Socialist Party councillor elected in Australia

Australia: Socialist Party councillor elected

SOCIALIST PARTY member Stephen Jolly has won a seat in Langridge Ward in
the Yarra City Council elections in Melbourne, Australia. This is the first
electoral victory for the socialist movement in Australia for many years.

Socialist Party members, Melbourne

Eleven candidates stood for the seat. Stephen got the third highest first
preference vote.

The Socialist Party left-wing team took up the basic concerns of the local
community. We successfully presented ourselves as the left opposition to the
joint Australian Labour Party (ALP)/Green-run Council.

On core economic issues the council has undertaken a neo-liberal agenda,
with asset management and debt reduction the major priority. The big issue is
the on-going financial bleeding of councils by State and Federal government.
We said it was wrong for the council not to campaign with other councils,
trade unions, and the community to change this.

The other reason we won this seat was as a result of a decade of hard work
in the area. A significant number of local people knew of our work saving
Richmond Secondary College, on the urban environment, on heroin reform, for
casual workers’ rights etc and trusted us enough to vote socialist.

For a full report see:
www.socialistworld.net