profit at its Melbourne Cup BBQ.

Send your donations in now, cheques payable to the Socialist Party.

The UN Transitional Authority in East Timor is currently in negotiations with the Australian government over the infamous Timor Gap Treaty, originally signed in 1989.

The CNRT are demanding 90% of the Gap's oil and gas reserves for East Timor. A line drawn exactly between East Timor and Australia would back this ratio, but Canberra is arguing that the line should be between the continental shelf's rather than the respective coastlines!

Currently Indonesia and Australia split the resources 50/50 in a deal signed in 1989. The generous share for Canberra was payment for the then Labor government's support of Indonesian occupation over East Timor. The images of Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans and his Indonesian counterpart Ali Atlas cracking open champagne as they flew over the Timor Gap will never be forgotten by the Timorese masses.

These talks expose the imperialist desires of the Australian ruling class. Last year Howard claimed the military intervention was for humanitarian reasons. In reality he feared that the Indonesian terror would provoke an ongoing civil war in Timor. This could lead to mass "illegal' migration of Timorese people to Australia, and a further deterioration of relations with the Indonesian ruling class that could lead to military and trade conflict and a scrapping of the Timor Gap.

Revenue from oil taxes in the Gap is expected to reach $140 million by 2004. East Timor needs this money more than Australia. However if the CNRT were to nationalise the oil reserves rather than merely cream off taxes, they would get a lot more for their people. US-based Philips Petroleum is planning $2.4 billion in new investment in the Timor Gap so as to pump out 100,000 barrels of liquid gas a day.

THE SOCIALIST Party in the Irish Republic is aiming to win a second seat at next year's General Election. Joe Higgins (Dublin West) has been a brilliant representative for the party and the CWI. We hope to see Clare Daly elected too in the Dublin North constituency. Over the past two decades, the CWI has had the best record in elections of any Marxist or Trotskyist organisation.

Up to 25,000 women assembled in Jubel park, Brussels last month for the end of the European leg of the' World March of Women 2000'. The CWI stall at the Brussels women's demonstration was constantly busy with people from numerous countries expressing an interest in the politics and work of the International. More than 150 of the special leaflets were sold, along with other literature (and sandwiches!). About 30 people gathered for a CWI meeting after the march in a nearby cafe.

The international Executive Committee of the CWI (the international organisation of socialist parties that the SP is affiliated to) is meeting in November in Belgium. SP National Secretary Stephen Jolly is an IEC member and will be attending. He will report back to the SP National Committee on Friday December 8th, and then to the SP/SSG summer camp at Camp Eureka.

On 10 October the people of Sri Lanka went to the polls for their eleventh General Election. The election campaign was marred by violations of the election laws including the death of over 70 people, and numerous violence. There were allegations of large-scale ballot paper smuggling on polling day. Despite these facts, the foreign observer teams including European Union observers that witnessed the proceedings all agreed that the Peoples Alliance's (PA) retention of power was a 'reasonable reflection' of the will of the people. Two local monitoring organisations, the Centre For Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) and the Peoples Alliance For Free And Fair Elections/ Movement For Free And Fair Elections did not agree with this judgement. Despite these corrupt attempts, the ruling PA government has to get the help of minority parties to form a Government while the United National Party (UNP) remain as the main opposition.

The Peoples Liberation Front (JVP-a left nationalist party) become the third major party by winning 10 seats. Main working class-based Left parties could not get significant results due to continuing ethnic polarisation. The United Socialist Party (the Sri Lankan section of the CWI) also contested for this election in two districts.

The newly formed Government consists of many Sinhala (majority) right wing elements who will be opposed to any concessions to the Tamil minority and therefore offers no hope of bringing a peaceful settlement to the ongoing civil war. There were already clashes two weeks a go in the central hill county over the killing of 27 former Tamil rebels and child soldiers by a machette-wielding Sinhalese mob at the Bindunuwewa rehabilitation camp. This led to open old wounds in the bitterly divided country, where government forces have been battling the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) since 1983.