Nominations for the 2022 Australian federal election have now been officially confirmed and — despite rumours that communists, socialists and other ‘far’ leftists lurk within the bosom of the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Greens — there’s only a smol handful of self-proclaimed socialists taking to the parliamentary barricades this year.
(For a recent example of ye olde argument about the political utility of voting, see : Why do anarchists abstain from elections?, red & black notes and Socialists and elections, Red Flag.)
Sadly, having been de-registered by the Australian Electoral Commission in June 2021, the Australian Workers Party appears not to be running any candidates in 2022. Further, Ron Poulsen of the Communist League has once again failed to nominate for a seat, and no Communists of any other variety would appear to have thrown their flatcap into the ring. Happily, the Australian Progressives are fielding candidates in the race for the Senate in the ACT and Victoria, while Janine Rees is battling over Ryan (NSW) and Angela Fulco wants to steal Sturt (WA) from the Liberals. Finally, in a special 2022 BONUS!, Drew Pavlou’s Democratic Alliance wants to ‘give power back to the people’ by first installing itself in the Lower House seats of Chisholm (VIC) and Stuart (WA) and in QLD, NSW and SA in the Upper House. Note that, while Pavlou has described himself as a libertarian socialist, (Dr) Joe Toscano, formerly of ‘Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society’, wants to put ‘Public Interests Before Corporate Interests’ by running for a seat in the Senate in Victoria.
Socialist Alliance
SAll is running five candidates for the House of Representatives — Sue Bolton in Wills and Sue Bull in Corio (VIC), Andrew Chuter in Sydney (NSW), Pat O’Shane in Leichhardt (QLD) and Sam Wainwright in Fremantle (WA) — and Senate tickets in NSW, QLD, VIC and WA. The Party recommends ‘preferences to socialist and Greens candidates ahead of the ALP, ALP before the Coalition parties and far right parties last’.
Socialist Equality Party
Our candidates are SEP assistant national secretary Max Boddy and WSWS writer Oscar Grenfell in NSW, longtime party member Peter Byrne and an International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) leader, Jason Wardle, in Victoria, and longstanding WSWS correspondent Mike Head and another IYSSE leader, John Davis, in Queensland. Their biographical details and how to vote for them as the SEP candidates can be found here.
Like the AWP, in February 2022 the SEP was de-registered by the AEC, but they can’t. won’t and don’t stahp campaigning on ‘A socialist program of action for the working class to oppose war and fight COVID-19 and austerity’.
Victorian Socialists
VS are running 11 Lower House Candidates in Victoria (Calwell, Cooper, Fraser, Gellibrand, Gorton, Hawke, Lalor, Maribyrnong, Melbourne, Scullin and Wills) and Aran Mylvaganam for a seat in the Senate. VS fared reasonably well at the 2019 Australian federal election all things considered, and also upon debut at the 2018 Victorian state election. But whether or not it can improve upon these performances is somewhat doubtful, and I don’t see the sense of splitting the socialist vote in Wills (Bolton versus Black).
See also : Balance of power politics is no way to win change, Solidarity, April 29, 2022 | Federal election: Get LNP Government out – have no illusions about Labor, Central Committee, CPA (M-L), April 10, 2022.
Thanks, Andy.
I’m glad that Black’s running in Wills, as it’s my belief that Bolton never should have nominated. She has well over two years left on her council term, and I want to see her meet that commitment.
It’s self-centred to abandon one role in pursuit of another. Moreland is not well served by this.
I’m well aware that this is considered unremarkable, and common practice, but that doesn’t make it acceptable in my view.
timumus:
“It’s self-centred to abandon one role in pursuit of another. Moreland is not well served by this.”
I agree, but Sue is in no danger of getting elected. She’s just flying the flag for Socialist Alliance.
It’s clear that the Australian Workers [sic] Party was deregistered because it didn’t apply the plural-possessive apostrophe after the letter s in the word Workers. It’s yet another example where poor punctuation costs votes and deprives the working class of representation.
NOT ‘far left’, obviously, but as a spotter I feel compelled to note that the recently formed Indigenous-Aboriginal Party is also running candidates. They ‘suggest you research the minor parties and Independents – number them near the top after Indigenous-Aboriginal Party, and … put the major parties last.’ Otherwise, in the NSW Senate, Owen Whyman and Lawrence Brooke are running for the party and Lionel Henaway and Jenny-lee Carr are doing so in QLD. The party has also nominated Derek Hardman for Parkes, Brett Duroux for Page and Jeff Lawson for Central Coast.
@ndy, I would be interested in your opinion on whether Dr Joe would be better served by just joining the SA. I’ve taken to listening to his radio show (podcast) recently, and I’ve noticed that despite his self-confessed anarchism, he would probably fit in with the Socialist Alliance (or perhaps one of the other parties).
Do you have an opinion?
Joe’s been running for office as an independent for maybe 30 years or so, and given that the Alliance was originally formed in 2001, and he decided not to join then, I think the prospect is unlikely. If you read the policy proposals PIBCI has articulated, along with those of the other electoral vehicles Joe has driven over the years, they could be reasonably described as ‘left’ or ‘progressive’ or ‘socialist’. A prior emphasis upon using his platform to question ‘representative democracy’ as a whole has been reduced, and instead various other Big Ideas have come to the fore. So yes, in this domain, Joe and the Socialist Alliance share much in common; no, I’d be surprised if he ran under their banner.
Thanks. I’m not at all familiar with prior efforts, only what he’s been saying recently (not being in Vic). His current thoughts on /why/ to run seem to align with what I remember of the Socialist Alliance (when I used to talk to them). At this point, I reckon he’s just wasting his money, and that if he does want to run, he’d be better off running with another group (e.g. SA). But he’d be even better off (and so would the rest of Australia) using his $2000 to publish and disseminate articulations on his ideas more generally. (And/or simply donate to the West Paupan rent collective.)
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Hey Andy! Are you planning a report on the outcome?
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