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P A R L I A M E N T  OF A U S T R A L I A 1st FLOOR

GRANVILLE TOWERS  10 BRIDGE STREET  GRANVILLE, N.S.W. 2T42

TEL. 637 4713

H O U S E  O F  R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S

OFFICE OF HON. T. UREN, M.P. FEDERAL MEMBER FOR REID .

SPEECH BY TOM UREN, M.P. TO CIVIL LIBERTIES RALLY, BRISBANE,

THURSDAY, 7th DECEMBER, 1978

I am proud and honoured to be here in Brisbane at this civil

liberties rally organised by the Queensland Trades and Labor

Council.

The decisions of the Trades and Labor Council on this issue  have been magnificent.

They are historic.

They are highly principled.

And, very importantly, they are striking a major blow in the  long-term interests of the workers (of all working people) who

are now being subjected to a growing attack on a number of fronts

The Trades and Labor Council has taken a stand that, as an

organisation, it should not conform to a bad law —  that it

should not go cap-in-hand to apply for permission to march just

because an immoral and oppressive law says it should.

The best thing to do with unjust and arbitrary laws is to defy

them, and to mobilise the mass of the people to defy them.

This is the only road to justice.

Of course there is a role for the Parliament in this process.

Parliament will pass the law to change the law.

But the fact of the matter is that law- making in Queensland is

in the hands of an arrogant minority force that prides itself on

its acts of agression against sections of the population.

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And the law-makers of the Queensland Government are hacked .

up by powerful private interests who also benefit from the  removal of the right to demonstrate.

It is not enough for the people to go av/ay,  and hope for a "good  parliament" to remove this oppressive law from hanging over their

heads. . .  .  Ã¢ÂÂ   .

There are members of the Houses of Parliaments here today.

We are here not so much as potential law-makers when Labor wins  government. .  .

Rather, we are here as advocates of the interests of the people

we represent —  the interests of Labor's people, of working people,

of the youth and future generations, and of the progressive people.

As advocates for these people, we belong with them —  especially  in times like these.

In the growing crisis that now faces not just Queensland but the

whole of Australia, I believe that the people's representatives  must become more directly involved in the day-to-day struggles of  the people.

* * * * * . .

I think it is important that we are all aware that the Trade Union

Movement has also taken this stand against the march ban laws in

the .  spirit of solidarity with those groups that we know the

Queensland law will never permit to march.

Maybe, just maybe, the Queensland authorities would grant permission

to organised labour to stage a march.

/3

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But organised,labour knows that the authorities do not look so

kindly on the Aborigines of this State; they don't look so  kindly on the Anti-Uranium Movement, which is now such an  important ana growing mass movement right around Australia,  who only have the streets on which to make their presence felt.

And the authorities do not (and will not) look so kindly on  smaller, separate groups of workers (like the meat-workers last

month; the seamen; the railway workers) that they deliberately  attack, isolate and try to defeat.

I believe that the Trades and Labor Council rally represents an

historic act of solidarity by organised labour, at this crucial

point of struggle.

I must also mention the solidarity that is growing right across

the population in Queensland.

Protest against the march bans is more and more becoming the  rallying point as the people reject the arrogant and confrontation  behaviour of the conservative Queensland Government,  and the

powerful and rich forces that government represents.

Political awareness is clearly growing as a result of this

struggle.Â· And it is a political awareness that won't dissolve

after we defeat the march ban laws.

Hot only is solidarity growing in Queensland.

It is growing right across Australia. Delegates are coming to ’

Queensland, in support of the rallies.

Petitions are being collected.

Newspaper ads are being run.

Rallies are being held. .

‘ i

/  4

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Ail this because of the strong and growing feeling throughout  Australia that what is happening in Queensland is important for

all Australians. . . .

The rights of all Australians are threatened if they (and  especially their fellow Australians in Queensland) lose the right

to demonstrate.

The right to demonstrate must be an integral right of all

Australians.  Â·  .

* * * * Â·  *

In waging this struggle, I believe it is important that we see  it in the very broad context of what is now going on throughout

Australia.

There is a massive redistribution of wealth going on —  more and  more income is being moved away from the vast majority of the .   people, and _to the wealthy, Big Business minority. .

With the loss of their economic position, the people are losing

their basic political position. Their role in society is being

reduced. Their basic liberties are being reduced.

Now, of course, we want our human rights guaranteed.

But,  to really achieve these objectives, we have to understand

what forces are really causing the loss of economic, social and

political rights of the ordinary people of this country.

Then we have to take on those forces in a full and effective way.

Ultimately, the people must win this struggle.

* * * * *

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Those who have launched the offensive are the ruling forces, .   specifically the large corporate sector, much of it foreign

controlled, and the financial, media, bureaucratic and political  party interests that are tied up with it.

They have launced the offensive as a necessary part of their

overall strategy to make monumental changes in Australia and  how Australia fits into the world economic system.

What is going on now, all through the capitalist world, as a

result of actions of the major corporations, is a massive

re-organisation of capital and of production.

They are using the recession to do it- '  —  they usually do.

We are seeing the internationalisation of production, where one

or a group of multinationals organises a production line that

runs through a number of countries; the goods are sold "on the  world market", usually in the richer countries.

Domestic industries, in countries like Australia (even though

they are often foreign owned) are being scaled down.

There is a continuous attack on tariff barriers and the protection

given to those domestic industries and the jobs they provide.

It:s true that in many cases those domestic industries are "sick" -  the management allowed them to , become that way. But there are  other answers besides killing them off. ,

In the global picture as it is drawn by the corporations, Australia  is to have a specialist role —  as the supplier of raw materials to

the industrial complexes overseas.

Local industries are to be closed down, to be relocated by their

foreign (or even Australian) owners in low-wage havens overseas;

workers in the poorer countries don't benefit —  they are subject

to increasing repression and cut-throat competition.

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More and more the goods to meet the needs of the Australian

people and of industry are being brought in from overseas.

This increases the power of the corporations.

This offensive of capital is at a very great cost to the working

people of this country.

Because the working people lost so much in this new arrangement,

the corporate sector knows it will have to face an inevitable

strong reaction from the working class. ,

This is why they have already started their political offensive.

This is why they have already moved to weaken organised labour,,

This is why they have put all that repressive legislation on the

books.

- The Amendments to the Arbitration Act .

- The Amendments to the Trade Practices Act - The setting up of the Industrial Relations Bureau

- The use of that relic from the Cold War —  The Atomic

Energy Act, to cover the proposed commercial uranium

'  mining in the 1980's - AND the new controls on the right to march in Queensland.

ALL this is not just to give Parliamentary draftsmen something

to do.

They are part of a co-ordinated well organised plan, to get the  ruling forces ready and able to force their will on the people.

So you see . .........

The interference with the right to demonstrate in Queensland is

not just an isolated incident.

It is not just a Queensland matter.

And it certainly isn't something separate from the other key

struggles that now confront the Labor Movement. .  .

The ban on street marches is a deliberate attempt to undermine  the solidarity of the working class movement and the progressive

movement.

The counter-offensive for this offensive being waged by the

powers that be, is solidarity,  unity of the broad mass of the .

people in support of any section.of the people who are placed  under attack.

Solidarity, unity and opposition to the ruling forces is expressed

in rallies,  in marches. It is expressed by the people coming out

of where the system says they are supposed to be, and gathering  around in support of their own people and their own cause.

This is why street demonstrations are banned.

The Premier knows that his side gains an advantage if our side  can be kept off the streets.

The deliberately engineered confrontation over street marches

also has another aim for/'ruling forces. It gets the people used

to having large numbers of police around. To the uncommitted,  it

becomes "normal" and "acceptable" to have the.police present apd

ploughing in against dissenters.  . Â·  Ã¢ÂÂ   '

Queensland has a history of police intervention —  the 1947 railway

workers strike, the 1963 Mount Isa strike.

Now, look into the future:  Look at the struggles that the people,

and especially the Labor Movement faces. Won't, it be convenient

for the ruling forces to have the public accustomed to the open

use of police (and police force) to control workers? .  .  .

This is why I say it is urgent that the whole Labor Movement take-

the stand now, resist and remove this oppressive law on street

marches.  .  .

..../8

The Labor Movement cannot afford to wait a.ny longer,  to resist

the onslaught.

We must gather up our allies, and act. .

We must understand their repressive tactics,  like the street

march ban. .

And join with those who (possibly for other reasons related to  their own economic or moral position) believe that we must stop

this increasing trend to repression. .

We must mobilise,  .  .

build solidarity, .

build unityÂ·.

The important thing thd: the ruling forces cannot

solidarity and unity of the working class and the

people. .  .

beat is

progressive

