Oz Election Thread #4 - Gillard's Labor

Julia Gillard extends private school funding arrangements to 2013
The Australian
August 04, 2010 2:20PM

JULIA Gillard has confirmed she will extend funding arrangements for private schools in a bid to defuse concerns - but the move has angered teachers.

The Australian Online reported this morning that the Prime Minister would today cave in to the private schools lobby by extending the current funding agreement for an extra year.

Private school sources said the decision meant their current funding levels would now be guaranteed until the end of 2013 with any new model to start from 2014.

Ms Gillard confirmed the story with a statement and at a press conference this afternoon saying she wanted to lock in funding “for the entire term of the next parliament” until 2013.

“We will lock in so schools have certainty for the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013,” Ms Gillard told reporters in north Queensland.

“I want every parent who votes in this election to know what funding they will get for their local school from me as Prime Minister....<cont>

Video: Clarke and Dawe get in touch with the voters
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 05/08/2010
Reporter: John Clarke and Brian Dawe

Quote:

Gillard, Rudd bury hatchet in Brisbane
Updated 1 hour 20 minutes ago

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has met Kevin Rudd for the first time since she replaced him as Labor leader....<cont>

Coalition to take control of hospitals
Updated Thu Aug 5, 2010 3:56pm AEST

A Coalition government would move to take full funding control of hospitals but only with agreement from the states and territories, Tony Abbott has announced ...<cont>

Coalition vows to block internet filter
Updated Thu Aug 5, 2010 9:02pm AEST

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey says the Coalition will not back the Government's proposed internet filter.

Abbott to meet Nauru President
August 7, 2010 - 11:08AM

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will meet Nauru President Marcus Stephen in Brisbane this afternoon to ramp up his push for a Pacific solution on border protection and his political attack on Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Mr Abbott declined to say what financial commitments the Coalition was prepared to make to the tiny island nation, which played a key role in the Howard government's offshore processing of asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australian waters. ..<cont>

Surplus blunder reveals Coalition's economic woes
PETER HARTCHER
August 4, 2010/the AGE

Tony Abbott is offering Australia a faith-based economics policy - because there's such a lack of vital detail that it requires deep belief in Abbott and his team.

That's hard, because none of the Coalition economics team has even one day's experience managing a national economy.

Together with national defence, managing the economy is one of the two great responsibilities that fall uniquely to the federal government.

Abbott chants a sacred daily mantra: "End the waste, pay back the debt, stop the big new taxes and stop the boats."

Yet when he was asked yesterday when he would return the budget to surplus, he had no answer. Pressed by a reporter - "You don't know when the country will be back in surplus under a Coalition government?" - he dodged.

Abbott told a news conference in Brisbane that he couldn't nominate a time because, "I don't know what I will inherit" from Labor.

Two problems. First, it's unconvincing. If he wins and discovers Labor has lied about the public accounts, he need only say so and he would be held blameless.

Second, his answer is odd because, on the same day, Joe Hockey told reporters in another part of Queensland: "It's the Coalition that will deliver a surplus in three years' time, a real surplus."

In fact, it's point one in Abbott's "Action Contract" with the Australian people: "Restore the budget surplus within three years".

So is Abbott abandoning his Action Contract? Or does he not know his own policy? Is "pay back the debt" not really a policy, just a slogan?

The relentless media attention on the Labor Party's woes has allowed the Opposition Leader to come within three weeks of winning power just skating on economic policy.

Abbott promises to "end the waste''. OK, but what policy framework would he impose? Where will the discipline come from?

The government has committed itself to a limit of 2 per cent annual growth in real spending as it restores the budget.

The opposition has not committed to match this, nor has it proposed any other fiscal rule. So "ending the waste" is just a slogan, too.

What about the third economic leg of the Abbott mantra, "stop the big new taxes?"...<cont>

Coalition hints at new plan for youth on dole
Posted 3 hours 48 minutes ago

The Federal Coalition has flagged a new scheme to get more young people off unemployment benefits and into a job.

It has suggested a scheme where young people volunteer to give up their benefits in return for a guaranteed job.

The Coalition's campaign spokesman Andrew Robb says Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will outline the policy later in the election campaign.

"He has been looking at a volunteer scheme," he said.

"He is deeply concerned to try to help young people - who are currently nearly 17 per cent unemployed of the 15-19 year olds - help them to get to work.

"It's not only an important social reform. But it'll also be a very serious economic advance."

I am really worried about him getting in.