BY PETER BOYLE
While the Howard Coalition government was returned with a comfortable majority of seats in the November 10 federal election, there was a significant shift of votes to the left of the traditional parties.
This shift was driven by disgust at the racist bipartisan policy towards refugees and bipartisan support for the US war on Afghanistan.
While the Greens picked up the lion's share of the left protest vote (increasing their average vote from 2.7% in the 1998 federaol election to 4.3%), the newly formed Socialist Alliance made a credible first showing, increasing the explicit socialist House of Representatives vote by about 25% to an average of 1%.
The Socialist Alliance's application for electoral registration was cut off by the early election, so the name did not appear on the ballot paper. This made it harder for voters to identify Socialist Alliance candidates, especially on the large Senate ballot papers. Combined with a determination of many progressive-minded voters to make sure that the Greens kept or expanded their foothold in the Senate, this kept the Socialist Alliance's total Senate vote at a modest 9740 (election night count), half that registered by the Democratic Socialists in the previous federal election.
In seats where the Socialist Alliance has been leading the anti-corporate, anti-war, refugee rights and other progressive movements, the alliance candidates received between 1.2-1.5% of the total vote, an increase on the result obtained in these seats by the Democratic Socialists in the last election.
While Socialist Alliance members were the main force organising the marches and rallies on these issues, the Greens were seen by many voters as the main party representing a progressive alternative to Labor and the Coalition.
In the inner-Sydney seat of Grayndler, for example, Socialist Alliance candidate Sue Johnson received 1.3% of the vote. In the same seat in 1998, the Democratic Socialist candidate obtained 0.71%. By comparison, left-wing Greens candidate Sylvia Hale received 12.9%.
In the western Sydney, predominantly migrant working-class, seat of Reid, where the Socialist Alliance's Lisa Macdonald took 1.4% of the vote, the Greens only scored 2.7%.
Stephen Jolly of the Socialist Party (which has not joined the Socialist Alliance) was endorsed by the Socialist Alliance in the seat of Melbourne. Running against Greens candidate Pamela Curr, a high-profile Fairwear campaign activist, Jolly received 1.6% of the vote. Curr took 15.8% of the vote.
Another left party which ran candidates was the Progressive Labour Party. It stood in only one lower-house seat, Newcastle, where it obtained 4.9% of the vote (with the first spot on the ballot paper). The PLP had its name on the ballot paper but did not have much of a presence on polling booths. It received 47,025 votes (election night count) in the NSW Senate. Having "Labour" in its name may have helped it attract disgruntled or confused traditional ALP voters.
The PLP only retains an active presence in Sydney and Newcastle but has also declined invitations to join the Socialist Alliance (though it sent a delegation to observe the formation meeting earlier this year).
The Communist Party of Australia (which has also declined several invitations to join the Socialist Alliance) stood candidates for the NSW Senate where it won 1100 votes and the South Australian seat of Port Adelaide, where it obtained 0.8%.
The Communist League, another small group not in the Socialist Alliance, received 0.4% of the vote in the western Sydney seat of Watson.
Coming out of the elections, one of the challenges for the left is to consolidate the latest left electoral break from the ALP, represented by the increased vote for the Greens. Many election analysts are predicting that this is just a temporary desertion of votes from the ALP. But the continuing rightward trajectory of the ALP and the radical left's leadership in the street protest movements could augur well for the left vote in future elections.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, November 21, 2001.
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