The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is standing six candidates for the Senate in the May 21 Australian federal election. Our candidates will be listed as groups, but without the SEP’s name, on the top line of the Senate ballot papers in three states: New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

New South Wales

Max Boddy, 33, is the Assistant National Secretary of the SEP and a member of the national committee. He writes for the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) on the issues facing asylum seekers and their inhumane treatment at the hands of Australian governments, whether Coalition or Labor. He has completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Newcastle, majoring in Aboriginal Studies.

In 2019 Boddy stood as the SEP candidate for the seat of Hunter in NSW against Joel Fitzgibbon, the Labor incumbent. Fitzgibbon’s family had held the seat since 1984, the period during which the area was devastated by the shutdown of manufacturing in Australia and the slowdown of mining production, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs and intensified attacks on working conditions.

Oscar Grenfell, 30, is the national convenor of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), a member of the SEP’s national committee and a regular correspondent for the WSWS. He has written extensively on key political and industrial issues, including in defence of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, the political and social crisis confronting young people, and exposures of the pro-capitalist policies of the Greens and of the pseudo-left’s divisive “identity” politics.

Grenfell was born and raised in Sydney’s inner-west and joined the SEP whilst at high school. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney, majoring in English literature. In 2015, he stood as the SEP candidate for Bankstown in the NSW state election, for Grayndler in the federal election in 2016 and in Parramatta, running against the sitting Labor Party member Julie Owens, in 2019.

Victoria

Peter Byrne, 63, is an architect and the son of a car worker. He joined the Socialist Labour League, the forerunner of the SEP, in 1983. For more than three decades, Byrne has played a leading role in the party’s work in the Melbourne area, including in campaigns to defend the jobs and basic rights of car workers, building workers, pilots and teachers.

He has represented the SEP in Victorian elections and by-elections and stood for the seat of Calwell in 2019. There he ran against the candidates of the Greens, Labor and the pseudo-left Victorian Socialists, all of which sought to divert the immense hostility among workers and young people to the official establishment, back behind the moribund parliamentary system.

Jason Wardle, 30, is president of the IYSSE at Victoria University. Wardle, whose father and uncles were merchant seaman, grew up in Perth, and worked there as a casual construction labourer. He represented the SEP in the 2019 elections.

Wardle became politically active as a result of his opposition to militarism and war, including the US-led interventions in Libya and Syria, and Australia’s integration into Washington’s confrontation with China in the Asia-Pacific. He turned to the SEP after growing disillusioned with the militarist and pro-business program of the Labor Party. Wardle moved to Melbourne and joined the SEP in 2017.

Queensland

Mike Head, 69, is an SEP national committee member, WSWS correspondent, Western Sydney University law lecturer and secretary of the party’s Brisbane branch. A member of the party for more than 40 years, he is married with three adult children. In recent years, he has conducted political work regularly in the Brisbane area, building the influence of the SEP among workers and young people.

Head writes regularly for the WSWS on the bipartisan assault against democratic rights, as well as on other political, economic and social issues. He has represented the party in several elections and stood in 2019 as the SEP candidate for the seat of Oxley in Brisbane, Queensland.

John Davis, 28, joined the Socialist Equality Party in 2013, based on his support of the struggle for socialism and internationalism against the drive to militarism and war. He is an SEP national committee member and the president of the IYSSE club at the University of Newcastle.

Davis has played a leading role in the fight to build the IYSSE in Newcastle and on the NSW Central Coast amongst working-class youth and students, who face ongoing cuts to tertiary education and are forced to make the choice between working in low-wage, casual jobs or suffering permanent unemployment. He stood for the party in both the 2016 and 2019 elections and writes regularly for the WSWS.

How to vote 1 Socialist Equality Party for the Senate in NSW

• Vote 1 for Group F above the line. (Max Boddy and Oscar Grenfell)
• Vote 2 to 6 for any other group, in whatever order you want.
• To cast a valid ballot, you must vote 1 to 6 for at least six groups across the top of the ballot paper.

How to vote 1 Socialist Equality Party for the Senate in Victoria

• Vote 1 for Group Y above the line. (Peter Byrne and Jason Wardle)
• Vote 2 to 6 for any other group, in whatever order you want.
• To cast a valid ballot, you must vote 1 to 6 for at least six groups across the top of the ballot paper.

How to vote 1 Socialist Equality Party for the Senate in Queensland

• Vote 1 for Group I above the line. (Mike Head and John Davis)
• Vote 2 to 6 for any other group, in whatever order you want.
• To cast a valid ballot, you must vote 1 to 6 for at least six groups across the top of the ballot paper.

Contact the SEP:
Phone: (02) 8218 3222
Email: sep@sep.org.au
Facebook: SocialistEqualityPartyAustralia
Twitter: @SEP_Australia
Instagram: socialistequalityparty_au
TikTok: @SEP_Australia

Authorised by Cheryl Crisp for the Socialist Equality Party, Suite 906, 185 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000.