AFTER FIGHTING for democratic rights within the University of Queensland Student Union, Max Chandler Mather did the improbale, impossible by winning Kevin Rudd’s old seat. Like ice skater Steven Bradbury Max came from behind, having lost previously, to win the seat of Griffith that had been held by Labor for as long as I can remember.
Steven Bradbury was coming last when he won the Olympic medal for ice skating as the rest of the field fell over in the final stretch at Salt Lake City in the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Labor has been, for most of the 20th and 21st centuries, the natural party of government in Australia. Max chose a political career having graduated from the University of Queensland. Both his parents had benefited by Labors free education at the Tertiary level. However, when Labor embraced neoliberalism in the 1980s their developed a need for a second Social Democratic Party, which turned out to be the greens after the failure of the Democrats who capitulated to the tories over GST.
There are two things that Max in this little booklet has left out. They are both elephants in the room.
The First is the Labor’s dismantling of the CFMEU by appointing an administrator because of concerns about thuggery in the construction industry. The Labor Party, which was created by the unions, was now turning its back on the rights of workers to have a union. Max spoke at the CFMEU rally attended by about 10,000 union members. This speech became controversial within mainstream media and the ABC that depicted Max as being some sort of crazed supporter of thuggery and misogyny when, in fact, all he was doing was supporting the ‘rule of law’ that you do not deprive workers their right to union membership and democratic control over their own organisations.
The second elephant in the room is Max’s support for Palestine. Max has spoken at rallies pickets and helped launch the campaign for the first Palestinian woman, Remah Naji, to be elected to an Australian Parliament in the seat of Moreton.
Both Remah Naji and Max Chandler-Mather have signed APAN’s candidates pledge to support Palestine.
I will be voting for Max and supporting Remah in the coming federal election in May 2025.
Remah’s pledge
Palestinian Remah Naji is the Greens candidate for the federal seat of Moreton on the south side of Brisbane, stretching all the way from Moorooka down to Kuraby. Remah has taken this step to become a voice for the people of Gaza and the occupied territories in the West Bank during the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Q. Do you support a complete and permanent ceasefire in Gaza?
Remah Naji: Yes
Q. Will you commit to actively opposing anti-Palestinian racism, including advocating for legal and policy measures that address anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab discrimination, and defending freedom of political expression?
Remah Naji: Yes
His booklet is not very clear and especially if you try to zoom in on any of it.