Workers speak out about war, genocide and social crisis at Queensland's polling booth

Workers spoke to a Socialist Equality Party (SEP) campaign team at a polling station in Inala, a working-class suburb of the state capital Brisbane, during Saturday’s Queensland state election.

They expressed their concerns about the major political issues of the war, the genocide in Gaza and the increasing attack on the working and living conditions of workers and their families under the state and federal Labor governments.

Labor was defeated at the election, underscoring the widespread hostility to its pro-business and pro-war program at state and federal levels. More broadly, the outcome revealed a crisis of the official political system and all parliamentary parties (see: “Australian Labor’s defeat in Queensland elections underlines historic political crisis”).

Nicka retired electrician who worked at the Evans Deakin factory in nearby Woodridge in the 1960s and 1970s said he agreed with the anti-war and socialist policies promoted by the SEP, having been in touch for years with the party. .

“I’ve worked hard all my life, seven days a week, including overtime,” he noted.

“But we are ruled by multi-millionaires, who in many cases are ignorant and arrogant. They start wars all over the world and they want to keep promoting wars and then blame everyone else for the problems they cause, whether it’s inflation, high food prices, high import taxes and everything else that comes with that.”

Nick spoke with contempt for both the Liberal National Party (LNP) and the Australian Labor Party.

“They’re just smooth talkers, like (incoming LNP Prime Minister David) Crisafulli. People forget that we had Campbell Newman (the last LNP Prime Minister) who fired hundreds of workers. They love to fire workers and support their fellow workers, feeding them the money that gives politicians half a million to a million dollars in salaries.”

Nick agreed that the federal Albanian Labor government’s support for the Gaza genocide and other US-backed wars opened the door for right-wing forces, such as the LNP, to exploit the discontent.

“That’s right, that’s absolutely true. Why do they support the Nazi-like people in Ukraine? They are Nazis, and yet the government in Australia has banned Nazi symbols. What can you say to that?

“All the Americans and their allies are doing is trying to penetrate Russian territory and place ballistic missiles on the front line. Who is right? Putin has offered them agreements not to invade the borders, but the Russians cannot stand by and watch NATO forces approach on all fronts, threatening their existence and trying to overthrow governments.”

Nick said that the Putin regime was deliberately lured into the war and that this could not be separated from the genocide in Gaza and the wider wars provoked by US imperialism on all fronts.

“The Americans are involved in every war in this world in the name of democracy. What kind of democracy is that if it’s all billionaires who are running for election in a few weeks? They’re all run by big corporations, by big arms companies. It doesn’t matter how many billions of dollars in weapons they send abroad; they all support their own arms industries.”

Nick said these were the real issues that were glossed over in the election campaign.

“During the Vietnam War, we had young people taking to the streets in protest of that war, and yet they continued with that war. And the poor people who were sent to Vietnam came back feeling like they weren’t wanted, even in Australia.”

Now the same governments defied the global protests against the genocide in Gaza.

“How can any reasonable person in this world watch children, men and women being endlessly killed by American bombs. All their buildings, all their hospitals, all their schools are being demolished, down to ground zero. All Palestinians walk around in rags, are hungry and live in meager tents. That’s no way to treat people!”

The attack on Gaza continued despite being broadcast around the world because governments and the UN allowed it.

‘Basically they are all one-sided. They all want their own way. But they will not go their own way, because the socialist party exists, workers exist and will always exist. The capitalist parties always say that workers are getting smaller, but look at some of the big marches, such as against the takeover of the CFMEU (the construction union) by the Labor government, and the fight for good wages and working conditions.”

Daniela relocation worker, expressed widespread working-class distrust in the political system.

Daniel

“They say they’re going to do one thing today and six months from now they’re going to change their mind and do the opposite. It’s just to get us to come and vote for them. Labor and the LNP are like twins. It’s like sibling rivalry. Nothing has changed. I am 43 years old and it has always been the same two parties running the government.

The real problems were not addressed. “They spend all this money on war. The government said we weren’t going for nuclear power and now we’re going for nuclear power,” Daniel said, referring to the federal Labor government’s $368 billion purchase of nuclear-powered AUKUS submarines from the US and Britain.

“Where will that money come from? From us taxpayers of course! From the backs of the workers. And to be spent on weapons to fight a war that we are not even involved in…

“You can already see another world war happening because it’s between Ukraine and Russia and now Korea is getting involved and the rest of the world is getting involved. Now the US is getting involved after saying NATO would not get involved…

“It could be a nuclear war. I think Putin could go that way if the US and the others continue the way they are against Russia… Again the US always provokes the ‘first shot’. Once again, it is the US that is the world’s original terrorist. Once again, it is the world police, involved in other people’s affairs.”

Daniel blamed Britain, the former colonial power in Palestine, for causing the Gaza crisis by helping Israel settle in 1948 on land already occupied by the Palestinians. “There’s a long history behind this,” he said.

“Honestly, every time I think about it, I get upset. All the protests have made no difference. We must overthrow the governments responsible, because it makes no difference what I say when I vote.”

Jamesa forklift driver at the nearby Primo meatpacking plant, drew a link between workers’ deteriorating wages and working conditions and the spending of billions of dollars on AUKUS submarines and other military weaponry in preparation for war.

He said he was paid just $27.50 an hour — a poverty-level wage — for working afternoon shifts. Management had also given unsafe instructions that forklifts had the right of way over pedestrians in the factory. James said this showed the company’s disregard for the lives of employees, many of whom were low-wage immigrants.