At a polling station in Queensland, workers speak out about war, genocide and social crisis

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

They expressed their concerns about huge political problems such as the war, the genocide in Gaza and the deepening attack on the working and living conditions of workers and their families under state and federal Labor governments.

Incisiona retired electrician who worked at the Evans Deakin factory in nearby Woodridge in the 1960s and 1970s, after many years of contact with the party, he agreed with the anti-war and socialist policies pursued by the SEP.

“I have worked hard all my life, seven days a week, including overtime,” he commented.

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

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

“They are just talkative people like (future LNP Prime Minister David) Crisafulli. People forget that we had Campbell Newman (the last LNP Prime Minister) who sacked hundreds of workers. They like to fire workers and prop up their corporate colleagues to feed them the money that gives politicians salaries ranging from half a million to a million dollars.”

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

“It’s true, absolutely yes. Why do they support Nazis in Ukraine? They are Nazis and yet the government has banned the use of Nazi symbols in Australia. What can you say to that?

“All the Americans and their allies are doing is trying to enter Russian territory and place ballistic missiles directly on its front lines. Who’s right? “Putin has offered them agreements not to encroach on their borders, but the Russians cannot stand by and watch as NATO forces advance on all fronts, threaten their existence and try to overthrow their governments.”

Nick said that the Putin regime was deliberately drawn into the war and that this cannot be separated from the Gaza genocide and the wider wars provoked by US imperialism on every front.

“Americans engage in every war in this world in the name of democracy. What kind of democracy is it if everyone is a billionaire and will be running in the elections in a few weeks? They are all run by big business, big arms companies. It doesn’t matter how many billions of dollars they send abroad in arms; everyone supports their own arms industry.”

Nick said these are real problems hidden in the election campaign.

“During the Vietnam War, young people took to the streets to protest the war, and yet they continued the war. And the poor people sent to Vietnam came back not feeling needed, even in Australia.”

Now these same governments have opposed global protests against the Gaza genocide.

“How can any sane person in this world endlessly passively watch as children, men and women die as a result of American bombs. All their buildings, all their hospitals, all their schools are being demolished to the ground level. All Palestinians walk around in rags, hungry and living in scant tents. That’s not how you treat people!”

The attack on Gaza continued even though it was broadcast around the world because governments and the UN allowed it.

“Basically, everyone will be one-sided. Everyone wants it 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 there are fewer and fewer workers, but look at some of the great marches, such as against the Labor government’s takeover of the CFMEU (the construction union) and the fight for good pay and conditions.”

Danielarelocation worker, expressed the working class’s widespread distrust of the political system.

Daniela

“They say they will do one thing today and then in six months they will change their mind and do the opposite. The point is for 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 the government is always ruled by the same two parties.

Real issues were not discussed. “They’re spending all this money on war. The government said we are not going to go nuclear and now we are going nuclear,” Daniel said, referring to the federal Labor government’s $368 billion purchase of AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines from the US and UK.

“Where will this money come from? From us, taxpayers, of course! From the backs of employees. And spending it on weapons to wage a war in which we are not even involved…

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

“It could be a nuclear war. I believe that Putin could go in this direction if the United States and other countries continued to act in the same way against Russia… Again, the United States always provokes the “first shot”. I will repeat once again: the US is the world’s primary terrorist. I will repeat: it is the world police that interferes in other people’s affairs.

Daniel blamed Britain, the former colonial power in Palestine, for causing the Gaza crisis by helping to establish Israel in 1948 in land already occupied by the Palestinians. “There is a long story behind this,” he said.

“Honestly, every time I think about it, it upsets me. All the protests achieved nothing. We must take down the governments responsible for this because it doesn’t matter what I say when I vote.”

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

He said he earns just $27.50 an hour for his afternoon shifts – a low-end wage. Management also issued unsafe instructions requiring forklifts to have priority over pedestrian workers at the plant. James said it showed the company’s disregard for the lives of its workers, many of whom are low-wage immigrants.