Last May, my Socialist Alliance branch hosted a public forum titled "Save the rail line to Newcastle". One of the three speakers was from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union. The other two - a Greens rep and Stephen O'Brien from SA - had been involved in the successful defence of the rail line ten years ago when it was planned to be cut by Nick Greiner’s Liberal state government. This time the attack on the rail line is being led by the Labor minister for transport Michael Costa.
At the May forum, Stephen said, “The people of Newcastle need to initiate a community campaign around this issue to save the railway line again" – and that is just what has happened.
A meeting called by the Greens local councillor kicked off the campaign about a month after the SA forum. We were not told about the first meeting, but I was able to attend the second one. These meetings brought together an alliance of the ALP, Greens and pensioner associations. No-one was under 50 years old, and the meetings are held at 2pm fortnightly, not a time for day workers.
While there was no disagreement over the campaign slogan to save the existing rail line and services, there was little coherence or direction to the meetings, and no teamwork to carry out the limited tasks decided on.
The point for us socialists is to recognise an opportunity, and take it. Who knows where it may lead? I offered to chair the meetings, which was accepted by the campaign.
Previously, the meeting agendas (circulated by the Greens councillor at the beginning of each meeting) were not even referred to, but everyone had something to say. Now, when people make suggestions the meeting assigns the jobs to small groups, or agrees to leave that suggestion. All the committee members are becoming focussed, and a team is starting to come together. But they still like meeting in the afternoon.
Our first public meeting in the Newcastle Town Hall attracted an overflow audience of 500. We raised about $900 from donations and badge sales, and half the attendees put their name on the contact sheets. Heaps of people were still wanting to speak when we had to end the meeting.
The excellent turn up showed that the leafleting of railway stations, the support from the local ALP branches and the debate in the local daily paper had won public opinion to our side. The problem is that other forces are still angling for the developers' dollars.
Jack Mundey, in his speech to the meeting, asked where the Newcastle union movement was nowadays? He would have expected the Trades Hall Council to be organising to stop this folly, he said. Jack touched on a key political focus for the campaign - how to put pressure on the Newcastle THC secretary who is represented on the government taskforce assigned the job of cutting the rail line.
Up till now the THC secretary has not answered the campaign’s requests for NTHC support. The main rail union is not affiliated to the NTHC (no votes for secretary lost there), but it is affiliated to the NSW Labor Council. The votes may come from unions that stand to gain by developing the rail corridor that runs parallel and close to Newcastle harbour.
The campaign will continue to mobilise the community voice. Fifty-one people turned up for the organising meeting following the public meeting. We have called for a state-wide rally outside NSW Parliament House in Sydney on November 19, and for a march and rally on December 6.
The council elections are due on March 27 and the rail issue is bound to be a key issue. The Newcastle mayor is a prominent opponent of the rail line and the ALP has pre-selected a councillor active in the Save Our Rail Campaign to be its candidate.
The Newcastle Socialist Alliance branch will have an interesting discussion about how to continue to build support for the rail line and build support for socialism during the election campaign. More opportunities are opening up.