The image of the skinhead is for many associated with violent neo-Nazis. Footage of shaven-headed thugs covered in nationalist symbols taking to the streets and attacking immigrants, refugees or members of other oppressed groups is all too familiar. 
Committed to the “fourteen words” (we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children), these dangerous bigots openly wear their hate on their skin. But these boneheads – as they’re referred to by anti-racist skinheads – represent a complete break with genuine skinhead history, culture and traditions. 
Originating in the mod scene in Britain, the “hard mods”, as they became known, were working class and by the late 1960s had formed a subculture. 
Whereas the mods had traditionally favoured more fancy and expensive attire, the skinheads developed a look that centred on short hair, work boots and braces, reflecting fierce pride in their working class heritage. 
They could be seen at football matches, in pubs, on the streets and at live music venues. Along with northern soul – adaption of Black American soul music popular in northern England – the favourite music of skinheads was the reggae and ska that had been brought to Britain by Jamaican immigrants in the post-war era. 
Skinheads mingled with the Jamaican “rude boys’” and “rude girls” (slang for disaffected Jamaican youth) who gathered in these venues and who contributed not only to their musical tastes but also to much of the apparel that would become standard for skinheads around the world. The skinhead was thus born of a fusion between white working class youth and Jamaican immigrants and their music.
Given the importance of Jamaican culture to the skinhead tradition, boneheads are an affront to the genuine skinhead tradition. 
As Roddy Moreno of Cardiff skinhead band The Oppressed puts it, “If you’re a racist you can’t be a skinhead, because there’d be no skinheads without Jamaica”. 
While aggression and outright violence is a regular part of many skinheads’ lives, organised racism is not something associated with them. So what happened? 
The 1970s brought the end of the post-war boom and the return of damaging recessions to Britain. The right wing exploited this situation. By the mid-1970s, the fascist National Front (NF), founded in 1967 by a former member of the earlier British Union of Fascists, had grown into a dangerous political force. 
Its members recruited on the football terraces, targeting alienated youth and angry young men, who they encouraged to blame immigrants for society’s ills. They also took to the streets to show their strength and intimidate their adversaries, most notably immigrant communities. 
Frequently, they were challenged by anti-fascists. This culminated in the 1977 “Battle of Lewisham”, where around 500 NF members were prevented from marching by several thousand anti-racists.
Only a minority of angry and alienated youth were drawn to the right. Most expressed their outrage and disillusionment in other ways, most notably when punk rock exploded onto the music scene in 1976. With anti-establishment lyrics and a look designed to shock, punk resonated with large numbers and spread quickly from London to the rest of the UK and from there to the world. 
Sneered upon by the mainstream, punk rock allowed those struggling on the dole to attend live shows for a fraction of the price the big acts were asking. It also meant people could form their own bands, irrespective of their musical ability. 
This coincided with a skinhead revival, with many of this second generation of skinheads attracted to punk bands, particularly those that played a brand of punk rock that would become known as “Oi!”. With its heartland in working class suburbs, Oi! has been called the music of the dole queue. 
With a hard-edge sound and lyrics that reflected the realities of working class life, by the early 1980s it was firmly entrenched as a favourite among the new generation of skinheads.
The National Front saw the hard, young, angry skinheads attracted to the Oi! scene as potential recruits. Unfortunately, many were recruited. In 1982, Skrewdriver, formerly a punk band, was resurrected as a right wing “skinhead” band and produced songs with far right, racist lyrics. 
They played benefit gigs for the National Front and supported Rock Against Communism, which had been formed in opposition to the successful Rock Against Racism shows that many other punk and Oi! bands had supported and performed at. 
Skrewdriver were and still are the most notorious white power “skinhead” band. Its front man, Ian Stuart Donaldson, formed Blood &amp; Honour in 1987 with the aim of promoting neo-Nazi concerts. Killed in a car crash in 1993, Donaldson is revered to this day by boneheads around the world. 
Although it varied from country to country and city to city, many remember the 1980s as a time when boneheads regularly caused trouble at shows, with the threat of violence ever present. 
Most bands associated with the Oi! and skinhead scene continued to reject far right politics throughout the decade, and many fiercely opposed them. 
Bands such as Sham 69, the Angelic Upstarts, The Oppressed and the Cockney Rejects made it clear from the start that they wanted nothing to do with the far right. 
Punk poet Garry Johnson, who featured on several Oi! compilations summed it up: “Working class whites have more in common with working class Blacks than with middle class whites”. His poem “Boy About Town” called the fascists “the enemy of the working class”. In other words, it was your class position and not your skin colour that should determine which side you were on. 
Despite this, the mainstream press labelled all skinheads and Oi! Bands as fascist, including those that were openly hostile to far right politics. This was used as a slur against both the subculture and the working class it was part of. 
The Cockney Rejects in particular copped this treatment even though their policy was that the far right was not welcome at their shows (they had belted the shit out of fascists on more than one occasion). 
Indeed, many associated with the scene were explicitly left wing. The Angelic Upstarts espoused socialist politics. The Redskins, which included members of the Socialist Workers Party, played a brand of soul music with lyrics that supported working class struggle. Their album title – Neither Washington Nor Moscow – was the slogan of the SWP during the Cold War. 
In response to the boneheads, in 1987 a group of anti-racists in the New York Oi! scene formed Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) to reassert genuine skinhead culture. Bands like The Press, a New York Oi! band, threw their support behind the idea. SHARP skinheads physically fought boneheads to keep them out of shows. 
A couple of years later, Roddy Moreno of The Oppressed redesigned the SHARP logo and promoted the concept in the UK. It continued to spread throughout the world in the years that followed. 
Today, there is an international network of bands and individuals that embrace the SHARP ethos. Some also identify as RASH (Red and Anarchist Skinheads), a more overtly left wing current that emerged in the 1990s among skinheads wanting to be more explicitly political.
It’s true that “skinheads” with far right politics have to be a part of the skinhead story. But it’s also true that their views do not represent the majority of genuine skinheads, who want nothing to do with such politics. SHARP has played an important role in making boneheads feel unwelcome and reasserting the genuine skinhead tradition. This tradition is above all a working class subculture. 
The working class draws its strength from unity and solidarity, not the hatred and racism that the right foments. Those who use our differences to divide and weaken the working class have no place in skinhead subculture. Fuck the boneheads!

Paul DM

Skinheads vs. boneheads: the battle over a working class subculture

Deeply unpopular Queensland premier Campbell Newman has called a state election on 31 January. Just three years after the Liberal National Party swept to power in a historic landslide, not only is the government facing a big negative swing, but there is a strong likelihood that Newman himself will be unseated.
In its first term, the LNP introduced an austerity budget that cut thousands of public sector jobs and funding to a range of community organisations providing services to some of Queensland’s most vulnerable.
It introduced the so-called VLAD (Vicious Lawless Associate Disestablishment) laws, which are a major attack on civil liberties under the guise of dealing with outlaw motorcycle gangs.
The LNP has also accelerated the pace of the sale of public assets that the previous Labor government was punished for. Although it declared that it has listened to Queenslanders’ opposition to asset sales by moving instead to leasing arrangements, few are fooled by this cynical move and see it for what it is: asset sales by another name.
Most commentators agree that the LNP is likely to be punished at the ballot box. Labor has picked up two seats in recent by-elections. However, given the rump that Labor was reduced to at the last election – it won only seven of 89 seats – it would take a major uniform swing against the LNP to give Labor the 36 extra seats it needs to form government.
It is unclear how the independents and minor parties might impact the election and the ability of either major party to form government in its own right. Although winning two seats at the 2012 poll and picking up another courtesy of an LNP defection, the Katter Party is polling poorly. To some extent, it has been overshadowed by the rise of the Palmer United Party, although the latter appears to be in a shambles, with internal bickering and even a criminal investigation into Palmer’s media adviser.
Two LNP MPs who defected to the PUP have since left and are sitting as independents. Arch-racist Pauline Hanson has promised to revive her One Nation Party to stand in the election, but it’s too soon to tell whether she will be a serious player. The Greens are polling at around 10 per cent, up from 7.5 per cent at the last election, but are unlikely to gain a seat.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given its record in government and the minor status it has endured in opposition, the ALP is hardly inspiring the electorate. Despite Newman’s personal unpopularity, ALP leader Annastacia Palaszczuk still trails him as better premier in current polling. Labor is focussing on “reminding” voters of the savage cuts that have taken place under Newman’s government.
It’s not reminding that Queenslanders need, however, but a complete reversal of the cuts and a massive injection of funding to undo the damage. And while Labor is declaring its opposition to further assets sales, there has been no move to reverse the unpopular sell-offs that took place under its previous administration.
Palaszczuk started the campaign by telling voters to “wait and see” what Labor’s policies will be. However, we don’t need to “wait and see” to know that Labor’s existing policy commits it to “an economically responsible and prudent approach to managing the Queensland Budget”, the same capitalist economic logic that underpinned Newman’s austerity measures.
So, while the demise of the LNP government should be welcomed, indeed celebrated, a change of government is no guarantee of major improvements to the lives of Queensland workers unless we’re prepared to fight whichever party we’re living under.

Put Liberals last, but don’t expect much from Labor in Queensland

Supporters rallied at the front gates of the Smith’s Snackfood Company factory in Brisbane on 27 November in solidarity with National Union of Workers (NUW) members who are staging a sit-in at the site. 
The sit-in, which started with the day shift, was triggered by management’s demand that workers report for duty even though they were told they would not be paid.
The Smith’s workers had planned to impose partial work bans as part of enterprise agreement negotiations. However, after management said that no wages would be paid for any work they did, workers instead voted to hold a sit-in in the lunchroom.
They are fighting for a wage increase, equal pay for equal work and improved job security. The lunchroom occupation follows months of bargaining with a company unwilling to concede on the issues of most importance to workers. 
So far, management’s response to their action has only deepened the resentment felt by workers. At a short meeting in the lunchroom management read out a statement with “no questions allowed.”
At the 2pm shift change, a mass meeting of afternoon shift workers determined to continue the sit-in until management was forced to make concessions. The day shift workers triumphantly marched to meet them at the gates chanting “the workers united will never be defeated”.
Red Flag spoke to a number of afternoon shift workers as they turned up. One man who works as a machine operator told of poorly maintained and broken machines; others talked about dealing with the stifling Brisbane heat on the factory floor. While workers sweat, management are “wearing jumpers” in crisp air conditioned offices, according to NUW national president, Caterina Cinnani.
Ian Mackay, NUW organiser, explained that the company were filling once permanent positions with labour -hire workers. He said that management preferred these workers because their lack of job security left them vulnerable to being intimidated into “towing the company line”. Under the labour-hire arrangements these workers can also be paid less for performing the same work as permanent staff. Eradicating this practice is one of the key demands the Smith’s workers are pushing for. 
On their way out, day shift workers described a buoyant and confident mood inside. The union is strong, with around 90 percent of eligible workers in the NUW. The sit-in continues.

Brisbane workers' lunch room sit-in continues

The sale of state owned assets continues to be a central plank of Liberal National Party policy – in spite of its own research, which confirms overwhelming opposition to privatisation.
The government bleats about the need to service state debt and says that the sales are in the interest of all Queenslanders. But while flogging off state assets is a financial boon to its mates in investment and development capital, it comes at the expense of the rest of us.
The shellacking that the Bligh Labor government received in the last state election is widely attributed to a voter backlash against its assets sales program. The LNP came to office assuring voters it would not continue with the sell-off. Of course, this is the same government that promised “no forced redundancies” for public servants, only to sack them in their thousands.
True to such form, the LNP has already sold off some $10 billion in state assets, including Queensland Motorways for $7.1 billion. They’ve also flogged off a number of prime pieces of real estate, which were snapped up by developers hungry to make a buck at our expense.
In a further sign of his utter contempt for the Queensland public, treasurer Tim Nicholls has confirmed that a further $37 billion of state assets would be “leased” if the government is returned at the next state election, due in the first half of 2015.
By offering 50-year leases with an option to extend, the LNP says that it has listened to the public and decided against privatisation. This is economic doublespeak. Such leasing arrangements would grant big capital a licence to print money for generations, even if the assets were returned to public ownership at some point in the future.
Unions and their supporters have been campaigning against the sales, although the focus has largely been on removing sitting LNP members from office. In a couple of recent by-elections this has indeed occurred. However, even if, as current polling predicts, there is a swing against the LNP at the election, its massive majority means it is unlikely to lose office.
The best chance of reversing the decision to lease is to use the power of the workers most affected, such as the thousands of Electrical Trade Union members, to mount a serious industrial campaign to force the government’s hand.
That would also send a clear message to prospective buyers that workers don’t take kindly to parasites, and we have the power to put them in their place.

Queensland government continues flogging off assets

Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls has delivered the LNP’s third and final budget before the next state election, due early in 2015. The centrepiece is plans to privatise or lease $33.6 billion worth of government assets, including power generators and ports.
The government is arguing that it has no choice – vital projects including public transport developments are dependent on the funds being raised. However unions have rejected the sales, arguing that it will cost further public sector jobs on top of the thousands lost in the LNP’s previous two budgets – as well as continue the trend toward soaring electricity costs.
In a further demonstration of government priorities, and consistent with attacks on the most vulnerable in previous budgets, the government is using reduced federal government funding as a reason for cutting back on pensioner concessions for rates, power and water bills and public transport costs. Queensland Council of Social Service has described the cuts to concessions as “a dark cloud on the horizon” that “would have a significant impact on tens of thousands of seniors living on or below the poverty line”. Many Queensland pensioners are justifiably distraught at the impact this move will have on their already shrinking budgets.
The government has made much fuss about funding “increases” to key agencies, including the allocation of $400 million over five years to implement recommendations of an inquiry into the child protection system. Premier Campbell Newman argued that the funding would “allow us to overhaul the child protection system and help make Queensland the safest place in Australia to raise a child”. However as the public sector union has pointed out, this needs to be considered in the context of a system that is chronically underfunded and with massive caseloads for a workforce that felt the brunt of public sector job cuts in previous budgets.
Similar cynicism needs to be applied to government claims that funding to health and education is being maintained or expanded. According to initial analysis by the Queensland Teachers Union, for example, government figures showing a 7 percent increase to the sector, including 761 additional teachers and teacher aides, will be insufficient to keep up with projected enrolment figures, with the result inevitably being bigger class sizes.
Likewise the 6.4 percent increase to health funding needs to be offset against the reality that the public health system in Queensland is chronically underfunded, with thousands of jobs – including frontline positions such as nurses and midwives – being lost since the election of the LNP in 2012. Those lucky enough to have kept their jobs are overworked and looking over their shoulders in fear of the next round of cuts.
However it is the massive sell-off of public assets that represents the biggest concern to many, who recall that the previous Labor government was turfed out in a landslide due largely to anger over its selling of state assets. Most Queenslanders are opposed to further asset sales, with a government “Strong Choices” media campaign failing dismally to convince voters of the supposed benefits.
On a government website calling for public comment, the bulk of the 50,000 respondents rejected the plan, with most favouring an increase in state taxes over asset sales. State taxation revenue is forecast at $12.5 billion for the 2014/15 financial year, which the government argues is insufficient to service debt and pay for key infrastructure projects.
However, it’s not as if there isn’t more potential revenue available should the government choose to go after it. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian gross company profits rose by 3.1 percent to $70.8 billion dollars in the March quarter, as part of an annual increase to 11 percent. In the mining sector alone, profits rose by 27 percent in the twelve months to March – and much of this was generated in Queensland.
Even if there were a “budget crisis”, a highly dubious claim, the fact that both state and federal governments prefer attacking workers and the disadvantaged to service debt, rather than look to those who are living high on the hog tells us much about the class bias in their approach to fiscal policy. No surprise then that the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland has welcomed the budget, being particularly pleased “that the government had resisted the temptation to lift or introduce new taxes on business”.
Unions have promised to fight the asset sales. However with a state election looming, Ros McLennan from the Queensland Council of Unions declared that “the only thing that will make them listen is the ballot box”. It would be a major concern if the primary strategy for opposing the government’s agenda was to focus on having them thrown out of office. Firstly, despite their fall in popularity they still maintain an overwhelming majority in parliament and a change of government, though possible, seems unlikely. Furthermore, even if Labor were to be re-elected, there is no guarantee they would deliver, given their record in office.
If we want to stop the asset sales, along with the ongoing attacks on working class and vulnerable Queenslanders that have marked this government, we need to be taking a leaf from unions interstate who are mobilising in response to the horror federal budget. Or from the university students across the country who have been at the forefront of putting the Liberals on the back foot through inspirational street marches and by demonstrating everywhere they show their faces. We need a fight in the here and now that draws on the strengths of our side with further mobilisations and with industrial action from the very workers likely to be most affected by this budget.

Queensland budget shows LNP priorities

Campbell Newman’s Liberal National Party government is continuing its assault on Queensland workers. Recently passed changes to WorkCover, the state’s workers’ compensation scheme, will have a drastic and immediate impact on entitlements.
Despite a parliamentary committee recommending that WorkCover be maintained in its current form – a sentiment echoed by the overwhelmingly majority of Queenslanders – changes have greatly reduced the ability of injured workers to sue their employer.
From 15 October a new injury threshold of 5 percent will be imposed. Workers whose impairment is deemed to be less than this will no longer be able to sue their employers.
As an example, a worker who loses a finger – an injury which in some industries would severely restrict someone’s ability to work – would be deemed to be under the impairment threshold.
Other changes mean that workers can be required to disclose personal medical information to potential employers, allowing them to use this material to screen out workers with existing conditions.
Employers will now be able to access a job applicant’s workers’ compensation history. Those with previous injuries, even if fully recovered, may be viewed with suspicion and denied employment.
It will also be harder under the new rules to prove cases of psychological or psychiatric injury caused in the workplace. Given the stigma already associated with mental illness, any tightening of the law will make it much less likely that injured workers will receive the support they deserve.
Unions estimate that the changes will affect some 50 percent of workers injured because of employer negligence. They also point out that the changes will reduce the incentive for employers to provide a safe workplace, given the reduction in their financial liability for injuries.
There is no crisis in WorkCover – the fund made a $500 million profit last financial year. And according to the Australian Lawyers Alliance, common law injury claims are also down in Queensland by some $50 million on last year.
The changes have nothing to do with reining in costs or cracking down on compo “rorts”. They have everything to do with sticking the boot into Queensland’s most vulnerable and continuing the LNP’s vicious attacks on workers.

QLD compo cut to the bone

Campbell Newman’s Liberal National Party (LNP) has made clear its vision for Queensland: one inspired by the neoliberal method of attacking workers and defending the interests of the bosses and their profits.
Newman has slashed jobs and services, attacked workers at every opportunity and legislated to make it increasingly harder for our unions to fight back. So at this half way mark, it’s worth taking stock of the story so far.
Ongoing job cuts
From the very beginning, the LNP has had Queensland workers in its cross hairs, with public sector workers bearing the brunt of the attacks. Although promising no forced redundancies, once elected, Newman appointed Peter Costello, former Howard treasurer, to head an “independent” audit of the state’s finances.
After the audit warned of a looming budget crisis, Newman declared he had little choice but to slash public spending. First to go were up to 3,000 temporary staff, axed together in one fell swoop on what became known as “Black Friday”, 30 June 2012.However, even permanent employees were not safe, as the budget for the 2012-13 financial year included 14,000 cuts of permanent staff from across the public service. To facilitate this, Newman unilaterally removed job security provisions in the existing EBA, which he enshrined in legislation despite union protests.
Those public sector workers who managed to keep their jobs are now subject to “contestability”, which Newman describes as “testing whether someone else can do it for less money, do the same job or an even better job for less money than is currently occurring”.
This paves the way for outsourcing to the private sector, with treasurer Tim Nichols declaring, for example, that Queensland’s TAFE institutions are at “the top” of the government’s hit list. Contestability is also being used to drive down wages, as is occurring in WorkCover, where 188 positions are being downgraded, workers having to choose between accepting an average of $10,000 less per year and being retrenched.
Services savaged
Newman also stripped funding from a range of community organisations that provide services to some of the most disadvantaged sections of the population. Under the $260 million Grant Funding Efficiencies program, savings are being made by “ceasing or reducing funding for lower priority projects and services”.
Such “low priorities” have included sexual health services, subjected to the loss of 30 jobs, despite health care professionals warning that this will lead to “a public health catastrophe”.
Although Kevin Rudd has since announced, as part of the federal election campaign, funding to keep services going for another year, the Queensland health minister has dismissed the move, describing it as “ridiculous”.
Such is the LNP’s disdain for the community sector that it completely rejected a similar $2.5 million lifeline from the commonwealth that would have allowed the state’s Tenancy Advice and Advocacy Service (TAAS) to remain open.
As a result, the service was forced to close its doors on 30 June, despite increasing demand, including from a growing number of homeless. One Brisbane TASS office described the service as being for many “the difference between having a roof over your head and homelessness”. Clearly, those living under the constant threat of eviction, or who are already living rough on the streets, are another “low priority” for the LNP.
Attacking unions
Newman’s vision includes a strong state that stamps out dissent and supports the bosses against any fight back. Newman quickly moved to introduce cumbersome balloting procedures, making it more difficult to engage in protected strike action. From 1 July 2013, the LNP introduced a new code of practice aimed at cracking down on union activity in the building industry following a heroic and successful nine week strike over equal pay at the Queensland Children’s Hospital late last year.
The new code aims to prevent major projects being “held to ransom by militant unions” – in other words, preventing unions taking similar successful action in the future. Newman has even taken away the official May Day holiday, long celebrated in Queensland, as a deliberate insult to unions and an assertion that we should recognise just who’s boss in this state.
Newman has also passed legislation requiring unions to get members’ approval before embarking on campaigns that will cost more than $10,000. Under the guise of empowering members, this measure is aimed solely at making it more cumbersome for unions to campaign on behalf of their members. Although rejected by the Industrial Relations Commission, Newman went so far as to attempt to ban the Together public sector union from communicating with its members or adversely commenting on current EBA negotiations.
Such is the arrogance of the LNP that one MP even threatened on his Facebook page to have organisers of a demonstration against the closure of a nursing home charged with contempt of parliament after he was heckled when he tried to address the rally. And of course Brisbane has the G20 to look forward to in November 2014, when police and security powers will be bolstered and local residents will require passes just to access their own homes.
Newman’s government is an expression and reinforcement of existing class divisions within the state, Newman’s “reforms” clearly targeting workers and the disadvantaged. With moves to continue outsourcing government functions and services, including handing over control of the $1.8 billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital currently under construction to private sector interests, it’s also clear that the LNP will continue to serve the interests of business at our expense.
Meanwhile the LNP parliamentarians have their snouts well and truly in the trough, pocketing a 42 percent pay rise while crying poor and offering public servants a measly 2.2 percent. The trend will continue until our side can build a sustained fight back in our unions and on the streets.

The Liberal vision for a bosses’ Queensland

Under the guise of making unions more “accountable” to their members, the state Liberal National Party government is forcing Queensland unions to publish their spending details online from this month. In the latest attempt to undermine the key force in the state that can resist its attacks on workers and the poor, the LNP is accusing unions of “wining and dining” at members’ expense.
Under the new rules, credit card statements, along with details of political donations, campaign costs and salaries of union employees, must be uploaded to a publicly viewable site each month. Predictably, employers and their organisations will not be subject to the same requirements.
Union members should reject outright any notion that the LNP is acting in our interests. Unions are correct to argue that this is simply the latest in an ongoing smear campaign aimed at further weakening the ability of unions to fight the LNP’s agenda. Given the LNP’s track record, with mass sackings and constant attacks on our unions, it is contemptible for it to feign concern for the interests of union members. This is a cynical attempt to foster discontent among members as a means of breaking down unity in our organisations.
Members have every right to demand accountability from our unions. We should insist that the leadership act in our interests at all times and that our unions have democratic structures that ensure we have control over union activities. But the priorities of our unions, including how they spend our dues, are no one’s business but ours. It should be for union members alone to pass judgment on the performance of our officials.
Campbell Newman and his cronies want a union movement that is weak, divided and unable to mount a serious fight back. Those who want strong and united unions that can push back his agenda should not be fooled by LNP posturing about accountability. We need to be clear that the LNP is no friend to union members and reject its feeble attempt to fool us into thinking otherwise.

Queensland LNP no friend to union members

A new $1.8 billion public hospital being built on the Sunshine Coast is to be handed over to private sector interests. This is the latest of Campbell Newman’s Liberal National Party government attacks on the public sector.
While the Sunshine Coast University Hospital will remain government owned, it will be operated for profit, meaning that the hospital will be operated in the interests of private shareholders rather than the public.
This attack on the Queensland public health system comes on the back of the announcement by the Metro North Hospital and Health Service that it is abolishing 150 nursing and midwifery positions.
Health workers are now concerned about other public health facilities in the Sunshine Coast area, and with good reason, given the LNP’s record. The LNP has already cut back funding of important community health services and sold off state owned nursing homes.
The LNP’s agenda is an attack on the basic principle that health services are a right that should be provided by governments, not a commodity to be bought and sold. Injecting private sector interests into hospitals can only mean our services will suffer.
The quest for profit means hospitals will be constantly under pressure to “rationalise” services, that is, to provide services at a reduced cost. This can come only through making staff work more “efficiently” by expecting them to do more for less, or by cutting back on staff altogether.
There will be downward pressure on wages and conditions, already a problem, but one that will be exacerbated in a profit driven environment. Health care workers who are increasingly underpaid and overworked cannot be expected to provide the kind of services the public should expect and receive.
The Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) has opposed the move, describing it as “a devastating blow”, and has vowed to “fight to the end” to defend the public health system. QNU secretary Beth Mohle said the move could lead to “massive job losses, wage cuts and the introduction of patient fees”.
Around 70 nurses and supporters rallied on the Sunshine Coast on 1 August to oppose the move and some 300 marched on State Parliament in Brisbane on 7 August, where they presented a petition of 6,500 signatures opposing privatisation and outsourcing of public health services.
The QNU is right to oppose attacks on the public health system and should be prepared to escalate industrial action as part of the fight back. A recent poll showed that 74 percent of Queenslanders are against the privatisation of public hospitals and health services, meaning a genuine fight back would have popular support.
Moreover, success in pushing back the LNP agenda in health could have important flow-on effects in pushing back its attacks in other sectors. A militant industrial campaign that draws in support to defend our public health system could be just the spark needed to ignite a broader fight back against the LNP’s attacks on Queensland workers and on those who rely most on government and community services.

Skinheads vs. boneheads: the battle over a working class subculture

Put Liberals last, but don’t expect much from Labor in Queensland

Brisbane workers' lunch room sit-in continues

Queensland government continues flogging off assets

Queensland budget shows LNP priorities

QLD compo cut to the bone

The Liberal vision for a bosses’ Queensland

Queensland LNP no friend to union members

The LNP is a cancer on QLD public health

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