Red Report Back - Week Ending 28/08/2022

RTBU Refuse to Cave to Government Bribes

The Rail Tram and Bus Union continues to hold out against government threats and bribes as industrial action persists across the Sydney rail network. The NSW government verbally offered to promptly begin modifications to the New Intercity Rail Fleet if the RTBU abandons its industrial action plans as negotiations continue. 

Naturally, the offer made by the Liberal Employee Relations Minister, Damien Tudehope, came with anti-worker conditions. To receive the modifications, the RTBU, along with other unions covering rail workers, would have to forfeit their legal right to protected industrial action during the negotiation of a new enterprise bargaining agreement. 

The offer will be put to the delegates of the RTBU by the union’s leadership, and their actions will be determined by what these representatives of the worker’s decide on. At the same time, Liberal Party thug David Elliot threatened “radical options” against the union if they did not bow down to government pressure. Once again, we see how the government continually seeks to frame workers as the root of the issue, when in fact it is a government that is hyper-focussed on profit at the expense of safety and working conditions that is to blame. 

So far, the RTBU remains staunch in resisting the anti-worker apparatus that is the modern Industrial Relations system in Australia. The union has withstood the attacks of the right-wing media, refused the bribes of the Liberal government and has repeatedly engaged its members to take action that has minimal impact on the public. They have also managed to keep their demands at the forefront throughout this whole period – safe working conditions and fair pay for workers. This is the minimum of what a union should be doing in Australia, and we must not let our imaginations be limited as to what is possible in the industrial landscape. As always, dare to struggle, dare to win. 

Capitalism Flexing its Colonialist Muscles in the Tiwi Islands

The gas super-company Santos is once again doing its best to exploit the lands and waterways of First Nations people in Australia. Santos is seeking to drill eight wells in the Barossa gas field in the Tiwi Islands, some 265km north-west of Darwin. However, this criminal exploitative project by the capitalist class is being challenged by local Munupi people. 

Once again, the capitalist state of Australia gives free rein to foreign companies to exploit our natural resources and ecosystems, with First Nations people getting the shortest end of the stick. Dennis Tipakalippa, a Munupi elder, is challenging the decision as the locals were not consulted over the project. In response, Santos has said it will “vigorously defend” the $5.2 billion project, utilising the capitalist state and institutions to protect its profits at the expense of people and the environment. 

The Federal Court has implemented a temporary pause on Santos’ drilling operations. The Environmental Defender’s Office, representing the Munupi people, has highlighted the shameful behaviour of Santos throughout this process. Santos’ ‘consultations’ consisted of two emails and a phone message to the Tiwi Land Council. Santos is being backed by NOPSEMA, the federal offshore gas regulator, who says the company did fulfil its obligations. Since the Munupi people launched their first appeal, the government has supported the company, with Justice Bromberg rejecting a request for stop-work on the grounds that it would bring financial harm to Santos. 

This incident, much like the campaign by the Gomeroi people against Santos in the Piliga region of north-west New South Wales, highlights the modern state of capitalism in Australia perfectly. We see the inbuilt inability and unwillingness of the capitalist’s states institutions to address the concerns of the oppressed working class. Simultaneously, we bear witness to how government and corporations work hand in hand to facilitate the exploitation of both nature and working people in the quest for private profit. Solidarity with the Munupi people. May they receive the justice they seek. 

Rental Reforms Fail Working Class Tenants, and Line the Pockets of Landlords

In news last week, were several key reforms to Australia’s ever-growing housing crisis. These reforms came about in response to criticisms of Australia’s housing policies that disproportionately prey on the working class to funnel profits to developers and landlords. 

Data from 2016 highlighted how the capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing policies that benefit landlords cost the national budget some $11.7 billion a year. Despite the oft-repeated claims that the majority of those who benefit from these policies are ordinary, everyday Australians, recent data has shown that 57% of these negative-gearing deductions go to investors that are in the top 20% of income earners. In response to the deficiencies in Australia’s rental situation, different government across Australia have implemented several piecemeal reforms. 

Victoria banned the practice of ‘rent bidding’, where landlords and real estate agents shun poorer workers to let properties to the highest bidder. The state has also implemented minimum standards for ventilation, heating and locks in rental properties, as well as updated grounds for eviction, key elements that should be taken for granted in any home. Similarly, the ACT has proposed a rental bidding ban for this year, with further minimum standards set to be introduced, along with updated grounds for eviction.

However, the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia all lag behind in introducing these limited reforms to provide working class people with the bare minimum of healthy living conditions that every human being deserves. Rather, the governments of these states and territories remain focused on prioritising profit for landlords at the expense of the health and wellbeing of working class tenants. While these governments manage to swiftly pass tax concessions and benefits to the landlord class, they stall for years and decades to introduce standards for tenants. 

This subpar approach to the issues impacting millions of Australians on a day-to-day basis, all so that a privileged elite can continue to maximise profit at the expense of workers, highlights how the market cannot solve the housing crisis. The governments of Australia have repeatedly been shown to side with the ruling class in enabling and expanding the exploitation of workers. As a minimum under the current capitalist system, we must fight to defend and expand public housing to take away the power from the predatory landlord class. 

However, every working class Australian who wishes to see the housing crisis resolved must recognise that it is not possible under capitalism. Socialism will provide housing to workers in the communities where they are needed. Socialism will enable workers to access housing that provides them with dignified homes in which they can thrive and rest, rather than merely survive. It is capitalism that throws people onto the street to suffer the scourge of homelessness if their low-paying job does not enable them to afford overpriced rent for substandard housing. We have been fooled by false promises and half-measures for too long. The battle lines are drawn. For the Australian working class, the solution to the housing crisis is becoming increasingly clear - socialism, or perish.