Now that the Australian federal election has been announced for 21 August, we'll probably be sick and tired of all the nonsense and vote-grabbing attention heaped upon us by the major political parties. I sometimes wonder if it's not a case of who will win the election, but who is going to make the biggest mistake early on in the electioneering that will
lose the election for the major contenders. So, each day, I ignore the newspaper reports, the talk-back radio and like to look at one of the more "reputable" current affairs sources to get a daily summary.
I think this year's election, more than any other, will have a much broader range of issues that will make voters think about how they want their country governed for the next three years. Make no mistake about it, I actually think that the average Australian voter knows more and cares more about politics than most other countries in the world today. The fact that the last three years of Australia under a federal Labor government that hasn't achieved a huge shift in policy has been because the Australian voters are deeply distrustful of giving power to one party or another. The ALP's legislative program has been stymied, thwarted by a rogue, obstructionist Senate and this probably accounted for the policy back-flipping done by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (although it wasn't just not having the numbers in the Senate that caused his downfall - see
A Perfect Storm for Kevin Rudd?
)
I can't recall, since the 1972 election when Gough Whitlam brought Labor back from 23 years in the political wilderness, when differences in policy were so sharply divided on such a large range of issues as they are today: education reform, border protection, climate policy, health reform, super profits tax for mining companies, industrial relations policy ... these are only a few issues that sharply divide the progressive (albeit centre-right-leaning) policies of Labor from the disturbing (to me) growing extremism of the Liberal/Nationals Coalition. Even more worrying, I think, is the escalation of extreme leftist views of the Greens. My only hope is that extremism, in whatever form it manifests itself, will be carefully weighed-up when people cast their votes.
And what about preference deals? Who would have imagined that (extreme right-wing) Senator Stephen Fielding would have won a seat in the Senate with only 2% of the primary vote? Well, I hope he won't be in after this election.
One final issue, presented in this article (from the
PS News
website):
PS election promises are polls apart
The major political parties have made their positions clear on their respective visions for the future of the Australian Public Service in the first few days of campaigning for the 21 August Federal election.
According to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, there are no new plans for the PS in Labor’s promises although the efficiency dividend will stand.
Opposition challenger, Tony Abbott said the Liberal/National Coalition would cut 12,000 positions in its first two years as well as $45.8 billion anually from ongoing programs.
According to Ms Gillard, cutting the Public Service would mean cutting services to families.
“I believe Australians want to see a Public Service that is efficient and effective and gets the job done,” Ms Gillard is reported as saying in The Canberra Times. “We made announcements about the efficiency dividend at the time of the Budget and those announcements stand,” she said.
Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott announced his party’s proposed cuts to Public Service numbers in his Budget Reply speech in May. Mr Abbott pledged not to replace 6,000 APS members who retire or resign in each of his first two years in power. The full story is here.
In his speech, Mr Abbott said his plans for the PS did not include any redundancies and would apply on an Agency-by-Agency basis and would exclude uniformed and frontline service positions.
National Secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union, Nadine Flood welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement that the Government would not implement indiscriminate cuts to Agency budgets by increasing the efficiency dividend. Ms Flood said the efficiency dividend was “bad public policy” and a “blunt arbitrary instrument” as it did not cushion vital services from cuts but involved across-the-board savings. Ms Flood said the CPSU welcomed the Government’s plan to implement the reforms in the Moran Blueprint for the APS to find a “better solution to funding essential services.”
Greens Senate Candidate in the ACT, Lin Hatfield Dodds welcomed Labor’s stance and criticised the Opposition’s saying the Greens were committed to protecting PS jobs and would “open a dialogue” with the newly elected Federal Government to discuss ways to do so.
Mind you, I'm alread tired of clichés like "moving forward" and "stand up for Australia" ... as if we could do otherwise? :S
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