Socialist Party (Australia)
Encyclopedia
The Socialist Party is a small Trotskyist political party in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 affiliated with the Committee for a Workers International. The SP has branches in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

 and Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. It publishes a monthly newspaper called The Socialist which contains a socialist perspective on news and current issues. The SP is not connected to the party which was known as the Socialist Party of Australia from 1971 to 1996, which is currently called the Communist Party of Australia.

History

The SP began in 1985 as a small faction within the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 (ALP) but left in the early 1990s when the ALP and most social democratic parties internationally moved to the right. The group was originally known as Militant and then the Militant Socialist Organisation before becoming the Socialist Party.

Campaigns

The group has been involved in several campaigns including an occupation
Occupation (protest)
An as an act of protest, is the entry into and holding of a building, space or symbolic site. As such, occupations often combine some of the following elements: a challenge to ownership of the space involved, an effort to gain public attention, the practical use of the facilities occupied, and a...

 of Richmond Secondary College (as Militant) and heroin reform
Drug policy reform
Drug policy reform, also known as drug law reform, is a term used to describe proposed changes to the way most governments respond to the socio-cultural influence on perception of psychoactive substance use...

. It has also been involved in the campaign for the rights of refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...

s including the Woomera Detention Centre protests. In 2003 it initiated a campaign for young casual workers' rights called Unite Union
Unite Union (Australia)
Unite is a trade union established in Melbourne, Australia. The union is not registered under the Fair Work Act 2009. Its secretary is Anthony Main, a Socialist Party member. Its inspiration is the Unite Union in New Zealand...

. It has also been involved in the anti-globalisation and anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...

 movements. Unlike much of the Australian far-left, the SP does not endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....

 campaign against Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 as they argue it is "unlikely to have a significant economic impact, not least because it will attract only partial participation... (and it would) alienate Israeli workers, who are the only force capable of removing the brutal Israeli regime". Similarly, they support a socialist solution in the conflict as opposed to a capitalist one-state solution which is supported by the majority of the Liberal left.

Socialist Party councillors

In November 2004 the SP was successful in getting one of its members, Stephen Jolly, elected to the City of Yarra
City of Yarra
The City of Yarra is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of 19.5 square kilometres, and at the 2006 census it had a population of 69,330...

. Jolly was elected to the Langridge Ward at the 2004 council elections with a first preference count of 12.34%. Jolly was re-elected to Yarra council in 2008 with a first preference count of 29.18%, out-polling the Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...

 candidate in his ward who received 26.29% and the ALP who received 16.12% in 2008, down from 28.14% in 2004.

After the 2010 Victorian State election
Victorian state election, 2010
The 2010 Victorian state election was held on 27 November. The incumbent centre-left Australian Labor Party government, led by John Brumby, was defeated by the centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition, led by Ted Baillieu....

, the Melbourne Leader reported that the SP was likely to pick up a second seat from retiring ALP Mayor Jane Garrett
Jane Garrett
Jane Furneaux Garrett is an Australian politician. She has been the member for Brunswick in the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2010.Garrett is a candidate on the Left ticket for the position of ALP National President. -References:...

 who had been elected to the seat of Brunswick
Electoral district of Brunswick
The Electoral district of Brunswick is an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It is located in the northern suburbs of Melbourne and is based around the suburb of Brunswick....

. The vacancy was filled by Anthony Main, secretary of Unite Union, who was elected into that seat on 23 January 2011.

External links

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