Rock Off Johnny

Lara Watson, Mackay

Lara Watson rocks. And on Saturday August 25 she got 1800 young people in the northern Queensland electorate of Dawson to rock along with her.

The Battle of the Bands gig was a smash hit in Mackay featuring 14 local groups and a rock opera stage setting to the upcoming federal elections.

Music is a big part of the ACTU marginal seats campaign. And despite getting a drumming from the local National Party incumbent De-Anne Kelly, Lara has not missed a beat.

"Quality Mackay outfits stage a ding-dong battle," wrote the Mackay Daily Mercury. "Whether or not there was a message behind the music, about 1800 young people still rocked like it was the Big Day Out."

Lara Watson is one of two full time organisers the mining and maritime unions are funding as part of the ACTU marginal seats campaign. She is based in Dawson which needs a hefty 10 per cent swing. But with polls going Labor's way, local MUA and CFMEU branches are confident they can swing it.

Lara is passionate. "I'm loving my job," she said. "It's not work. It's meeting extraordinary people with extraordinary stories. It's a roller coaster, emotional movement. I don't want to do anything else. It's knowing that you're contributing to something much, much bigger than yourself."

Labor roots

Laurie Horgan, MUA delegate in Mackay admits the seat was not on anyone's radar not so long back.

"But statewise all the seats here are Labor," he said. "And if you look at the historical side it was Labor from 1966-1975 under the Whitlam Government, when Dr Rex Patterson held the seat and before.

Dawson was created in 1949 and named after Anderson Dawson, Queensland premier, the first head of a Labor government anywhere in the world (1899), and defence minister in the first federal Labor government (1901-06).

ALP candidate, local doctor, councillor and popular local identity James Bidgood is hoping to follow in Dawson's footsteps. He is running strongly against Work Choices and the unions are backing him.

Taking a punt

With Labor increasing its margin in the polls, the odds are narrowing. Sportingbet, Australia's biggest bookmaker, has added Dawson to its list of the 50 most hotly contested seats in the country on its federal election form guide.

"If you're tipping a Coalition victory, Dawson won't come into calculation," the Sportingbet website reads. "However, if you're tipping a landslide Labor victory (Labor to win 25+ seats from the Coalition), which is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility, then Dawson will be at risk for the Nationals.

Sportingbet Australia has the punters narrowing the odds with bets running $3.50 (ALP) to $1.25 (Nat).

Changing demographics

Driving through the outskirts of Mackay the 30-50? kilometres to the port, brand new industrial sites servicing the mining boom stretch for kilometres. On the horizon up to 60 ships at any one time queue waiting for their share of the 74 million tonnes of coal exported out of the Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point terminals each year, most fueling the Chinese economy.

"The mining boom has transformed the area from farming to mining and manufacturing bringing in tradespeople as well," says Laurie.

Many of the maritime and mining workforce are made up of ex cane farmers and their families who walked into the towns after the sugar industry went bust, but like MUA recruit Bonny, Laurie says they've all come around.

"It was a courageous decision for the two unions to take the seat on," he said. "But through Lara's hard work people have come on board and everyone has a good feeling we can oust the local member. Once that happens Dawson will be like a mining community in the Hunter, a blue collar electorate and I don't think it'll ever turn back."

CFMEU (mining) district vice president Steve Pierce could not agree more. The seat holds the biggest single concentration of his members in central Queensland and Lara has got them all on the electoral roll.

"Lara probably wishes she was triplets the amount of work she has on," he said. "It's only that she is an energy ball running around that she got through most of it. She's busted her arse and done a shit load of work. Anyone would be hard pressed to follow the work she's done. She's incredible. And she's copped a far flogging from (National Party member) De-Anne Kelly and her Nazi offsiders."

Lara's troopers

Lara is not alone. Her hard-core activist army includes MUA troopers Laurie Horgan, Kevin (Skinny) Paskins, Robert Barnes and Gary Bell.

"I can rely on them," said Lara. "These guys are just awesome. It's really important for the campaign to be successful that members be involved. With the maritime guys you don't even have to whistle. They're telepathic. Anything going and they turn up. You can always rely on the maritime guys. I love them to death."

The feeling is mutual.

"We see Lara working and it's a pleasure to rally behind her," said Gary. "The Australian community has bonded together against Howard, against the war in Iraq. He's meshed people together to say this isn't right. This is not the Australia I want my kids to grow up in. No one wants to live in a dog-eat-dog society. If he gets the green light this election it will be open slather on workers. He'll say he has a mandate."

Polling in the electorate has been an eye-opener. There's now 1400 miners plus 1500 manufacturing workers as industry follows the mines into town.

"Count in their families and we could win the seat on mining and maritime members alone," said Lara. "We only need 4,500 votes."

Lara said polling found that most of the 2,400 indigenous Australians did not understand that the Nationals were part of the Coalition. But thanks to Lara and her team most are now aware of their vote and how to make it count.

Sportingbet Australia confirms IR is the big issue.

Polling also confirmed the main issue in the electorate among swinging voters was IR. Many also thought they were correctly enrolled but weren't because they used a post office box number as their address. That strikes them off the roll. Or they've moved and failed to update their details with the Electoral Commission. Lara's personally enrolled over 150 people.

"There are a lot of miners on AWAs, but they are the old ones with the 'no disadvantage test'," said Laurie. "We've made sure the mine workers understand that now."

But that's just half the job. Building community awareness is another election winning strategy.

The Rock Off Howard, Battle of the Bands concert was just one of a dozen community events organised in the run up to the election. Lara also organised a Cancer Council rally for life, helping raise $3,000 for research.

Lara said the concert proved to be a good outlet for getting information out to young people.

"The focus was on the young kids and their music," she said. "School kids support bands, but don't get to see them if they are underage because the bands usually only get to play in pubs. The unions set up a yr@w tent in the grounds but the message was not shoved down people's throats. The event was about the kids and their music."

National MP De-Anne Kelly was rattled and went on the attack accusing the unions of indoctrinating school children. But the concert proved so popular her attack backfired. Parents of the band members and kids alike rang to say how remarkable the day was and how they needed more of this for kids.

Lara's baptism

Lara started working as an organiser for the LHMU in South Australia. She heard about Unite, the union organising unit set up by the miners and left to work for them.

"To me the union movement was addictive," she said. "When I first started it was like a calling. It's blokes like these that you would not find in any other job. The camaraderie and support you wouldn't get anywhere else. I've learnt so much. But I'm still only a baby in the union movement. Every day you learn both work wise and life lessons. You don't learn this stuff in university or Tafe, you learn it from guys who've lived on the front line and experienced it."

Lara recalls growing up as a kid her mum inviting around the neighbours for a cuppa or borrowing sugar.

"That did not last as I grew up," she said. "But in the last couple of years the true Australian way has come back. People want a fair go for the average Aussie battler. My generation is coming together with the veteran battlers to make sure the next generation don't lose everything. Young and old are coming together, like here with the campaign in Dawson. I'm a single parent with a seven-year-old daughter. I don't want her to grow up to learn its okay to earn $7 a day."

Tipping point

Kevin Paskins is confident the electorate is reaching tipping point. "People were always ringing and writing in supporting De-Anne," he said. "This time around no one seems to be on her side. People have been writing to the newspapers against her. I think she's gone."

"I don't like what this government has done with Work Choices," says Gary Bell. "I want to oust this government and I'm fairly passionate about it. People have to organise and get active and force change."

"Win or loose this campaign is going to be ongoing. It won't stop at the end of the election," said Steve Pierce. "If we get Rudd in will have to continue until the next half Senate election and we need to sell our message and do the leg work for another three years. The next Senate election is just as important as this one."