Magistrate Max tackles the society in crisis

by Dennis Long

In a departure from convention, sitting magistrate Max Taylor has vowed to establish a "serious, well-resourced coalition" to address what he termed a "society in crisis".

Mr Taylor called for a "massive pressure group" to change "this dreadfully un-egalitarian society we now are".

He said such a new group was necessary because of the size of the task confronting society and the pervasive focus on economics.

"No one organisation in the public sector can do it any more," he told the May 13 meeting of Federation Council.

Issues that need be addressed include:

• the distribution of wealth in this society

• greater payment of tax by the wealthy

• improvement of the public sector.

The former General Secretary and President of the Teachers Federation expressed optimism that the time had come for such a new movement.

"I’m confident it can be done. I think the mood is changing. We’ve had 20 years since Thatcher got elected and economic rationalism came about. How long do the eyes have to be averted? How long do we have to go around the supermarket feeling pretty depressed about it all? How long before we finally say ‘just a minute, just a minute’. What’s the end result about?"

Mr Taylor said that he had a great concern about the "health of our political democracy".

"It seems to me as though we’ve almost reached a point in our society where the political democracy itself begins to crumble in the face of its irrelevance...in the face of these huge corporations which seem to dominate the world these days."

Mr Taylor indicated that while business and wealth were important, they are "part of the process".

"The end result is the society created, of which the economy is part. The end result is not that the society is simply part of the economy - that is not correct."

His intervention follows discussions with Public Service Association (PSA) President Maurie O’Sullivan, Australian Council of Social Service President Michael Raper, the National Union of Students and Federation officials.

As evidence of the stress in society and the under-resourcing of the public sector, Mr Taylor cited his recent experiences in the local courts, giving the examples of public sector workers responsible for pre-sentencing, probation and parole reports, as well as prosecutors and legal aid, Juvenile Justice and Department of Community Services workers all of whom work under enormous pressure.

"All of this is happening in this society where at night [on television] we talk about wonderful huge profits by company X while they shed 10,000 jobs."

"What’s really happening is that this society is depending more and more on the goodwill of those people as it depends more and more on the goodwill of teachers and nurses and welfare service people."

Mr Taylor plans to address the annual conference of the PSA as part of his campaign.

Dennis Long is the Editor.