We're in the Union

SlICKS GALORE: Summer is here and 'Slick the Oily Surfer' is popping up everywhere, from the Central Coast where Newcastle wharfie Christian Loades (above) poses beside the wreck of the Signa, to Bondi Beach and Bombay, where the MUA's Sean Chaffer made an unexpected appearance in the Sunday Times of India in another triumph for the union's shipping and environmental campaign.

On Bondi Beach to record the moment was a Channel 10 crew and Reuters photographer Will Burgess. The local Wentworth Courier featured the Reuters photos of 'Slick' Sean carrying off the local ALP candidate Carolyn Neilson like a not-so-white knight. And the Seafarers' Union in Bombay sent the above clipping by mail celebrating our first known international appearance. Slick also features in the next ITF Seafarer's Bulletin.

The Bondi Beach protest was one of three run during the election campaign. Most successful, mediawise, was the Terrigal performance with local candidate Trish Moran and ship's mate Sam Chell (AMOU). On top of local coverage it got a big run on regional television NBN 3. On the day Sam, also a local surfing identity, emerged from the water covered in an oily black molasses mix to hug a delighted Trish in front of the cameras.

A third protest was staged in Ulladulla Harbour on the South Coast where professional longboard surfer, MUA wharfie Gary Colwell, teamed up with Labor candidate for Gilmore Peter Knott, winning a spot in the Milton Ulladulla Times.

And while none of the ALP candidates in the marginals got elected thanks to the Howard Government using the war to bomb out the Beazley campaign, perhaps we can take some solace in the Greens getting the vote in the Senate where they will help Labor and the Democrats block the worst of the Coalition's planned third term excesses.

It's going to be a battle keeping Australian shipping afloat over the next three years. But by continuing the fight on the beaches our message is, slowly, getting across -- thanks also to the members' legal and political levy which paid for the ads in major tabloids and regional newspapers during the election.