Tony Abbott Official Coalition Campaign Launch, August 2010

8/9/2019 Tony Abbott Official Coalition Campaign Launch, August 2010

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Isnt it great to lead a united political party with a deputy I can trust, a predecessor whos a friend and a former prime minister whos a hero!My fellow Australians, this election is about you. Its about your future, your familys future and our nation's future. But not everyone thinks so. The Labor Party thinks that this election is all about them. Theyre worried about who gets thetop job while the Coalition wants to create more jobs.

Theyre worried about their own squabbles while we want to help you through your struggles. They react only to a bad poll while we respond to your concerns. Theywill do anything to win while we know that we must do everything we can to secure your future. Thats why men and women of Australia Im asking for your support toend the waste, pay back the debt, stop the big new taxes, stop the boats and help struggling families.

So today, my fellow Liberals and Nationals, we face a historic challenge. Not since 1975 has there been such a time in Australian politics. Our task is nothingless than to save Australia from the worst government in its history. Now I know this is a big claim but consider the facts. This is a government thats broken p

romises, thats wasted money and tried to clobber the country

s most successful industry with a great big new tax.

Just six weeks ago, it politically executed its own leader, thereby effectivelyadmitting that it had failed. Never before in Australian history has an electedprime minister been removed from office by his own party in a first term of thatgovernment. Six weeks ago the government had lost its way, on its own admission, and since then its just got worse.

The secret deal to fix the mining tax has fallen apart and the anti-tax ads areback on air. The deal that was supposed to stop the boats got lost somewhere inthe Timor Sea and the boats keep coming. And its policy to deal with climate change is one of the greatest failures of nerve ever seen from an Australian govern

ment: to select 150 people at random from the phone book and ask them to make the decision.

I say to the people of Australia, its no way to run a government and its no way totreat a country. Six weeks ago, Kevin Rudd was apparently so toxic to the Laborbrand that he had to be politically assassinated. But since then Julia Gillardhas become so toxic to the Labor brand that shes had to be rescued by the man shereplaced.

I say, its time to end this soap opera and to give Australia back a grown up government. As things stand, it doesnt really matter which Labor leader fronts the cameras because the faceless men are always in charge. They can analyse a poll but

they cant read a balance sheet. They can execute a leader but they can

t execute aprogramme. Theyre good at politics but theyre absolutely hopeless at running a go

vernment .

To all the decent Labor people embarrassed by the incompetent patronage machinesthat the NSW and Queensland Labor governments are; to everyone anxious that theNSW Labor mafia is now running the country, I say: lets bury this era of gutlessspin and give our country a fresh start where politicians say what they mean and do what they say.

But I say also to my fellow Liberals and Nationals I say: The public are askingus to do more than just replace a bad government. They are asking us to restoresome sense of honour and integrity to Australias public life.

We must offer the Australian people a better way. So I say again, if elected a Coalition government will end the waste, pay back the debt, stop the big new taxe


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s, stop the boats and help struggling families and we will do that from day one.

From day one under a Coalition government, the mining industry could do again what it does best: creating wealth and employing hundreds of thousands of Australians without the threat of an investment killing, jobs destroying great big new tax.

From day one under a Coalition government, everyone who uses energy - thats pensioners, retirees, farmers, families and young people - could live without the threat of a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme that would raise prices, damage industries and cost jobs.

In week one ladies and gentlemen, a Debt Reduction Taskforce will be established, co-chaired by Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb, to get to the bottom of Labors wasteand mismanagement, to see the real state of the governments books and to preparea comprehensive plan to start repaying Australias $90 billion debt.

In month one, an economic statement will be issued outlining Australias financial

risks and opportunities and the new governments response to them. The Murray Darling Basin plan, buried by Labor, will be released for consultation. And Julie B

ishop and I will visit the countries of our neighbourhood to reestablish the bonds of trust broken by the Rudd Gillard governments preference for a headline overa relationship.

In week one, the Cabinet and the National Security Committee will meet, I will chair it, ministers will attend - in person, not via their bodyguards - and we will take back control of Australias borders. Within a month of taking office, theCoalition will reassure people frightened that Labors insulation batts might burndown their homes. In addition to the existing inspection programme, we will reimburse householders who organize their own inspections by qualified tradesmen and further reimburse householders whose insulation has to be removed.

On day one of a Coalition government, Id pick up the phone to the President of Nauru to reopen the Australian built and Australian funded offshore processing centre - because ladies and gentlemen, the people smugglers need to know that theirgame is up.

From day one, a Coalition government would stop the school hall rip offs by giving money directly to school P&Cs that wouldnt waste it. And on day one ladies and gentlemen, we will safeguard the livelihoods of people who earn their living from the sea. Under the next Coalition government, parliamentary questions will finally get real answers because Ill change the old rules that gave ministers endless licence to attack the other side.

As soon as parliament can be recalled, the necessary measures will be taken to provide much tougher penalties against people smuggling including mandatory prison sentences. We know that existing penalties are clearly not a sufficient deterrent because, under Labor, the boats just keep coming. Under the Coalition, everyconvicted people smuggler will spend at least a year in prison and the worst offenders and repeat offenders will face a minimum of ten years behind bars.

Temporary Protection Visas will be reinstated and the message will be clear. Australias borders are back under control and the people smugglers will once more beout of business.

My friends, within three months, preparations for an emissions reduction fund wi

ll be under way and the first recruiting for the Green Army will be about to start. The implementation of our small business reforms will have commenced. A newnational violent gangs squad will have been established.


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The private health insurance rebate will be safe. Our health reforms will be underway. The first COAG meeting will have been held and it would not have adjourned without agreement on boards and more beds for our public hospitals.

As well, within three months, in person and on the spot, I would have reassuredour soldiers in Afghanistan that Australians support their mission. Our most imp

ortant trading partners and our principal allies would know that they can counton Australia. These are the vital tasks that the Australian people expect us toperform and they will commence from day one of the life of an incoming Coalition government.

A Coalition government, first and foremost, means prudent and responsible stewardship of the nations finances. After all, its the reforms of John Howard and PeterCostello, not the Rudd-Gillard governments spending spree that have protected Australia from the global financial crisis.

Australias debt and deficit problem may not be quite as bad as some other countries but thats because we started from a much stronger position than almost anyone

else. Only a desperate, a truly desperate, Labor Party could seriously maintainthat putting insulation batts into roofs or building overpriced school halls kept Australia out of recession.

The Coalition understands that every dollar that government spends is held on trust from the taxpayers. A Coalition government will never take your taxes for granted because I know just how hard you work to pay for them. Thats why the new spending that the Coalition has announced in this campaign is fully costed and fully funded mostly by reductions in other government spending.

Under the Coalition, spending will always be less and tax will always be lower than under Labor. We will take the high road to surplus of cutting spending, notthe low road of increasing taxes, so our surplus will be achieved with the gover

nments share of the economy smaller than it would be under Labor.

So much of Labors current spending is for new bureaucracies or involves giving extra money to the Labor states to do the job they should be doing anyway such asmeeting recommended hospital waiting times.

This is the sort of spending that the Coalition will redirect to real benefits that the Australian people might actually notice. Our spending proposals are targeted, responsible and affordable even in an era of fiscal restraint. They have three over-riding objectives: to ease the cost of living pressures on families, to make our people and our society more productive and to keep our country strongand secure.

Only the Coalition knows how to stop the boats. Weve had 150 boats carrying morethan 7000 illegal entrants since the Rudd-Gillard government weakened our borderprotection. Its no coincidence that public support for the immigration programincreased after the former government largely stopped the boats. Australians just wont support a large immigration programme until theyre confident that the government can control our borders. Immigration has to be sustainable if public support is to be maintained so the Coalition would cut more than 100,000 a year fromthe 2009 immigration number.

Water is probably the most urgent environmental challenge facing our country. The Coalition will end Labors procrastination and fully and finally implement the Howard/Turnbull/Anderson plan for the Murray Darling basin. Carefully targeted wa

ter buybacks plus much more efficient use of water has the potential to rejuvenate the Murray mouth and to protect Adelaides water supply.


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As well, the Coalition will establish a standing Green Army, 15,000 strong, to complement the landcare efforts of farmers, volunteers and national park rangers.Weve long had state emergency services and rural fire services to cope with natural disasters. So why not start something similar to deal with the ongoing environmental emergency of land degradation?

I want to address a few words to people thinking of voting Green. I share your c

oncerns for the future of our country and fully accept that we have only one planet to live on. The Coalition will definitely meet our 2020 emission reductiontargets. But rather than taxing consumers, the Coalition will buy abatements, particularly through soil improvements and tree planting. That way, well improve agricultural productivity as well as reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The Coalition, in fact, is now the only major political party with an effective policy to reduce emissions. What we will never do, though, is damage our economy with futilegestures.

So ladies and gentlemen, its more important than ever for government to be frugalwhen Australian families have to be so careful with their own spending. My wifeMargie and I know what its like to juggle a family budget and share peoples anger

when government wastes billions on indulgent schemes designed to fix headlinesrather than to fix problems.

Theres little point announcing new initiatives for families if the money to pay for them has to be borrowed or taken from the very families its supposed to help.Thats why the Coalitions family initiatives in this election dont rely on extra borrowing or on new taxes on consumers.

Well help with additional support for education expenses including school fees and child care costs. And also importantly for the education of people with disabilities. Therell be 3000 more high care nursing home beds and 2800 more public hospital beds including 800 for mental health. Well have more after hours GP services and better care of chronic disease by increasing the Medicare rebates for thes

e services. More affordable medical services mean fewer people crowding into hospital emergency departments.

In the longer term, a Coalition government will reform health services not justfund them. Public hospitals will be run by community boards not by unaccountablebureaucrats. And by providing 100 per cent of public hospital funding, where the states agree, we might finally end the blame game that Kevin Rudd talked aboutbut did not fix.

Of course, making public hospitals and public schools more responsive to the communities they serve is an economic reform as well as a social one.

The introduction of a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme is the obligation that a serious political party owes to modern society and that an aware politicalparent owes to his three daughters. These days, most families need more than one income to survive and because 62 per cent of mothers are in the workforce justprior to having a baby, paid parental leave reinforces the most conservative instinct of all: the instinct to have a family.

Its good for women because it gives them a real choice to combine paid work and family. Its good for families because it gives them real help when they are most financially vulnerable. Labors scheme by contrast is just a re-badged Baby Bonus;its certainly not the real wage that families need to pay their bills and to makeends meet. Thats why we will pay replacement wages like the vast majority of schemes around the world.

Our paid parental leave scheme is good for business because government will manage the paperwork and pay employees directly. Labor makes employers the paymaster


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and thats an extra burden that small business should not have to cop.

And finally, our paid parental leave scheme is good for the economy because it gives the population, participation and productivity boost thats necessary if Australia is to avoid the demographic issues associated with an ageing population.

Like paid parental leave, our seniors employment incentive payment is another im

portant participation reform.

And there is a third participation-boosting reform that the Coalition wants toimplement: breaking the cycle of welfare dependency for young indigenous peopleand others trapped in intergenerational poverty; provided they are prepared to renounce their welfare entitlement in return for a guaranteed job. The Coalitionis determined to back this insight of Noel Pearson because real leadership in the community deserves real support from government.

My friends, the Rudd Gillard government should not have adopted just one of theHenry Reviews recommendations and largely ignored the other 137. Some of Henrys recommendations are impractical and a few wrong-headed. Some, though, such as his

recommendations for lower, simpler, fairer personal income taxes and an end to the money-go-round that traps people in poverty should be the foundation of Australias next round of tax reform.

So within a month of taking office, an incoming Coalition government will publish all the modeling associated with all the Henry recommendations to foster the tax debate that Australia needs and now must have. Acknowledging that tax reformis much harder to pursue with a $40 billion deficit than with Peter Costellos $20billion surplus, even so, an incoming Coalition government will within 12 months of coming to office, an incoming Coalition government will outline its plans and its timetable for further reform.

Rest assured that no one will accuse the next Coalition government of being all

talk and no action. Change for the better is coming and it will run to a stricttimetable.

But Ive got to say ladies and gentlemen, this has been a tough campaign and it will continue to be a tough campaign. We are running against a first term federalLabor government, we are running against five state Labor governments and we arerunning against the whole weight of a union movement that basically just bankrolls the Labor Party.

As the election draws closer, more and more Labor MPs will be disguising themselves as community independents. On the ground, Labor MPs are already treating this election as an auction to be won by the most irresponsible local spender. By sandbagging marginal seats, this bad federal government hopes to chisel its way to a dishonourable victory like the South Australian and Tasmanian Labor governments did earlier this year. We cannot let that happen.

And I say to everyone right around Australia concerned about where this government is going and about what is happening to our political culture , make no mistake, to change this government you have to throw out your local Labor MP.

So Labors re-election strategy is based on fear and lies. Labors advertising blitzwill be all fear and smear. Soon the airways will be full of it, letter boxes will be stuffed with it. The public, though, are not mugs. Why should they give the Labor Party a second chance, people are thinking, when it wouldnt give its ownleader one? In fact ladies and gentlemen, the only unfair dismissal that anyone

has asked me about in the course of this campaign is Kevin Rudds.

Over the past eight months, growing disapproval of the Rudd-Gillard government h


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as become an increasing readiness to change it. I want to say to all my colleagues, especially to Warren Truss and to Julie Bishop, that your steadiness has been an important part of our earning the peoples trust as a credible alternative government.

And so I say to the Australian people, my team is ready to govern. We wont have to learn on the job because weve done the job before. Fifteen members of the Coali

tion shadow cabinet have already been ministers. Seven members of the shadow cabinet have already been cabinet ministers in the most effective government of recent times.

And so ladies and gentlemen as we gird ourselves for the final two weeks of thiscampaign I want to say how proud and pleased and honoured I am to be this partysstandard bearer.

As a liberal, I support lower taxes, smaller government and greater freedom. Asa conservative, I support a fair go for families and respect for values which have stood the test of time. As an Australian, I support policies which work and which dont trifle with our countrys future. Mine is a genial pragmatic political cr

eed based above all on respect for the people and the communities that have produced here perhaps the most free, fair and prosperous society on earth.

We are a great country but we have been let down by our government. Lets not givea bad government the second chance that it does not deserve and that our country cannot afford. Lets change this bad government before it can do any more damage. Lets once more give Australia the good government that a great country deserves.

And lets start, from day one, repaying the debt, stopping the big new taxes, stopping the boats and helping struggling families. Ladies and gentlemen, this election is the supreme challenge of my life. I will stand up for Australia. I will stand up for real action and I know that you will join me.

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Documents

Tony Abbott Official Coalition Campaign Launch, August 2010