Giving the Democrats a serve
For many years, callers looking for the Australian Democrats have rung the Democratic Socialist Party after being given its number by directory assistance. Usually, DSP activists tell the confused callers that the Democrats are a capitalist party and have nothing in common with the Democratic Socialists. However, they give the caller the Democrats' number if they really want it.
Over the past two weeks, the numbers of concerned and even abusive calls to complain about the Democrats' support for Howard's GST have reached a record high. The DSP's Sydney office on May 28 and 29 was getting calls every five minutes, on two separate lines.
The number of callers gives just a glimpse of how many people are angry at the Democrats. The DSP, which shares that anger and urges people to direct it at the right target, has asked 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly to publish the Australian Democrats' phone numbers as a "public service".
Please direct your complaints with gusto to: (02) 9901 3711 (NSW office), (02) 6267 1059 (Canberra), (0419) 867 876 or (0411) 430 367 (Meg Lees' office). You can e-mail a rude message from the Democrats' web page at .