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By Bill Mason BRISBANE — "The overlap between the by- election for the Queensland state seat of Mundingburra, due on February 3, and the federal election campaign, makes the by-election result even more crucial to the fate of ALP governments in both state and federal spheres", Coral Wynter, Democratic Socialist candidate for the federal seat of Griffith, said here on January 28. "The Goss government's fate is on the line in Mundingburra, and a Labor loss on February 3 could act in a similar way to the Bass by-election in 1975 for the Whitlam government. "The difficulty for the electors is that they are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Both Labor and the Coalition stand for neo-liberal policies, privatisation, wage cuts, attacks on the social welfare system and support for regional dictatorships like that in Indonesia." Wynter said that in the final analysis, "The Liberals are a worse option than the ALP, because they will intensify the attacks on working people. "However, at the same time, we need to begin now to build a progressive third force in Australian politics. "Therefore, the Democratic Socialists call for a first preference to the Australian Indigenous People's Party or the Australian Women's Party in Mundingburra, with final preference to the ALP over the Liberals." Late opinion polls show the gap between the two major parties narrowing in the Townsville-based seat, giving the Goss government some glimmer of hope of survival. If Labor loses, the likelihood arises of a minority Coalition government in Queensland, supported by conservative independent Liz Cunningham. Such a result might introduce a "domino effect" into the federal campaign, and also lead to an extremely unstable situation in state politics for the foreseeable future.