Janet Powell
How do you see alternative, independent and green politics developing after the March 13 elections?
If I am re-elected, I anticipate that in the Senate there will be six or seven Democrats, myself, Christabel Chamarette plus another WA Green senator, a Tasmanian and Queensland Green and possibly a Green from NSW. So there will be a larger alternative group on the Senate crossbenches, with the balance of power shared by them.
Greens will have a bigger presence and add to the resistance to the conservative push in parliament on issues like the industrial relations, the GST and environment.
If a Labor government is re-elected, the presence of myself and other independent and Green senators will be important to raise issues like social justice, public housing and the environment — issues that have barely surfaced in this election campaign.
What happens among the alternative forces outside parliament after the elections will also be interesting. If the Green Party is electorally successful, they will become a more important element.
The impetus to broad coalition building will continue. Particularly in Victoria, I know that many other forces outside the Rainbow Alliance and my Independents' Network are interested.
To what extent the Democrats will be involved in this process depends on their leadership. I believe there will be a leadership spill after the election — there is an automatic provision in their constitution, which may be overridden by their National Executive — and there are already strong moves to remove John Coulter.
The direction of Democrat policies will be influenced by the outcome of the leadership challenge. It could become more conservative. Already we have seen this trend in the WA elections, where the Democrats gave their preferences to the Liberals, and in the Victorian loans affair in the Senate. If a Coalition government is elected, I am concerned that there may be closer Democrat-Coalition cooperation.
John Coulter has re-raised the question of a Democrat-Green Party alliance or merger. Do you think this is a prospect?
John Coulter has reopened this question because he has had to because the National Green Party has endorsed my Senate team in Victoria. Bob Brown told me this week that the issue of the Democrat-Green Party relationship had to arise again at some point in time, even though a Democrat membership poll has rejected a merger.
Do you expect a New Zealand Alliance-type development in Australia?
This can only happen when bridges are built between the different native movement. Such an alliance needs something to cement it together. In New Zealand there were two things which cemented the Alliance together: the need to reform the electoral system and the need to address the economic rationalist assault by the National and Labour parties. But in Australia, electoral reform is not felt to be such an urgent matter by some in the independent, Green and left movements, though the challenge of economic rationalism is the same.
I believe that as long as we can agree to agree on what we agree on (which is considerable) and agree to leave aside our differences, a broad coalition of green and left forces is possible in Australia.
There is also the problem of egos — personal and what I call "institutional" egos. These need to be subsumed to our common goals. But you also need some ego in politics, or you don't go very far.
I am quite impressed with the willingness of the different alternative forces in Victoria to work together after carrying out many discussions on cooperation in the Senate campaign and with different lower house candidates.
What happens if you are not re-elected?
I will continue to try to play a role, not just in the political movements but also in trying to bring together the community and trade union movements in campaigns. After all, whichever major party wins, we are likely to see a continuation of the politics of the last decade.
I don't believe, as some people want to, that there has been a recent conversion of the Labor leadership on the question of economic rationalism. I tell some these people in the Labor Party not to be fooled. Medicare is one of the few real differences between Labor and the Coalition.