The Victorian Socialists (VS) is a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

based in the Australian state of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. Founded in February 2018, it is an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

of various socialist parties, organisations, community groups and trade unionists. VS aims "to put politicians on a worker's wage so they live like the rest of us" and "to get socialists into parliament who will fight to make workers richer and billionaires poorer". , the party is represented in

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

on the Maribyrnong City Council by Socialist Alternative member Jorge Jorquera.

History

The Victorian Socialists began as a collaboration between Socialist Alternative, the Socialist Alliance, and individuals not aligned with either group. However, Socialist Alliance withdrew from the grouping in May 2020, citing disagreements with Socialist Alternative. Shortly afterwards, a group of independent members formed a caucus in the party called Socialist Unity. The party's formation was announced publicly on 5 February 2018. It was officially registered by the

Victorian Electoral Commission Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatu ...

on 6 June 2018. In August 2018, the party announced that it would field candidates for the 2018 Victorian state election in every Legislative Council seat and several Legislative Assembly electorates. Candidates included the former Geelong Trades Hall Secretary Tim Gooden for the Western Victoria Region and local

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s Stephen Jolly and Sue Bolton for the

Northern Metropolitan Region Northern Metropolitan Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was create ...

. The 2018 election campaign gained support from several

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

including the ETU, VAHPA, UFU, CFMMEU ( MUA division), AMIEU and NUW. It also won the support of several local immigrant diasporas and community organisations. Endorsements were received from several prominent left-wing personalities, such as

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

Gary Foley Gary Edward Foley (born 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian activist of the Gumbainggir people, academic, writer and actor. He is best known for his role in establishing the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972 and for establishing an Abo ...

, Tom Ballard, Corrine Grant, and

Helen Razer Helen Razer is a Melbourne-born and Canberra-raised radio presenter and writer. She is the author of four non-fiction books and a columnist with the Australian version of ''The Big Issue'', Melbourne newspaper ''The Age'' and contributor to the m ...

. The party achieved a vote of 4.2% in the Northern Metropolitan Region while achieving 7.2% of the vote for the lower house seat of

Broadmeadows Broadmeadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area. Broadmeadows recorded a population of 12,524 at the 2021 census. Broadmeadow ...

, in a field of four candidates. In the 2019 federal election, VS ran candidates for the electorates of Calwell,

Wills Wills may refer to: * Will (law) A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person (executor) is to manage the pr ...

, and Cooper. The party was registered at a federal level with the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

on 7 April 2019. The party won votes of 4.6% in Calwell, 4.5% in Wills, and 4.2% in Cooper. In September 2019, following allegations of

family violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partner ...

, Jolly was suspended from VS pending an investigation, leading him to resign from the party. In the 2020 Victorian local government elections, the party fielded candidates for

Darebin The City of Darebin is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in June 2018 Darebin had a population of 161,609. Municipal offices are located at 350 High Street, Preston. Dar ...

, Hume, Maribyrnong,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and Moreland, and a ticket for the Lord and Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Socialist Alternative member Jorge Jorquera became the first Victorian Socialists candidate to be elected to office, winning a seat on the Maribyrnong City Council. VS ran candidates for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

and the Senate in the 2022 federal election, and subsequently launched a campaign to win a seat in the

2022 Victorian state election The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for el ...

. Members of the party are involved in activist campaigns for a range of progressive causes. In July 2022, VS Assistant Secretary and 2022 state election candidate Liz Walsh was the organiser of large demonstrations in Melbourne, protesting the overturning of abortion rights by the United States Supreme Court, as well as calling for expanded access to abortion and increased healthcare funding in Australia. VS ran candidates in the west and north of Melbourne for the

, reportedly mobilising over 1000 volunteers for its campaign and knocking on over 180,000 doors. The party increased its vote from 2018, with its best result being a score of 9.3% in the seat of Footscray.

Member parties

Former

Policies

Federal

The party's policies include: * A more

progressive tax A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases.Sommerfeld, Ray M., Silvia A. Madeo, Kenneth E. Anderson, Betty R. Jackson (1992), ''Concepts of Taxation'', Dryden Press: Fort Worth, TX The term ''progre ...

system and a

wealth tax A wealth tax (also called a capital tax or equity tax) is a tax on an entity's holdings of assets. This includes the total value of personal assets, including cash, bank deposits, real estate, assets in insurance and pension plans, ownershi ...

on the super-rich. * Abolishing the

GST GST may refer to: Taxes * General sales tax * Goods and Services Tax, the name for the value-added tax in several jurisdictions: ** Goods and services tax (Australia) ** Goods and Services Tax (Canada) ** Goods and Services Tax (Hong Kong) **G ...

. * Ending subsidies for the mining, banking, and energy private sector. *

Public ownership State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownershi ...

of energy, public transport, aged care, childcare, hospitals, vocational training and disability services * Reversing historical government privatisation. * Removing anti-union laws, reversing

casual employment Contingent work, casual work, or contract work, is an employment relationship with limited job security, payment on a piece work basis, typically part-time (typically with variable hours) that is considered non-permanent. Although there is less j ...

trends, and implementing a

right to strike Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the In ...

. * Implementing a guaranteed retirement age of 60 with universal access to an aged pension. * Creating a

bill of rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pr ...

. * Negotiating a treaty "to respect Aboriginal sovereignty and land rights". * Abolishing the

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is Australia's national security agency responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated vi ...

. * Repealing data retention laws. * Implementing a

voting age A voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain before they become eligible to vote in a public election. The most common voting age is 18 years; however, voting ages as low as 16 and as high as 25 currently exist ( ...

of 16 years old. * Abolishing co-payments to "restore free, universal health care" and implementing free dental care. * Implementing a

National Broadband Network The National Broadband Network (NBN) is an Australian national wholesale open-access data network. It includes wired and radio communication components rolled out and operated by NBN Co, a Government-owned corporation. Internet service provide ...

with fibre-to-the-premises. * Re-instating the Commonwealth Employment Service to assist with finding employment, and abolishing

Job Network Workforce Australia is an Australian Government-funded network of organisations (private and community, and originally also government) that are contracted by the Australian Government, through the Department of Employment and Workplace Relati ...

. * Removing

Work for the Dole Work for the Dole is an Australian Government program that is a form of workfare, or work-based welfare. It was first permanently enacted in 1998, having been trialled in 1997. It is one means by which job seekers can satisfy the "mutual obligat ...

and "other forms of welfare quarantining".

State

Victorian Socialists launched its 2018 election manifesto on 24 August at the Brunswick Town Hall, outlining a broadly

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

vision. It is based on broad principles of

public ownership State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownershi ...

, workers' rights and

equality Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elit ...

. The party's policies include: * Support for ongoing Victorian Government reforms, including limiting rent rises per year, limiting bond to 4 weeks' rent and the abolition of no reason vacancy notices * Five-year freeze on rent increases and subsequent rent increases to be indexed to the Consumer Price Index * 50,000 new

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

units over the next five years *

of energy, public transport, aged care, childcare, hospitals, vocational training and disability services * Large-scale public investment and cessation of subsidies to private companies * Stopping public funding of

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

s and greater funding of public schools * Restore full funding for free and public TAFE * Increase in sector-wide bargaining powers of trade unions and protection of the right to strike * Addressing crime through addressing root causes such as housing, education and employment * Large-scale public investment in renewable energy

COVID-19

In 2020, the party announced its positions responding to key COVID-19 challenges faced by society. * Access to high-quality healthcare, education (schools and higher education), childcare, utilities (energy, water, NBN, gas), roads, public transport, are all basic human rights and should be free * Nationalise all essential industries * Government takeovers not corporate bailouts for all big companies that require government money to survive * Jobs in the significantly expanded public sector must be secure, permanent, well-paid jobs, with conditions protected by fighting unions * Tax the rich. Massively increase corporate taxes and income tax on the very high-income earners. 50 per cent wealth tax on anyone with assets over $10 million * The travel ban has led to a massive crisis in the higher education sector. The Federal government must step in to fully fund higher education * Ban evictions & suspend rent payments for all those without a steady income * Free childcare should be maintained after the pandemic and the childcare system overhauled by ending privatisation and providing 24-hour childcare to meet the needs of shift workers * Oppose all industrial relations reforms that reduce workers’ rights. Restore and expand workers rights to collective bargaining and to strike * Defend the right to protest safely and take industrial action * Take over private hospitals and integrate them into the public health system

History

Member parties

Former

Policies

Federal

State

COVID-19

Electoral results

Federal

Victoria

Notable members

See also

References

Further reading