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“It means demanding radical action on climate change instead of pandering to the fossil fuel industry.”
Cameron was the Independent Education Union delegate at his Melbourne workplace for many years in an industry that is largely non-unionised and casualised, where wage theft is common. “My workmates and I had to wage a multi-year battle against casualisation and for our first EBA”, Cameron says. Their success inspired others to start organising their own workplaces. They were able to make connections with teachers across the sector and help build a broader fightback. “I’m proud to have been a part of this organising work. It showed me the power of grassroots struggle and being a socialist. It taught me that if we dare struggle, we can win.”
While big business has raked it in during the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of workers have lost their jobs, and many others have been working on the front lines risking their health for little reward. Cameron believes the support provided to the unemployed, to essential workers and others most impacted by the pandemic has been vastly inadequate.
“It’s a crime”, he says, “that the Labor Party chose this moment to help the Liberals push through tax cuts for the richest sections of society. If the mining magnates, property developers, and major landlords were paying their fair share of tax, we’d have more than enough to lift the unemployed and others who are struggling to get by out of poverty. And we could give decent pay rises to people like teachers, and healthcare, transport, supermarket and other workers who have been doing the hard yards to get everyone through this. Instead, by pushing through these tax cuts, they’ve locked in growing inequality for decades to come.”
“I’m a socialist”, Cameron says, “because socialists are about fighting for a reversal of this equation. For a society that prioritises people over the profits of the wealthy few.”
“That means increasing taxes on big corporations and the rich, for a start. It means campaigning to restore JobSeeker back to $80 a day, and for a big increase in funding for healthcare. It means ending the multi-million dollar handouts to private schools, and putting the money back into the public system. It means demanding radical action on climate change instead of pandering to the fossil fuel industry.”
Cameron knows from his experience as a unionist that none of this is going to come without a fight. “To get what we deserve”, he says, “workers have to be prepared to unite and fight back together. It’s this fighting spirit that I want to bring into parliament. Whether it’s Liberal or Labor, all they do now is protect the interests of the wealthy few. I will call out the lies of the major parties and get to work on shaking up the whole system.”