Kate SlackThe ALP: Their Election Promises
July 31st 2010 11:23
The following is intended to be a brief but comprehensive overview of the ALP’s election promises as they currently stand and the criticism that they have received as a result.
The ETS
Plan
• Set a cap on pollution
• Penalise businesses who exceeded limits
• Reward businesses who come in under the limits
• Have a citizens assembly of 150 ‘ordinary Australians’ to decide among other things, what the cap should be set at
• Gillard says she will still push the merits of the ETS, but if she can’t convince the 150 then it won’t go any further
• Establish a Climate Commission to keep up to date with what’s happening overseas
Criticism
• In terms of the cap:
o Prices would rise because those charges would be passed on
o The Coalition says it’s all a camouflage for a carbon tax and doesn’t believe that Australia should be leading the way on climate change when they argue that China, India and other serious carbon emitters aren’t doing anything about it
o The Greens believe a cap is too generous to big polluters
o Family first says action on the environment must be balanced against what it will cost the community
• In terms of the citizen’s assembly
o The Greens say it is a cynical waste of time
Background
• After an ETS was presented to Parliament and didn’t pass, Julia Gillard urged Kevin Rudd to shelve the plan until 2012
Climate change more widely
The plan
• The ALP believe in having a carbon price but only when there is community consensus
• Give $2000 each to people who trade in pre-1995 cars for more fuel efficient ones. The money to do so ($394 million) will be taken out of programs to develop solar energy or carbon capture and storage.
• This plan is apparently going to cut emissions by 1 million tonnes and save buyers $344 million in fuel costs.
Criticism
• So much for having a leader with the guts to lead and develop policies in accordance their convictions
• The maths doesn’t add up - $394 million spent to save $344 million is $50 million wasted.
The Hospital Takeover
The plan
• This is a Rudd government plan that has come into fruition over the past year and a half.
• A national hospitals network is to be created with takeovers commencing in 2012.
• The national hospitals network is intended to fund the various local hospital networks, which would manage local hospitals. This will see the Federal government as the dominant contributor to hospital funds
• They also want to instil tougher targets on waiting times. Their solution for this is to give money to GP’s who treat patients out of hospitals thereby decreasing the demand for beds
• If patients are still waiting too long for a hospital bed they will be given a private one
• Currently, all the stated except WA have signed up to the plan
• During the election campaign, the ALP also promised 3000 emergency nurses /trainers and 27 more doctors a year for the next 10 years.
Criticism
• WA refuses to sign onto the national hospitals network – devaluing the use of the word ‘national’ in the plan’s title
• Labor has been criticised of ignoring mental health so much so that it lead to the resignation of one of Australia’s top experts from his government advisory role in June this year.
Education
The plan
School Building Project
o A major response to the GFC was the implementation of the $16.2 billion plan to build school halls and other centres
o The idea was soundly based on the idea that a number of industries would have been supported during a potentially perilous economic time
The Myschool website
o Compares the performances of 10,000 schools around Australia including information about academic performance and demographics
o Labor sees this as an important tool for parents to use when making the somewhat difficult choice about their children’s education
National Curriculum
o Part of this plan is the allocation of $2 billion in order to provide each student in Australia in years 9 to 11 with a laptop.
Criticism to the School Building Project
• The schools building project attracted significant amounts of criticism
• In response, Mr Rudd has stated that the ALP “acted rapidly to keep the economy going, to stop it going over a cliff…So mistakes were make along the way. It’s important to learn from those mistakes, and that’s what we’re doing.”
• The government’s independent auditor considered the policy and its rollout in depth and released its report earlier this year which found that there had been more than $1.5 billion used to keep up with costs while the school buildings were built. It also found that there was a significant amount of red tape as schools had to deal with local, state and federal bodies when seeking to have buildings established
• The report did however recognise that the policy undoubtedly saved jobs although it was unable to specify how many
• Regardless of who comes to power after the election, the report says that it would be inappropriate to suspend the scheme now because some schools would be stuck in the queue and would be unfairly punished.
• Despite this, the Coalition maintains that the money was a feel-good spending spree that helped plunge the economy into debt.
Criticism to the MySchool website
• Heavy criticism came from teachers who were concerned that poor performance from students would impact their job security. They also worry that struggling schools will be abandoned
• The Coalition says the site is about looking like something is being done without actually improving school standards
Asylum seekers
The Plan
• Mandatory detention of asylum seekers – a policy it introduced years ago – remains ‘essential’.
• Prime Minister Gillard would like other countries to take asylum seekers off our hands and is keen to develop a processing centre in East Timor although it seems as though this plan is unlikely
Criticism
• Everyone knows the Coalition will revert back to Howard’s extremely tough and inhumane policies in dealing with asylum seekers. Those who support the plight of people fleeing unimaginable situations expected more from the ALP.
Background
• Kevin Rudd axed the Howard government policy of sending asylum seekers to Pacific nations for processing as well as temporary protection visas.
Immigration
The plan
• The ALP are now pushing for a sustainable Australia rather than a big Australia
• Their plan is to send people to smaller cities
Criticism
• The ALP under Gillard have backflipped on Rudd as he was a fan of the big Australia plan emphasising that it was a good thing that Australia was getting bigger while other countries were going backwards
• The plan to send people to the country will be paid for by removing $200 million from the fund which was originally set aside to help lower rental stress
• Big business says our skills shortage demands that we increase our population
Industrial Relations
The plan: Fair Work
• Over the last three years Labor has restored much of what was lost under WorkChoices.
The plan: Superannuation
• The ALP plans to make employers contribute 12 per cent, up from the current 9 per cent to employee’s superannuation funds. It will start from 2012 but will be phased in over 10 years.
The Economy
The plan: Company tax
• To alleviate the harshness of the aforementioned superannuation policy, the ALP originally wanted to drop the company tax from 30 per cent to 28 per cent. However, the need to compromise with big mining over the mining tax, the company tax rate will only drop to 29 per cent.
The plan: The budget deficit
• The ALP’s plan under Rudd for overcoming the budget deficit was the mining super profits tax.
• This was a hugely controversial policy so much so that it cost Mr Rudd his job
• As soon as she became leader, Julia Gillard cut a deal with the miners to put the issue to bed.
• However the deal meant that $1.5 billion would be cut from Labor’s budget
• On Wednesday 28 July the Reserve Bank’s governor gifted the ALP with the announcement that the economy was travelling along quite well – at 2.7 per cent on an annualised basis, inflation in the last quarter was well within the Reserve Bank’s “comfort zone” (between 2 and 3 per cent).
• This shut down the argument propelled by the Liberals that the economy was spiralling out of control under the ALP.
• In recent months, the Reserve Bank governor has defended the government’s stimulus packages and dismissed the Coalition’s increasingly alarmist view of the national debt.
Background: The GFC
• In late 2008 stock markets began to crash suddenly. The world was warned of a Depression far worse than that of the 1930s. In response, the government implemented a $43 billion stimulus plan, including the $900 cash payments to so many of us, the school building program and massive investments in IT programs. Obviously, this sent Australia into a massive debt – the Budget went from a $20 billion surplus to more than $50 billion in deficit. Despite this Australia was one of the only countries in the entire world not to fall into recession. The government says that their spending is to thank.
Paid Parental Leave
The plan
• Parents will receive 18 weeks at the minimum wage (currently $534.78 per week which will be taxed) but employers are able to add to that figure
• In order to qualify parents must have worked about one day a week in 10 of the last 13 months to qualify
• Those who earn more than $150,000 a year will miss out
• The overall 18 weeks can be split between either parent
• Bosses won’t have to pay super on top of the scheme
• Unfortunately parents who elect this scheme can’t claim the baby bonus or family tax benefits
Childcare
The plan
• The ALP amended the childcare rebate so that parents are paid every three months, instead of every year giving them cash back sooner
• From next year parents can elect to continue receiving payments as they are or they can elect for them to be made fortnightly and direct to providers
Criticism
• In the 2010 Budget the rebate was frozen at $7500 for four years. The changes cost many families about $280 a year
• Kevin 07 promised that the ALP would deliver 260 more child care centres but has since axed the plan with only about 30 centres finalised now saying that there is no longer the demand and that existing providers can accommodate the current need
Broadband
The plan
• The ALP have promised to develop a National Broadbank Network which will see fibre-optic cables laid out across the country giving us internet speeds 100 times faster than what we’ve got now.
• The cost will be $43 billion
• It will contribute to increasing competitiveness in Australia’s communications sector by breaking Telstra’s monopoly on infrastructure
• A heads of agreement deal has already been struck with Telstra which will decease the $43 billion cost
• The network has started to be rolled out in Tasmania, with new areas on the mainland added in the lead-up to the election.
• This policy demonstrates the ALP’s relevance in a technologically advanced society and their commitment to fresh ideas.
• In Tasmania, where the plan has already been rolled out, communication plans start at around $30-$50 a month for 25 Mbps connection and about 15GB of data a month. High-level plans are between $140-$160 a month for 100Mbps connection and 180GB of data.
• The most significant benefit of the plan is that unlike other services, fibre does not degrade, or slow down the service with distance from an exchange.”
Criticism
• The Coalition says it’s irresponsible to spend so much of our money and there are other ways to get faster broadband
• Experiences industry consultant and project manager Malcolm McKenzie told Radio National’s Background Briefing program that the costs of big telecommunications rollouts always blow out. Red tape and rain are just two issues that cause delay
• The opposition has vowed to extract the government from the Telstra deal (which it can as it was only a deal as to heads of agreement and does not carry legal penalties for backing out) and promises to suspend work on the project as it believes the plan is reckless and that there are better ways to achieve better broadband.
Mental Health policy
The Plan
• Will allocate $276.9 million to suicide prevention
Criticism
• Too little too late for many mental health professionals
Gender Equity
The Plan
• The Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek, announced that a re-elected Gillard government would set a target of at least 40 per cent women and 40 per cent men on federal government boards in five years’ time.
Criticism
• They have made no minimum quota requirement
Water
The Plan
• During the campaign the ALP promised to spend $10 million on a storm-water reclamation project in South Australia
Criticism
• They continue to ignore the significant Murray-Darling problem – seem to have just put it in the too hard basket
Web Filter
The plan
• The ALP plans to force internet providers to block access to a secret list of banned web pages
• The list is said to include material such as child pornography and instructions in crime
• In early July, the government announced the plan would be put on hold pending a one-year investigation into what material should really be considered too offensive to allow
Criticism
• The Greens believe that government censorship is very dangerous and believes there are more effective ways of combating the problem
• Tech-savvy people would beat the ban
Crime
The plan
• The government has promised to spend $15 million on making our suburbs safer in their ‘Safer Suburbs Plan’ – this has already begun to be rolled out with a serious of micro-grants being given to communities
• On Tuesday, Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Conner announced funding for CCTV cameras at railway stations and a mall in the seat of Deakin, which the ALP holds by 1.4%
• Further, the ALP has promised to release a list of 22 weapons it will effectively ban
Criticism
• Many projects have been in Labor marginal seats or those within its grasp after redistribution
Children with disabilities
The Plan
• Plan to provide new access to early intervention services called ‘A Better Start for Children with Disability’
• Children up to the age of six with a diagnosis of hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome or Fragile X syndrome will be eligible to receive up to $12,000 for early intervention services
• Children diagnosed with a disability prior to their 13th birthday will have access to new Medicare services for diagnosis and treatment but must be used before they turn 15
Criticism
• What about children older then 15?
The ETS
Plan
• Set a cap on pollution
• Penalise businesses who exceeded limits
• Reward businesses who come in under the limits
• Have a citizens assembly of 150 ‘ordinary Australians’ to decide among other things, what the cap should be set at
• Gillard says she will still push the merits of the ETS, but if she can’t convince the 150 then it won’t go any further
• Establish a Climate Commission to keep up to date with what’s happening overseas
Criticism
• In terms of the cap:
o Prices would rise because those charges would be passed on
o The Coalition says it’s all a camouflage for a carbon tax and doesn’t believe that Australia should be leading the way on climate change when they argue that China, India and other serious carbon emitters aren’t doing anything about it
o The Greens believe a cap is too generous to big polluters
o Family first says action on the environment must be balanced against what it will cost the community
• In terms of the citizen’s assembly
o The Greens say it is a cynical waste of time
Background
• After an ETS was presented to Parliament and didn’t pass, Julia Gillard urged Kevin Rudd to shelve the plan until 2012
Climate change more widely
The plan
• The ALP believe in having a carbon price but only when there is community consensus
• Give $2000 each to people who trade in pre-1995 cars for more fuel efficient ones. The money to do so ($394 million) will be taken out of programs to develop solar energy or carbon capture and storage.
• This plan is apparently going to cut emissions by 1 million tonnes and save buyers $344 million in fuel costs.
Criticism
• So much for having a leader with the guts to lead and develop policies in accordance their convictions
• The maths doesn’t add up - $394 million spent to save $344 million is $50 million wasted.
The Hospital Takeover
The plan
• This is a Rudd government plan that has come into fruition over the past year and a half.
• A national hospitals network is to be created with takeovers commencing in 2012.
• The national hospitals network is intended to fund the various local hospital networks, which would manage local hospitals. This will see the Federal government as the dominant contributor to hospital funds
• They also want to instil tougher targets on waiting times. Their solution for this is to give money to GP’s who treat patients out of hospitals thereby decreasing the demand for beds
• If patients are still waiting too long for a hospital bed they will be given a private one
• Currently, all the stated except WA have signed up to the plan
• During the election campaign, the ALP also promised 3000 emergency nurses /trainers and 27 more doctors a year for the next 10 years.
Criticism
• WA refuses to sign onto the national hospitals network – devaluing the use of the word ‘national’ in the plan’s title
• Labor has been criticised of ignoring mental health so much so that it lead to the resignation of one of Australia’s top experts from his government advisory role in June this year.
Education
The plan
School Building Project
o A major response to the GFC was the implementation of the $16.2 billion plan to build school halls and other centres
o The idea was soundly based on the idea that a number of industries would have been supported during a potentially perilous economic time
The Myschool website
o Compares the performances of 10,000 schools around Australia including information about academic performance and demographics
o Labor sees this as an important tool for parents to use when making the somewhat difficult choice about their children’s education
National Curriculum
o Part of this plan is the allocation of $2 billion in order to provide each student in Australia in years 9 to 11 with a laptop.
Criticism to the School Building Project
• The schools building project attracted significant amounts of criticism
• In response, Mr Rudd has stated that the ALP “acted rapidly to keep the economy going, to stop it going over a cliff…So mistakes were make along the way. It’s important to learn from those mistakes, and that’s what we’re doing.”
• The government’s independent auditor considered the policy and its rollout in depth and released its report earlier this year which found that there had been more than $1.5 billion used to keep up with costs while the school buildings were built. It also found that there was a significant amount of red tape as schools had to deal with local, state and federal bodies when seeking to have buildings established
• The report did however recognise that the policy undoubtedly saved jobs although it was unable to specify how many
• Regardless of who comes to power after the election, the report says that it would be inappropriate to suspend the scheme now because some schools would be stuck in the queue and would be unfairly punished.
• Despite this, the Coalition maintains that the money was a feel-good spending spree that helped plunge the economy into debt.
Criticism to the MySchool website
• Heavy criticism came from teachers who were concerned that poor performance from students would impact their job security. They also worry that struggling schools will be abandoned
• The Coalition says the site is about looking like something is being done without actually improving school standards
Asylum seekers
The Plan
• Mandatory detention of asylum seekers – a policy it introduced years ago – remains ‘essential’.
• Prime Minister Gillard would like other countries to take asylum seekers off our hands and is keen to develop a processing centre in East Timor although it seems as though this plan is unlikely
Criticism
• Everyone knows the Coalition will revert back to Howard’s extremely tough and inhumane policies in dealing with asylum seekers. Those who support the plight of people fleeing unimaginable situations expected more from the ALP.
Background
• Kevin Rudd axed the Howard government policy of sending asylum seekers to Pacific nations for processing as well as temporary protection visas.
Immigration
The plan
• The ALP are now pushing for a sustainable Australia rather than a big Australia
• Their plan is to send people to smaller cities
Criticism
• The ALP under Gillard have backflipped on Rudd as he was a fan of the big Australia plan emphasising that it was a good thing that Australia was getting bigger while other countries were going backwards
• The plan to send people to the country will be paid for by removing $200 million from the fund which was originally set aside to help lower rental stress
• Big business says our skills shortage demands that we increase our population
Industrial Relations
The plan: Fair Work
• Over the last three years Labor has restored much of what was lost under WorkChoices.
The plan: Superannuation
• The ALP plans to make employers contribute 12 per cent, up from the current 9 per cent to employee’s superannuation funds. It will start from 2012 but will be phased in over 10 years.
The Economy
The plan: Company tax
• To alleviate the harshness of the aforementioned superannuation policy, the ALP originally wanted to drop the company tax from 30 per cent to 28 per cent. However, the need to compromise with big mining over the mining tax, the company tax rate will only drop to 29 per cent.
The plan: The budget deficit
• The ALP’s plan under Rudd for overcoming the budget deficit was the mining super profits tax.
• This was a hugely controversial policy so much so that it cost Mr Rudd his job
• As soon as she became leader, Julia Gillard cut a deal with the miners to put the issue to bed.
• However the deal meant that $1.5 billion would be cut from Labor’s budget
• On Wednesday 28 July the Reserve Bank’s governor gifted the ALP with the announcement that the economy was travelling along quite well – at 2.7 per cent on an annualised basis, inflation in the last quarter was well within the Reserve Bank’s “comfort zone” (between 2 and 3 per cent).
• This shut down the argument propelled by the Liberals that the economy was spiralling out of control under the ALP.
• In recent months, the Reserve Bank governor has defended the government’s stimulus packages and dismissed the Coalition’s increasingly alarmist view of the national debt.
Background: The GFC
• In late 2008 stock markets began to crash suddenly. The world was warned of a Depression far worse than that of the 1930s. In response, the government implemented a $43 billion stimulus plan, including the $900 cash payments to so many of us, the school building program and massive investments in IT programs. Obviously, this sent Australia into a massive debt – the Budget went from a $20 billion surplus to more than $50 billion in deficit. Despite this Australia was one of the only countries in the entire world not to fall into recession. The government says that their spending is to thank.
Paid Parental Leave
The plan
• Parents will receive 18 weeks at the minimum wage (currently $534.78 per week which will be taxed) but employers are able to add to that figure
• In order to qualify parents must have worked about one day a week in 10 of the last 13 months to qualify
• Those who earn more than $150,000 a year will miss out
• The overall 18 weeks can be split between either parent
• Bosses won’t have to pay super on top of the scheme
• Unfortunately parents who elect this scheme can’t claim the baby bonus or family tax benefits
Childcare
The plan
• The ALP amended the childcare rebate so that parents are paid every three months, instead of every year giving them cash back sooner
• From next year parents can elect to continue receiving payments as they are or they can elect for them to be made fortnightly and direct to providers
Criticism
• In the 2010 Budget the rebate was frozen at $7500 for four years. The changes cost many families about $280 a year
• Kevin 07 promised that the ALP would deliver 260 more child care centres but has since axed the plan with only about 30 centres finalised now saying that there is no longer the demand and that existing providers can accommodate the current need
Broadband
The plan
• The ALP have promised to develop a National Broadbank Network which will see fibre-optic cables laid out across the country giving us internet speeds 100 times faster than what we’ve got now.
• The cost will be $43 billion
• It will contribute to increasing competitiveness in Australia’s communications sector by breaking Telstra’s monopoly on infrastructure
• A heads of agreement deal has already been struck with Telstra which will decease the $43 billion cost
• The network has started to be rolled out in Tasmania, with new areas on the mainland added in the lead-up to the election.
• This policy demonstrates the ALP’s relevance in a technologically advanced society and their commitment to fresh ideas.
• In Tasmania, where the plan has already been rolled out, communication plans start at around $30-$50 a month for 25 Mbps connection and about 15GB of data a month. High-level plans are between $140-$160 a month for 100Mbps connection and 180GB of data.
• The most significant benefit of the plan is that unlike other services, fibre does not degrade, or slow down the service with distance from an exchange.”
Criticism
• The Coalition says it’s irresponsible to spend so much of our money and there are other ways to get faster broadband
• Experiences industry consultant and project manager Malcolm McKenzie told Radio National’s Background Briefing program that the costs of big telecommunications rollouts always blow out. Red tape and rain are just two issues that cause delay
• The opposition has vowed to extract the government from the Telstra deal (which it can as it was only a deal as to heads of agreement and does not carry legal penalties for backing out) and promises to suspend work on the project as it believes the plan is reckless and that there are better ways to achieve better broadband.
Mental Health policy
The Plan
• Will allocate $276.9 million to suicide prevention
Criticism
• Too little too late for many mental health professionals
Gender Equity
The Plan
• The Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek, announced that a re-elected Gillard government would set a target of at least 40 per cent women and 40 per cent men on federal government boards in five years’ time.
Criticism
• They have made no minimum quota requirement
Water
The Plan
• During the campaign the ALP promised to spend $10 million on a storm-water reclamation project in South Australia
Criticism
• They continue to ignore the significant Murray-Darling problem – seem to have just put it in the too hard basket
Web Filter
The plan
• The ALP plans to force internet providers to block access to a secret list of banned web pages
• The list is said to include material such as child pornography and instructions in crime
• In early July, the government announced the plan would be put on hold pending a one-year investigation into what material should really be considered too offensive to allow
Criticism
• The Greens believe that government censorship is very dangerous and believes there are more effective ways of combating the problem
• Tech-savvy people would beat the ban
Crime
The plan
• The government has promised to spend $15 million on making our suburbs safer in their ‘Safer Suburbs Plan’ – this has already begun to be rolled out with a serious of micro-grants being given to communities
• On Tuesday, Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Conner announced funding for CCTV cameras at railway stations and a mall in the seat of Deakin, which the ALP holds by 1.4%
• Further, the ALP has promised to release a list of 22 weapons it will effectively ban
Criticism
• Many projects have been in Labor marginal seats or those within its grasp after redistribution
Children with disabilities
The Plan
• Plan to provide new access to early intervention services called ‘A Better Start for Children with Disability’
• Children up to the age of six with a diagnosis of hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome or Fragile X syndrome will be eligible to receive up to $12,000 for early intervention services
• Children diagnosed with a disability prior to their 13th birthday will have access to new Medicare services for diagnosis and treatment but must be used before they turn 15
Criticism
• What about children older then 15?
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