Firstly,

I am not a member of or even a supporter of the Greens.

Those who have read other posts by 'daggett' on OLO on the subject of the Greens will know that I have been highly critical of the Greens in a number of regards.

Also, it needs to be said that, in spite of their name, the Greens have failed to take a clear and strong stance on the biggest driver of Australia's environmental, social and economic problems, that is, population growth, principally caused by Australia's record high immigration.

That having been said, I think, as maracas has said, the best way for voters to indicate that they want to change the course of this society for the better is to give a high first preference vote to the Greens or Independents standing for similar policies and to ensure that their preferences flow to Labor ahead of the Liberals.

I believe that they also need to actively engage themselves in political activism and not simply confine their efforts to voting on polling day.

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This thread seems to be getting sidetracked into a pedantic discussion about the meaning of 'just society'. It should be obvious to all that the result of thirty odd years of neoliberal economic 'reforms' is that money has been taken out of the pockets of most ordinary working Australians and the disadvantaged sectors of our society, as well as future generations and placed into the pockets of high-flyers from this country and overseas.

James Sinnamon (author)

I saw a brilliant sticker on the back of a car today that sums up the pending election .
"Celebrate your ignorance, vote for Howard". I reckon that says it all.

Daggett,

Having titled your article “can Labor bring about a just society?”, it’s a bit rich to complain when posters discuss what a “just society” might entail – especially as you didn’t proposed a definition of your own.

What you say “should be obvious to all,” clearly isn’t. The “thirty odd years of neoliberal economic 'reforms’” you so bemoan have:

- reversed Australia’s previous steady decline in the ranks of advanced economies’ living standards;

- put more ready cash in the “pockets of ordinary Australians” than ever before, with record high real wages and household incomes;

- generated unprecedented household wealth;

- delivered persistent low inflation;

- delivered low nominal and real interest rates;

- given us the lowest unemployment rate in a generation;

- given us seventeen years of unbroken economic growth, despite periodic crises in the global economy that in the past would have tipped us into recession.

You’re right to identify Keating and Hawke as the ones who really got this process going, and Howard and Costello as the ones who pushed the process along.

If the next Labor government builds on the strengths of the previous one – economic reform and flexibility combined with progressive social policies – I believe it will do very well.

daggett (James Sinnamon),

My examples were to show that Labor does care in answer to communicat who claimed that Labor Governments do not care. I do no not support everything that the Victorian Government has done, including some of the examples that you have given. The Labor Government is better than the Liberals. Of course, the Liberals were so bad, it is easy to be better.

The promised train was to Tullamarine, not Avalon, and a study showed that it would not be viable.

Communicat,

If you were lucky enough to live in Victoria, you would know that none of the examples I gave was under way under the previous Liberal Government. Rather, they are all examples of the Labor Government undoing the damage down by the Liberals, who had:
not carried out the Liberal election promise of 1973 to reform the Legislative Council,
privatised the activities of the auditor-general,
imposed a ministerial ban on teachers debating educational issues,
undermined educational opportunity by dumping almost 9,000 hard-working teachers who were needed by our children and using retrospective legislation to remove all legal limits on class sizes,
made education more jargon-filled by bringing in a reporting system that used “beginning”, “consolidating” and “established”,
undermined the quality of teaching by abolishing the teacher registration boards,
allocated minimal capital spending on schools,
undermined Melbourne’s liveability with dual occupancies, and
did not commence building the brand new CFA station, the brand new primary school or the brand new police station in my town.

Victoria is simply insisting on its constitutional guarantee of fair access to the rivers in the state (which by the way, do not include the Murray).

I did live in Victoria - and where did you get the idea that there was a Ministerial ban on debating educational issues? Was there a spy in every staff room and whenever teachers met?
Come on that sort of example is patently nonsense!

Communicat,

I got “the idea that there was a Ministerial ban on debating educational issues” from Victorian School News – also known as Pravda among teachers – Vol.1, No. 12, 22 July 1993, which contained Ministerial Order No. 140, the ban on teachers debating educational issues, from which I quote from clause 3.12:
“(1) Except where authorised by the Minister or the Director a member shall not make public comment on the Government or the Directorate;”
and even more chillingly:
“(2) Where public comment is authorised by the Minister or the Director, a member should ensure that comments are consistent with and reflect the policies, practices and directions of the Government and/or the Directorate;”
Sub-clause 3.12(3) allows public comment “in a private capacity” under certain restrictions which seem to reduce the effect of sub-clauses 3.12(1) and 3.12(2) but which do not make them null and void – an attempt by the government to restrict debate while claiming not to.

Of course teachers continued to debate educational issues – inside and outside the staff room – in defiance of the government. It was their professional duty to do so. The willingness of teachers not to be intimidated by the mob running the state from 1992 to 1999 is one of the many reasons that we finally go rid of that foul government.