BY PIP HINMAN
SYDNEY — "The Murdoch-owned Sunday Telegraph's attack on the NSW Greens on March 2 reveals how nervous some are about the Greens likely successes in the NSW elections", said Sam Wainwright, Socialist Alliance candidate for Bankstown. Polling around 8% across the state, the Greens look set to win at least one more upper-house seat.
The Sunday Telegraph ran a front page attack on the Greens' drugs policy, alleging that the party supports the free distribution of ecstasy. The editorial continued the attack, alleging that, among other things, the party "has shown complete contempt for the people of NSW" for not allowing any of their "bizarre" policies to be scrutinised. All the Greens' policies are easily accessed via their web site at .
Wainwright told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly that the corporate media wants Bob Carr reelected because "he's proved a reliable ally of the corporate world with reactionary policies on 'law and order', industrial relations, 'anti-terrorism' legislation and budget cuts to education and health services."
"The irony is that the corporate media have all but ignored the minor parties in this election — and have given only minimal coverage to the Greens — seems lost on this editor. The Sunday Telegraph complains that the Greens are hiding their policies, but then refuse to honestly report on them."
The Greens, of course, are not calling for the free distribution of ectasy, but for a shift in policy to treat the drug problem as a health and social issue rather than a criminal one. "The war on drugs has become a war on drug users", says the Greens' statement on drug law reform.
"Most people realise that there's a need for drug law reform which makes one wonder the rationale behind the Sunday Telegraph's attack", said Wainwright. "The Liberals are using this episode to say they won't preference the Greens. That will have an impact on [Greens candidate] Jamie Parker's ability to win Port Jackson. But in the end it also shows that [Liberal John] Brogden would rather deal with the ALP which has policies much closer to his party, rather than the Greens which are putting forward radical and workable solutions to age-old problems."
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, March 12, 2003.
Visit the