| Editorial |
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| Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00 | |
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We have to stop Shipley now! Editorial Committee It is clear that the Coalition Government is about launch a further wave of attacks against workers, students, beneficiaries and the health and education systems. We need to know what they are planning on doing, why they are doing it, and how we can fight back. When Jenny Shipley ousted Bolger late last year many commentators failed to recognise the real significance of the leadership change. At the height of the much-vaunted economic recovery, Birch stated in a 1996 budget speech that the economy would grow at an average rate of 3.5% per year until 2010. The so-called recovery was supposedly the long term gain after years of short term pain. It was proof that Labour and National's monetarist policies had succeeded in turning the economy around. The recession that wasn't supposed to happen Then during 1997 it all started going badly wrong. The economy slowed down and started to head towards another recession. The Coalition Government started to trail far behind Labour in the polls. Farmers and manufacturers started to feel the squeeze on their profits. By the end of the year, the Business Roundtable blamed the economic slowdown on the failure of the Coalition Government to keep cutting the welfare state. It demanded even more tax cuts for the rich to be funded by health, education and welfare cuts for the sick, students and poor. The ultimate aim being a flat tax rate of 20% which would massively benefit the rich, but disastrously disadvantage the poor. This is why Bolger got the sack. Behind the scenes big business made it clear that they wanted Shipley to take over and get stuck into the working class. And that is precisely what she wants to. It is up to us to stop her. Third wave of attacks This is the third major wave of attacks against the workers, students and beneficiaries. The first was initiated by the Fourth Labour Government from 1984-90. It involved: the introduction of a hardline monetarist approach to managing the economy; the most extensive programme of privatisition seen anywhere in the world; the introduction of GST which hit the poor and tax cuts which benefited the rich; massive layoffs of state sector workers (by 1990 more than 130,000 workers had been laid off; by 1996 the core public service was half the size that it had been a decade earlier); and the first round of cuts to housing, health, education and welfare. The second wave of attacks was rammed through by National during 1991. The Employment Contracts Act of that year constituted a massive attack on the union movement. It has led to union membership falling by half, and most workers experiencing lower wages, worse conditions, and less employment security. The "Mother of All Budgets" in 1991 pushed through a major "redesign" of the welfare state. Benefits were slashed, fees for tertiary education driven up, the public health system starved of funds, and state houses and mortgages were sold off, with beneficiaries forced to pay market rents on reduced benefits. We didn't take these attacks lying down. There was massive opposition to the Employment Contracts Act. Hundreds of thousands protested and struck against it in March and April of 1991. But the trade union leadership sold out the movement and refused to call a general strike to force the government to withdraw the legislation. National became the most unpopular governing party in New Zealand's political history. And there was a revival of struggle across the board. National came perilously close to losing the election in 1993, and the vote for a change to MMP was overwhelming, despite the opposition of the Business Roundtable. This forced National onto the back foot for a while. It was clear that if they didn't back off at least temporarily not only would they almost certainly be wiped away at the 1996 election, but that there could also have been a social explosion of the kind that gripped France in December 1995. So the tempo of the attacks slowed down from 1993-97. The is about to change during 1998. The third major wave of attacks is about to be launched. We must fight It is by no means inevitable that the Coalition will be able to push through these attacks. It is much weaker and internally divided than the National government was in 1991, or Labour was from 1984-88. Opposition on a mass scale would place real pressure on the government and make it harder for Shipley to prevent the Coalition from falling apart. If we fight, then we can win. The problem is that the trade union officials and politicians in the Alliance and Labour are unlikely to provide any real leadership for the struggle. We need massive protests on the streets and nationally coordinated campaigns of industrial action to fight the attempt to remove the Employment Tribunal, privatise our universities, cut benefits, and give the rich a massive handout through another round of tax cuts. The International Socialists are small but we will throw what little resources we have into the struggle. But to have an effect we need to be bigger. That is why this year, more so than ever, it is vitally important that you join us. Tax cuts Tax cuts for the wealthy will be paid for by: Social Welfare Strong likelihood of either across-the board cuts or of reductions in sickness benefit and other allowances to the level of the unemployment benefit Teriary education "Tertiary Review" released late last year promises frightening changes including:
Health Further backdoor cuts and privatisation |
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