Hannah's speech at 96th Anniversary of the Founding of the Palestinians Peoples Party (PPP)

Speech delivered at Lakemba 9th Feb 2015

Dear Comrades

I am delighted to bring greetings and congratulations from the Communist Party of Australia to this celebration of the anniversary of the re-establishment in 1982 of the Palestinian Communist Party, later renamed the Palestinian Peoples Party

I do not wish to speak of the history of the PPP or the struggle for the liberation of Palestine tonight. Other speakers are doing that.

I want to ask an important question: Why are we all here? Why should we bother to celebrate this anniversary?

I answer because communist parties are essential, because communists have the historically unprecedented “great mission” of changing the world.

In the constant struggle for peace and social justice in our world, many organisations and many social forces are involved. They all have something to contribute and their unity creates a force which in the end is irresistible.

But there is a greater vision: not just a better society but a society transformed, a socialist world in which working people take power and build a truly civilised and sustainable society.

English poet Alice Maynall wrote this about our vision of socialism:

Socialism, comrade

Is like the red, red rose

Day by day it opens

And day by day it grows

Its roots are ever spreading

And its sweetness never goes,

And soon I think its petals

Will the whole wide world enclose.

It is only through the leadership of an active, organized, cohesive and disciplined party that we are going to be able to implement the magnificent aim of a world free of exploitation, injustice, oppression and war.

To win peace, justice, democracy, bread and land there must be a party of the working class, a Marxist-Leninist party, a communist party.

British poet CD Lewis wrote this about the influence of communists:

Why do we all, seeing a Marxist, feel small?

That small catspaw ruffles our calm.

That touch of storm brewing, shivers

The torches even in this vault.

And the shame unsettles a high esteem.

It is the future walking to meet us all.

Mark him. He is only what we are, mortal.

Yet from the night of history, where

We lie dreaming still, he is wide awake.

Weak, liable to ill-luck — yet rock

Where we are slight eddies.

Mark him, workers and all who wish

The world aright — he is what

Your sons will be, the road these

Times must take.

Communist parties have proved in a number of countries that they are capable of conducting the struggle to win political power from the capitalist ruling class and end the rule of the exploiters.

But this victory is only possible if communists are closely connected with the people and always concern themselves with the daily as well as the long-term needs of the workers and other exploited social groups in society.

Communist parties seek to establish their political leadership by winning support for their policies and by earning respect for their members by their commitment, organisation and activities in the struggles of the working people.

This in turn depends on our ability to work democratically side by side with others, arguing our position while respecting the views of others and, at each stage, helping to unify the politically progressive and socialist forces.

Vic Williams, an Australian worker, communist and poet, wrote:

Hold to your course, my Party, weapon of workers,

Give us your sight and your arms as we go to battle.

Their towers upon towers are falling, we build from
                   the rubble.

Can those who killed our millions be ever repentant?

Take guns from the hands of the killers, the spoils
                   from the robbers,

For the sacked, the evicted, the prisoned to make
                   world of the future.

Hold to your course, my Party, our world will prevail!

Communist parties are parties of struggle and activism and they are the driving force for change, in alliance with other social forces.

The great Bulgarian communist Georgi Dimitrov said:

“We Communists are people of action. Ours is the problem of practical struggle against the offensive of capital, against fascism and the threat of imperialist war, the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism. It is precisely this practical task that obliges Communist cadres to equip themselves with revolutionary theory, for theory gives those engaged in practical work the power of orientation, clarity of vision, assurance in work, belief in the triumph of our cause.”

For all these reasons and more it is right and important that we are here tonight to celebrate the existence and the achievements of the Palestinian Peoples Party — for without a communist party it will not be possible to liberate the Palestinian people.

And the Palestinian people will be liberated.

The world Communist movement continues to grow and gain in influence. Today 40% of the world’s people live in countries where a Communist Party is in power or participates in the government

We salute the courageous past and express our confidence in the future work of the Palestinian Peoples Party.

Let me finish with the poem by the great Pablo Neruda about his party, about my Communist Party of Australia, about the Palestinian Peoples Party:

You have joined the strength of all the living.

You have given me the country again as in a birth

You have given me the freedom that the loner cannot
                    have.

You taught me to kindle kindness, like fire.

You have given me the rectitude that the tree
                    requires.

You taught me to see the unity and the difference
                    among mankind.

You showed me how one being's pain has perished in
                     the  victory of all.

You taught me to sleep in beds hard as my brothers.

You made me build on reality as on a rock.

You made me adversary of the evil doer and wall of
                    the frantic.

You have made me see the world's clarity and the
                    possibility of happiness.

You have made me indestructible because with you
                    I do not end in myself

Poem about Joe Hockey from 2006 during the workchoices debate

Joe Hockey shrugs his shoulders mostly

We went to Joe Hockey

Representing the down-trodden teachers

He was looking smug and well fed

And why not?  I am a father to be!

He giggled, laughed and shrugged his shoulders

Schools can’t run the way you mob plan it?

For heavens sake why not?

Competition’s the name of game

You teachers should compete more

Then you’d be better paid!

He giggled, laughed and shrugged his shoulders

I know where you’re coming from

And we aren’t from there

We’re from the land of individual competition.

We’re from the great liberal party.

We compete

He giggled laughed and shrugged

In fact I should be paid more than my colleagues

I work harder than they do.

Why can’t I get paid like they do in the private sector?

You mean like cleaners?

No the directors on millions!

He giggled laughed and shrugged

The church is not happy

I know

The Parish Priest has had a ‘go’ at me.

He giggled laughed and shrugged

I’ve seen fear in the eyes of the teachers

They know when I say ‘let go’

I mean sacked!

I’d like to do something about it

Take heart individual competition

And let the kids go to hell.

He giggled laughed and shrugged

You can sack us at the end of our term

We are really going through with this IR stuff

The population and the nation will thank us in the long run

We were voted in after Tampa because the world loved us and loves us still

He giggled, laughed and shrugged

I’m off to paternity leave for some time

That was won by unions!

Oh that is so 20^th Century!

It is a new century now

And I’m off to enjoy it

So I bid you a cheery farewell

He said with a giggle laugh and shrug.

By Denis Doherty

August 29, 2005

Den's speech to the Iwakuni Anti-Bases Forum and Action Nov 29 -30 2014

Anti-US Base Rally and Forum

Iwakuni, Japan   November 29-30, 2014

Australia approves the roadmap to hell
with Japanese and US assistance

Contribution by Denis Doherty
National Co-ordinator
Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition

Introduction

I thank the Asia-Wide Campaign against US-Japanese Domination and Aggression of Asia for the invitation to join this anti-US bases forum and protest action.

I bring you greetings from the Australian peace movement to your events over this weekend and a firm wish for their success.

We do know that we have good sense, economic responsibility and human and environmental survival on our side and that the continued rush to arm and weaponise our region is not in your country’s or my country’s interests.

We need a region where the big two -- China and the US -- work out ways to cooperate.  Instead the governments of Australia, Japan and the US are rushing to develop and implement the road map to hell.

The structure and machinery for the road to hell

The Asia Pacific region is crisscrossed with agreements for military and economic cooperation which are frequently updated.

As far as Australia is concerned the annual AUSMIN talks which are held one year in the US and next in Australia are the key decision making times for the two governments.

AUSMIN, which stand for Australia and US Ministerial talks, was held in Sydney this year. My peace group, the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign, called the communiqué issued at the end of the talks ‘the road map to hell’. One quotation from this document will give you a sense of what was going on:

Australia and the United States welcomed Japan’s efforts to make a greater contribution to international peace and stability, including through its decision to allow for the exercise of its UN Charter right to collective self-defence. They undertook to maintain strong bilateral security relationships with Japan and committed to enhance trilateral security and defence cooperation, including through the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue and further developing existing trilateral exercises.

Trilateral agreements between Japan, the US and Australia are a few years old now but in recent times there has been a deliberate strengthening of the ties.

Of course the announcement by Obama in November 2011 of what was first called the ‘pivot’ and now the much milder word ‘rebalancing’ is a process that will be well known to everyone here. 

In 2011 Obama said

With most of the world’s nuclear power and some half of humanity, Asia will largely define whether the century ahead will be marked by conflict or cooperation…As President, I have, therefore, made a deliberate and strategic decision — as a Pacific nation, the United States will play a larger and long-term role in shaping this region and its future…I have directed my national security team to make our presence and mission in the Asia Pacific a top priority…As we plan and budget for the future, we will allocate the resources necessary to maintain our strong military presence in this region. We will preserve our unique ability to project power and deter threats to peace…Our enduring interests in the region demand our enduring presence in the region.

The United States is a Pacific power, and we are here to stay.

At the G20 talks just concluded in Brisbane, Obama gave a speech to the local University and said

“And so as President, I decided that – given the importance of this region to American security, to American prosperity – the United States would rebalance our foreign policy and play a larger and lasting role in this region. That’s exactly what we’ve done.”

The pivot is well and truly in place and there is no sign of any rethinking except for using a different word ‘rebalancing’.

APEC and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other economic forums play their part in the US domination of our region.

The teaming up of the US, Japan and Australia in a tight tri-power arrangement is a move to tighten containment of China.  Japan has been congratulated for ‘re-interpreting’ its pacifist constitution so its forces can become more integrated with the US military.

The architecture for the complete containment of China is well under way but it is doomed to fail as China is just too big to be contained.

Australia’s involvement with the US

After WW11 many in Australia considered that the US had ‘saved’ Australia from the Japanese militarists and that they were owed some gratitude in the form of favourable treatment economically and militarily.

Gradually from 1967 until today, the number of US military facilities in Australia has grown to around 50.

The first formal treaty was called ANZUS and was signed in 1951. ANZUS only requires the signatories to come to the assistance of other nations after consultation. However, it has been used as the excuse for Australian involvement in the many wars of the US in our region – Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan and now against IS.

In 1967 the US and Australia opened what has become the biggest US base in Australia –Pine Gap, situated 20 kms from Alice Springs in Central Australia.  There are over 1,000 people working there from all US intelligence agencies – the CIA, NSA, NRO and intelligence sections of the US army, navy and airforce.  There are private contractors and Australian military personnel as well.

The US bases in Australia have been largely technical facilities involved with spying from space on areas of interest to the US, covering the area from the Middle East oil fields to China.

Today the bases still have those functions but have added many others.  They cover the collection of signals, the surveillance of both enemies and friends, communications with battlefield commanders, finding targets in conflicts, and more.  The US bases are called 3CI and later 4CI facilities, namely Control, Command, Communication and later the 4^th C was added Computer and Intelligence.

Today the bases are more involved in the day to day operations of the US military such as Australia’s participation through Pine Gap and other bases to provide the necessary information to control and provide targets for drones.  Pakistani human rights lawyers and Australian lawyers allege that Australia can be prosecuted for human rights violations because of the assistance from Pine Gap in the over 3000 extra judicial killings carried out by drones in Pakistan.

A more intensive form of involvement has been the use of training bases by US forces along with regional partners. Australia introduced this form of subservience in the 1990’s making large tracts of Queensland and the Northern Territory available for war games. 

In 2011 the then Labor (social democratic) Government agreed to the stationing of US Marines in Darwin on Australia’s northern coast.

The centrepiece of Obama’s visit was the announcement that at least 2,500 elite US Marines will be stationed in Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory. In addition, in a series of significant parallel agreements, discussions with Washington were underway to fly long-range American surveillance drones from the remote Cocos Islands — an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. Also the US will gain greater use of Australian Air Force bases for American aircraft and increased ship and submarine visits to the Indian Ocean through a naval base outside Perth, on the country’s west coast.

Who would pay the millions, possibly billions of dollars over time for the 2,500 Marines rotating through Darwin was not clarified for some time, despite intense pressure from the peace movement and other forces in Australia. Finally, some time after the AUSMIN meeting, another document was released called the US and Australia Force Posture Review. This made it clear that Australia has to pay!

However, with AUSMIN it became clear that there will be increased US Navy and US Air Force visits.  B52’s – infamous for their bombing of Vietnam – will be allowed into Australia for the first time since they were banned from our skies because they carried nuclear weapons. 

The Australian Anti-Bases Coalition has campaigned for information on the rules governing the stationing of Marines in Darwin.  But AUSMIN provided no answers to important questions such as “can the US marines undertake military action from Australian bases without Australian government agreement”. Vague general references are made to interoperability, strategic collaboration and the bi-annual huge military exercise Talisman Sabre

Journalist Hamish McDonald (Saturday Paper 16/8/14) pointed out:

Another question left unspoken is about the freedom of Washington to deploy its forces directly out of Australia, and the level of consultation required with Canberra. The distinction between training and basing is blurring.

The US and Australia Force Posture Review made it clear that the US is free to operate anyway it sees fit from its base in Darwin.

Missile warfare is given prominence in the AUSMIN statement. This reveals that the ground stations at Pine Gap, the Geraldton base in Western Australia, and the three Jindalee radar stations across Australia will be the eyes of the US-Australian-Japanese anti-ballistic missile network.

The possibility of anti-missile firings from Australian and Japanese air warfare destroyers being controlled by the US central command is lauded by AUSMIN.  This proposal would mean Australia would lose control of Australian weapons and it leaves open the prospect that Australian missiles could slam into Chinese or Russian missiles without any input from Australia – an appalling, dangerous and depressing possibility.

Australian involvement with the US is getting deeper and more complex and threatening. Both major political parties (Labor and Liberals) compete with each other to more ‘pro US’ than the other and almost all the media and much of academia totally supports the US-Australian alliance.

However, things are changing with some prominent people from Australia’s political establishment expressing doubts about the usefulness of the US alliance and the need for greater Australian independence. Some leading members of the Australian business community are growing increasingly concerned about upsetting China which is a major economic partner. These are voices from within the elite and cannot be completely ignored or silenced. So the picture is not completely bleak. 

Australia’s involvement with Japan.

With the advent of the Abe administration in September 2006, Japan’s official policy became much more pro-active about direct strategic collaboration with Australia. Now with the right-wing Abbott Government this rush to engage more with Japan on every level is proceeding at a great pace.  Japanese Prime Minister Abe was in Australia in April to an almost hero’s welcome. Abbott declared that Japan is “Australia’s best friend in Asia”.  This clearly upset the Chinese and the Indonesians who thought they were pretty friendly too.

Around 2006 the first trilateral agreement was made with Japan and the relationship has grown since.  There is a strong move on for Australia and Japan to become more involved economically and militarily with each other to strengthen the US alliance.  The meeting of 4th Australia-Japan Foreign and Defence Ministerial Consultations 2012 called for:

43. Strengthening trilateral defence cooperation with the United States.

44. Strengthening interoperability amongst the defence organisations of all three countries.

45. Focusing on robust, regular and practical cooperation among Australia, Japan and the United States through the Trilateral Defence Ministers' Meeting, the Trilateral Security and Defence Cooperation Forum (SDCF) and trilateral service-specific talks.

48. Conducting observer exchanges to respective exercises with the United States.

In 2014 apart from the special visit of Prime Minister Abe to Australia to sign a trade deal, Obama took both the Prime Ministers of Japan and Australia apart at the G20 meeting for talks. 

For the first time since 2007, the leaders of the United States, Australia, and Japan met on the sidelines of the G20 conference in Brisbane, Australia and agreed to deepen their military cooperation. Specifically, U.S. President Barack Obama, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to deepen their cooperation on maritime security. The meeting took place despite its potential to antagonize Beijing, which complains of U.S.-allied states in the Asia-Pacific aspiring to “contain” its rise. The meeting between the three allies came a week after the U.S. and China concluded a landmark agreement on climate change, and after Japan and China held high-level diplomatic meetings for the first time in nearly two years. (Diplomat Nov 19 2014)

Indicative of this rush for more involvement with Japan has been the contentious issue of a new submarines purchase for the Australian Navy.  The peace movement has been fighting this acquisition as it will cost over $24 billion Australian dollars.  We have argued that we do not need submarines as they are platforms for attack rather than defence. We also ask why we need 12 when we could not manage to keep 6 of the former submarines in the water at one time.

However, the major debate in Australia is now whether to buy Japanese submarines of the shelf or to use Australia’s submarine company (ASC) to build them.  The Abbott government clearly favours the Japanese option as it will put us closer to Japan militarily and economically.  Just days ago (November 25 2014) the Australian Defence Minister claimed he would not trust ASC to build a canoe!  A statement that has caused uproar.  

Of course there are some rough patches in the relationship. The conflict over Japanese whaling is one example. Another is Japan’s refusal of Japan to recognise Australia’s economic zone in the Antarctic which impacts on the difficult issue of fishing rights. 

In general, however, the Australian Government wants closer involvement with Japan and strongly supports Japan’s attitude towards the disputed South China Sea islands and the reinterpretation of Article 9 of Japan’s constitution.

This year the AUSMIN talks indicated that the right-wing Abbott Government would ignore advice from prominent Australians that we are too ‘close to the US’. Instead the Government engaged in more abject groveling.

Former Prime Ministers Malcolm Fraser and Paul Keating and former Foreign Minister Bob Carr have all said that Australia’s interests are not served by servility to the US super power but require greater independence. 

Paul Keating was reported as saying in the Keith Murdoch Oration 2012 that “Australia was over deferential to the US”

The combined weight of the Abbott Government and US officials has squashed any tendency towards a more independent Australia. Instead the path of ‘all the way with the USA’ was reinforced by AUSMIN 2014. 

Australia’s interests are best served by good relations and co-operation with all countries, especially Indonesia and China.  Tension between the US and China is not beneficial for Australia and the region.  The most advantageous policy for Australia is to steer an independent course in our region.  AUSMIN charts a path that will lead inevitably towards heightened tensions and even the possibility of war between the US and China and hence is a road map to hell.

The need for regional-wide resistance

Just as our opponents, the militarists, arms profiteers and warmongers of Australia Japan and the US, meet with regularity and form partnerships across many countries in Asia so too must we in a more modest manner meet for joint actions and cooperation.

As citizens of this region we are not in a position to leave the growing tension between our countries and China to the elite. We must act to bring about cooperation between China and the US. We must act to have our countries act more independently and to stop being so keen to jump to the US dictats.

In Australia’s case there has been some move to warn our citizens about the dangers of tension between China and the US by prominent people. The discussion does get some airing but it is quickly suppressed by our highly monopolised and right wing media which will not support any modification of the present arrangements.  Despite assurances from Obama, Abbott and Abe about not wanting to contain China, it is irrefutable that this is their main aim.

As a starting point, just as you have invited me here today to participate in the rally against the US Marine Base at Iwakuna, we are having a rally against the giant US-Australian military exercise ‘Talisman Sabre’. TS15 will be held in July 2015 and the peace movement will rally to oppose and frustrate it. We are fairly certain that the Japanese military will be present as observers. It would be most welcome if there could be some push from here to stop any involvement of the JSDF.  In addition, if AWC considers it possible, there might be space and finance for a representative from Japan to attend our peace convergence against the Talisman Sabre war games.

We would like to make some suggestions for your consideration:

1. A cross regional Anti-Base Day/week/action.
2. Linked participation in the Global Day of action against military spending which is held on or around April 14 each year.
3. Linked participation in the Keep Space for Peace week in the first week of October.

Conclusion

The peace movement in Australia has been at a low ebb for some time. However, there are signs that this is changing and we continue to work and act to encourage people to think about the issues we are talking about today.

The introduction of Marines to Darwin sparked new energy and activism across Australia to resist US domination of Australia’s political life, economy and military.

The Anti-Bases Campaign sponsored and assisted to found a new peace group  called IPAN – Independent and Peaceful Australia Network.  This group has taken up much of the resistance to the US Marines in Australia. The older established Anti-Bases network is working to rid Australia of its US bases and has also organised protest rallies, leaflets, pamphlets and submissions about the pivot, war games on our territory, drones and other issues.

As I left Australia the country was upset because the government had cut $250 million from our national broadcaster, the ABC.  However, there are few people asking why funding for the Australian military is never cut.

We are told to tighten our belts and accept poorer services for health, education, welfare and housing. But when the US demanded Australian support for its intervention in Iraq and Syria to push back IS, the Australian Government was able to find half a billion dollars for troops to Iraq and $600 million to spend on security services to behave as the NSA in the USA.

The “guns or butter” argument continues and will only get more bitter as governments ignore the needs of the people and serve only the needs of upper 0.01% of our populations and the military-industrial complex which defends them.

We still need to fight and the prospect of the demonstration against this US Marine Base is a positive sign of resistance – congratulations to all the organisers and the people who support you.

Thank you.

Trip to the NT and Guringji Lands after 40 years

Kalkaringi

Thursday 27 August

Dear All,

Please forgive this collective but we fear if we do not do this we will never contact any of you. There is no post office and no postcards here so nothing of that sort will arrive. Every day seems so full that I am also way behind with my diary.

We left Sydney on August 19, flew to Darwin (delayed for 40 minutes by military aircraft playing deafening “Pitch Black” war games, euphemistically called ‘exercises’), picked up the hired campervan (fridge, TV, microwave, sink, gas stove and – unused by us, a shower and

toilet) How things change - when I came here 40 years ago, I had clothes, books, writing materials, camera and film [no electronic cameras then], a few medicines and a swag.

We stayed the night in a caravan park and the next day went to Woolworths to buy lots of water and other supplies for the trip. We had coffee – the first since Sydney – tasted so good! - and then back to the caravan park, hooked up to the electricity again, filled up with water and got all the supplies safely stowed away and, after a microwave dinner of something from a box, got to bed early.

Up early next morning, stopped for more water and an extra packet of coffee and lots of diesel and then set off – along the wrong road!

We finally realised our error and went back to Katherine, found the right road and began driving, and Denis then drove for over 4 hours, stopping for a lunch of bread, cheese and fruit at the side of the road, until we reached a roadhouse called Top Springs (bad memories for me when I had to be rescued from racist ringers by a Gurindji senior man with a rifle) where we stopped for a cold drink and to call Kalkaringi to say we would reach them after the store closed. About half the way was on the Buntine Highway which is sealed but single lane and you are told to give way to the road trains and anything else larger than you.

We reached Kalkaringi about 5.30pm, parked in the small caravan park, found the ablutions block (2 showers and 2 toilets my side with lovely green frogs in the toilets), hooked to the electricity, unpacked a little and were drinking a cup of tea outside in the twilight when our friends Charlie and Tran strolled over from their bush camp and we made plans for the next day. We then ate another microwave meal, tried but failed to make the TV work, made up the bed (has to be made up each evening and put away each morning) and fell asleep by 10pm The next day Friday was the first day of the annual Freedom Festival, marking the anniversary of the Gurindji walk off from the cattle stations in 1966 to sit down on their traditional land at Dagu Ragu and demand it back – something Whitlam did in a small way a few years later – galvanising the land rights movement -- we drove first to the cemetery to lay paper flowers on the graves (Vincent Lingiari has a big grave) and then down to the Victoria River lots of water, lots of shade… quite lovely. Local MP Warren Snowden showed off cooking steaks (the toughest meat we have ever eaten; even the dogs had problems chewing it) which we ate with white bread and butter and sauce and a rather good salad. All served by Europeans in clean clothes which was rather entertaining.

Then up the river bank to a cleared area with shades set up and predictable speeches by Snowden and Neeva Perris and some rather bad dancing by a group of woman who appeared to be decidedly unenthusiastic about performing.

Then back to Kalkaringi where we visited the Arts Centre, handed over the artifacts I was given as farewell gifts 40 years ago which are now to stay in the centre, talked to the old women and marvelled at all the wonderful paintings.

Saturday and Sunday were also part of the 3 day festival, devoted mainly to sport – AFL for the men with teams from Yuendumu, Balgo in WA and locally. Yuendumu were the winners of the knockout competition but the Gurindji Eagles played valiantly! The girls had a basketball competition but we never got to see that.

Lunch each day was the same – 2 slices of buttered white bread with sausage, onions and sauce plus a cold can of coke or fanta or ginger beer, all for $5.

All this was interspersed with wandering around Daru Ragu to try to remember it as it was – but without success. 40 years ago there were no houses, a couple of small corrugated iron sheds and one 2-ton Bedford truck. Now there are many houses and vehicles everywhere (many of course belonging to visitors come for the Festival and the sports).

Now I have to hurry up or we will be back in Sydney before this is finished.

We have spent 2 days travelling, in a convoy of 3 4WD trucks crammed with old ladies and a few men, food, cups, water and other food, to the old Wave Hill Station, looking at places where people were living and working

40 years ago, the remains of their old homes, the dumps where we found old horse shoes, trucks, wire and so much more. Another day we travelled along the wire fence where the people actually walked off the station, led by Vincent Lingiari. They left before dawn, to avoid detection, and walked all day with all their possessions. The kids got cranky because there was very little water so they reached Gordie Creek in the afternoon and dug in the creek bed to find water.

Each day we stopped for lunch, sandwiches we had made in the morning, oranges, biscuits. We build a fire and boil billies and then drink tea sitting in the shade.

Tomorrow is our last day and Robbie Gilgi will take us back to Dagu Ragu so we can find the place where our family unit camped. Then we will visit Lauwie, the waterhole that I loved so much that I was given its name as my Gurindji name.

That’s enough for now.

Many thanks go to everyone who donated blankets. They are much appreciated.

Love to all

Hannah and Denis

Inquiry into tenancy management in social housing

SUBMISSION BY THE PORT JACKSON BRANCH
OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

C/- Denis Doherty

74 Buckingham St,

Surry Hills NSW 2010

Mobile: 0418 290 663

Inquiry into tenancy management in social housing

The Committee will inquire into, and report on, current tenancy management arrangements in NSW social housing, with particular reference to:

•        the cost effectiveness of current tenancy management arrangements in public housing, particularly compared to private and community housing sectors;

·         the range and effectiveness of support services provided to tenants in social housing;

·         outcomes for tenants from current tenancy management arrangements;  and

·         possible measures to improve tenancy management services.

Submission by the Port Jackson Branch of the Communist Party of Australia.

Introduction to the CPA

The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) has a long proud history of support for and extension of public housing.  The Port Jackson Branch of the Party has been working on the issue of public housing in and around Glebe for many decades.

General Comments on handing tenancy management to the private sector.

There is ample evidence that privatization has failed everywhere it has been tried.  If it is in the electrical industry – prices go up and blackouts are more frequent.  In Railways prices go up for consumers, maintenance and safety suffer. 

The most recent long line of failures is what is called PPP’s private public partnerships.  The most appropriate one in this context is the use of SPOTLESS for maintenance of public housing properties.  There are so many complaints about Spotless coming in that activists for public housing call it a Government policy of demolition and eviction by neglect.  Spotless does NOT do its work well, we can document this with numerous cases.  We can document the number of call backs and the victims of this neglect left stranded for weeks with urgent repairs which are not done or done so ineffectively that the victims have to begin another round of calling the so call ‘hot line’ for repair and waiting for 6-9 weeks and often giving up.

We call on the committee to take notice of an article in the SMH called ‘Spotless makes sparkling debut on the stock market’. (SMH May 24-25)  This article notes that the CEO of ‘Spotless’ earned a cool $23 million in his shares as well as the company making nearly earning $1 billion.  We have asked everyone we can from the State Government, the Federal Gov and ASIC how did they pass a probity check when their record is dodgy in regard to some of the poorest people in NSW?

Using the SPOTLESS experience we can see that not only does the State have to pay for the dodgy, non-existent, tardy and shoddy services of that company but it has to contribute to the luxurious life style of its CEO and the profits of the company.  This experience in the maintenance of public housing should have any Government of any stripe running a hundred miles from such a concept as

Licia Wood, Political Reporter, The Daily Telegraph, July 09, 2014 10:53am

NSW Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton has welcomed the announcement.

PUBLIC housing rent, maintenance and inspections could soon be outsourced to the private sector.

A parliamentary inquiry will investigate if better value can be found for taxpayers. The state government spends $120 million a year on tenancy services to 117,000 public housing households.

Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton said she welcomed the inquiry announced yesterday.

“It’s sensible and appropriate to review such a major and important area of public ­expenditure,” she said.

However, the script is written in concrete it seems the private is always better and the Minister Upton has complied with this mythology in the face of overwhelming evidence for the contrary. 

We draw your attention the recent article by Rob Oakeshott (former LNP member of state and Federal Parliaments) in the Saturday Paper (9 Aug) and his remarks to the Wheeler centre in Melbourne. 

The rules are simple: fight the bastards, bankroll the other side of politics, cause them damage until they learn to ignore treasury and finance advice and start listening instead to that grubby leveler in politics – money.

….

Our key decisions for the future of Australia are now being outsourced at a level never before seen. Parliamentary democracy is going through its own sort of privatisation.

We would ask the committee to come at this issue from a social justice perspective rather than a purely monetary one.  We have proved that private sector is the wrong sector to provide services to the public housing, will cost more money, will transfer money from the public purse to the ultra-rich.  Your experience of failed PPP’s in the State, of SPOTLESS and a myriad of cases from overseas and here that privatization will not work.  Privatisation of tenancy services is a bad idea and will cause more distress than there already is in public housing.

This is an idea which comes from the Neo Liberal handbook, the very same principles that led to the GFC and the current demise of the economies of Greece, Spain and Ireland.  Reject this notion of saving money on the administration of public housing and reverse a long standing ‘bleeding obvious’ failure of Government to adequately fund and appreciate public housing.

•  the cost effectiveness of current tenancy management arrangements in public housing, particularly compared to private and community housing sectors;

In a decision made during the Fraser Government that public housing would only be for the neediest, public housing has gradually evolved to cater for the most marginal in our community.  Public housing is a housing for people who are extremely needy.  Those with mental health issues, health or fragile elderly have gravitated to the public housing estates. 

Community Housing has evolved for those on a socio economic level higher than the above – those who are employed in low paid work, have some casual work and are fairly positive about life. 

How can there be a comparison between the two?  The very premise of the term is defective, a veritable apples and oranges situation.  It is like comparing the cure rate of children’s ward to a palliative care ward for the dying.  The administration costs of catering for those people must be a lot different.

In the Community sector there will be managers and CEO’s who will say they are achieving great things and providing great service very efficiently and in a cost effective way.  Do not believe them, they are subject to the iron laws of profit just as private sector.  They have to pay their staff and increase their stock of housing with their profits.  Presently the state Government gives housing stock to the community housing providers and encourages them to make a profit out of it.  A money merry go round rather than good social policy.  They can save by reducing staff, ignoring maintenance which in the ends leads to a situation where the State has to rescue the service from bankruptcy.

Private sector housing admin is run by Real Estate agents and developers hardly an appropriate yardstick for a service like public housing.

The cost effectiveness is a buzz word.  The Spotless experience is that they fail to clean the drainpipes $600.  A tree grows in the gutter and extends its roots to the walls of the house - $6,000 repair bill.  The tree causes the house to be demolished $60,000.  We all know about false economies where things are neglected and the problem gets worse. 

For want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For want of a shoe the horse was lost
For want of a horse the rider was lost
For want of a rider the message was lost
For want of a message the battle was lost
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
(Proverbial rhyme)

·  the range and effectiveness of support services provided to tenants in social housing;

Due to the changes made over recent years by both Governments of removing Housing and repairs to separate departments the services for the tenants is less effective.  A CSO is informed/finds out etc of problems has to contact another department to get things done.  They feel powerless and the cross communication just does not happen so neither group knows what the other group is doing.

The CSO’s can talk to the tenants about rent issues, complaints about other tenants, report on who is living with them etc.  But they have no role in the care of tenants – directing their personal problems to health professionals and so on.

·         outcomes for tenants from current tenancy management arrangements;

Under funded and with roles that are confusing the CSO’s cannot do their jobs effectively.  The CSO’s of a few years ago who had a better grasp of what was needed for tenants.  The job description and job splitting of the O’Farrell/Baird years has been less than effective.

In public housing where mental health is an issue, the problem of the acute mental health teams being overwhelmed leads many in our community spending many days with suicidal tendencies and no support.

In general the outcomes for the tenants is not good not because of the staff but because of the system and dedicated cutting of public servants by the recent Governments.

·         possible measures to improve tenancy management services.

Improving staffing ratio to tenants

Expanding the roles of CSO’s to include maintenance and some social work coordination

Seeing public housing as a credit to the state not something to be flogged off.

ON NO ACCOUNT TO INTRODUCE PRIVATE SECTOR INVOLVEMENT IN TENANCY MANAGEMENT.

SMH May 24-25