Tony Abbott has always been a curious character in
Australian politics. He was effective as a minister in John Howard’s
government, and triumphant as Opposition Leader because he has the political
instincts of a cornered Rottweiler.
As Prime Minister, we are yet to see if he can deal with the
actuality of governing.
Remember the ubiquitous Liberal pamphlet entitled Real
Solutions for all Australians? Remember the slightly vague policies that were
released as little more than handy slogans, and were rarely discussed in any
detail.
The contents of the pamphlet were the Liberal Party’s
election manifesto – their handbook to winning, their campaign talking points
and their promise to Australian voters.
Here, in these pages, is the stronger Australia – a truly 21st
Century Australia – that the next Coalition Government will build.
I didn't keep my copy of the Liberal pamphlet, but due to a catastrophic lack of trust in the
Liberal Party, I kept a soft copy, complete with those juicy little talking-point-sized
“policy priorities”. As we approach Treasurer Hockey’s first budget, seems as
good a time as any to revisit the Liberal’s Real Solutions for all Australians,
and see what progress is being made against the areas that the Coalition
identified as their priorities for
government.
1 1. We will build a stronger, more productive and
diverse economy with lower taxes, more efficient government and more productive
businesses that will deliver more jobs, higher real incomes and better services
for you and your family.
The Reality
This statement is an equivocal catchall,
with plenty of vague concepts that make the feel warm and fuzzy about life with
a Liberal-Coalition government. Even if people were to read no further, this
statement is positive and comforting. Post-election, the reality looks less
certain.
- Taxes are unlikely to be lowered as the debt has
doubled since the election.
- Unemployment for March 2014 is at 6.0%, 0.2%
higher than when the Coalition Government won office in September 2013. The
unemployment rate in January was the higher than at any time during the
Rudd-Gillard years, which included the GFC.
- The average adult wage for the September 2013
quarter was $1420.90. Childcare and Aged Care workers had their pay rises revoked.
- Better services is a subjective measure. The
following changes have been made to services provided by the federal
government:
o
Compensation to victims of bushfires has been
reduced
o
Twelve advisory groups abolished
o
Medicare offices on are now closed on Saturdays
o
The Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia
has been axed
o
The Multicultural Communities Programme has been
axed
o
Funding for the Indigenous Legal Services has
been reduced
o
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre has been
defunded
o
The Food Grants programme for small farmers has
been axed
o
The tiny welfare payment to orphans of ADF
members has been discontinued
2. We will get the budget back under control, cut
waste and start reducing debt – to keep interest rates low as possible and to
protect the Australian economy from future economic shocks.
The Reality
This statement is predicated on the assumption that the budget was out of
control – an assumption not shared by the IMF, the three major credit ratings
agencies and the rest of an envious world. The reality of a healthy economy
makes this Liberal objective redundant. Despite that, the Abbott Government and
Treasurer Joe Hockey have succeeded in reversing the situation, leaving room
for improvement where little opportunity existed before.
- According to the Australian Financial Review, “Australia
has posted the fastest budget deterioration over the past six months of any of
the world’s 29 most advanced economies tracked by the International Monetary
Fund”. This would indicate that the budget is out of Joe Hockey’s control
- Mr Hockey has effectively doubled the budget
deficit, adding $68 billion over the forward estimates in MYEFO
- 300 jobs from the Department of Treasury have
been cut along with thousands from other departments
- According to the Government, it’s all Labor’s
fault
3. We will help families to get ahead by freeing
them from the burdens of the carbon tax - to protect Australian jobs and reduce
cost-of-living pressures, especially rising electricity prices and gas prices.
The Reality
The Carbon Tax has not been
repealed, and will not be repealed until the new Senate is sworn in in July.
Even then, it’s not a certainty, although with the Palmer United Party holding
the balance of power in the Senate, it does look likely.
- The Government has also introduced legislation
to allow employers to pay junior wages – half the minimum wage, to workers
under 25. This may encourage some employers to employ more people, but younger
workers will find it impossible to live on half the minimum wage, so cost of
living pressures will be insurmountable for those under 25.
- The Home Energy Saver Scheme, which helped low
income households to reduce their energy consumption and hence electricity
bills, has been axed.
- There doesn’t seem to be any provision for the
instance where removing the Carbon Tax does not reduce electricity prices – and
there’s absolutely no guarantee that it will.
4. We will help small businesses grow and create
more jobs – by reducing business costs and cutting red and green tape costs by
$1 billion every year.
The Reality
The entire Australian economy is now under more pressure than it was at
any time under the previous Labor government, including during the GFC.
Businesses of all sizes are suffering. At this time, there have been no
specific measures to support SMEs, aside from the following changes
- Tax arrangements for small businesses were
amended, effective January 1 2014.
- The government has introduced Repeal Days, an initiative with it’s own
website dedicated to the red tape being cut.
On Wednesday 19 March, following a
statement by the Prime Minister, the Government introduced legislation and
tabled documents to repeal more than 10,000 pieces and more than 50,000 pages
of legislation and regulations and save over $700 million of compliance costs
from across the economy.
This
is a significant move, yet the bulk of deregulation initiatives are unrelated
to small business.
Another move which may assist
small businesses to employ more workers, but is more likely to be an ideological
war waged for political gain, is the government’s relentless pursuit of unions.
- Established a Royal Commission into Unions
- Stated that SPC Ardmona workers were receiving
favourable conditions – this was later proven to be false
- Tried to strong-arm SPC-Ardmona into cutting the
“excessive” wages and benefits of its employees
- Blamed the unions for Toyota’s decision to pull out of Australia, despite
Toyota denying that workers’ wages were a consideration
- Decreased the wages of Australian troops
deployed overseas by almost $20 000 per solider
- Re-established the controversial Australian
Building and Construction Commission
5. We will create stronger jobs growth by building
a diverse, world-class 5-Pillar economy – by building on our strengths in
Manufacturing Innovation, Advanced Services, Agriculture Exports, world-class
Education and Research, as well as boosting mining exports.
The Reality
Four of the five pillars of the Liberal’s economy - Manufacturing
Innovation, Advanced Services, world-class Education and Research - have been disadvantaged,
with the following actions blatantly limiting the government support that these
pillars would receive. The concepts of innovation, advancement and research in
every area are being challenged, and the government’s approach to education is
in disarray.
- The 44th Parliament does not include
a Minister for Science
- The 44th Parliament does not include a Minister for Innovation
- 600 jobs have been cut across Australia’s peak
scientific body, the CSIRO
- Axed 400 jobs at the Industry department
The Prime Minister’s recent Asian
tour has resulted in a number of Free Trade Agreements. The National Farmers’
Federation is less than enthusiastic about these agreements, particularly on the key FTA with Japan,
which is strong in the upmarket areas of beef, seafood and wine experts, but falls short in other areas. The Sydney Morning Herald reported
"The agreement does not improve – or marginally improves – market
access and terms of trade for a number of sectors such as dairy, sugar, grains,
pork and rice," National Farmers Federation president Brett Finlay said.
6. We will generate one million new jobs over the
next five years and two million new jobs within a decade by growing a bigger,
more productive and prosperous economy.
The Reality
Former American Presidential
hopeful Mitt Romney might take issue with this: he believes that jobs are
created by the private sector. Nevertheless, let’s assume the Liberals were thinking
about generating the conditions to support creation of new jobs and assess progress
towards this priority on that basis.
Unemployment figures released in
February 2014 placed Australia’s unemployment rate at its highest point in the
last ten years. In fairness,
the Abbott government has moved to make it easier for businesses to employ more young staff, by
- Placed penalty rates and other Award conditions
in doubt in the government’s submission to the Fair Work Commission’s review of
all Awards
- Introduced legislation to allow employers to pay
juniors (under 25) as little as half the minimum wage
- Introduced legislation to remove the
responsibility of employers to protect rights of younger workers to access
basic workplace health and safety provisions
Aside from winding back workers’
wages and conditions to favour employers, it is difficult to see how the
government plans to support the creation of any jobs at all, based on their
actions since the election. With unemployment not falling, little effort to
support small and new business, and the government's willingness to see significant
Australian employers cut jobs, there is little good news.
There are two broad ways of looking at this. There’s the positive —
perhaps, insanely optimistic — way. We are closing down the industries where we
simply can’t compete with low-cost Asia. They’ll be replaced by 21st century hi-tech industries more generally,
with growth in areas, more specifically, like professional services, health and
education services.
But the development of those
hi-tech industries is not being supported by the government, so it appears that
Terry McCrann’s less optimistic future may be more likely:
The negative way to see this, is Australia becoming China’s quarry,
surrounded by very expensive real estate — much of it owned by high-achieving
both non-resident Chinese and Australians of Chinese heritage — and producing
very little of much else.
7. We will build more modern infrastructure to get
things moving – with an emphasis on reducing the bottlenecks in our gridlocked
roads and highways.
The Reality
Were it not for last week’s announcement about Sydney’s second airport at
Badgery’s Creek, it would be fair to assume that infrastructure chapter had
been ripped out of the pamphlet and thrown to the four winds. Having said that,
a new airport in Sydney’s west will do little to address the bottlenecks on
Sydney’s roads.
In fairness, achievement in infrastructure is rarely fast. The ribbon
cutting ceremonies attended by Infrastructure Minister Warren Truss have been
for projects commenced under the previous Labor government. New projects which
Mr Truss has announced are years from completion, and the High Speed Rail
Advisory Group has been disbanded.
The key piece of infrastructure available for delivery under this
government is the National Broadband Network, which has been scaled back to a
B-grade facsimile of what is needed.
8. We will deliver better services including health
services – by putting local communities in charge of hospitals and improving
co-operation with the States and Territories.
The Reality
Presiding over health services has become an unfathomable tug-o-war
between state government, federal government, the AMA and private corporations
in the health arena. Undeniably, health care in Australia is becoming more
expensive for consumers. Whether restructuring the provision of services to put
locals in charge of hospitals is debatable; all the Abbott Government has
achieved in the health services space is a few token manoeuvres.
- Threatens to impose a $6 Medicare Co-payment
- Cut $150m out of the health budget
- Cut the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council
- Cuts the website providing information on the
ingredients and nutritional content of foods
- Announced a plan to decommission the GP
Superclinics
- Closes Medicare offices on Saturdays
- Approves private health fund premium increases
of an average 6.2% a year
9. We will deliver better education – by putting
local communities in charge of improving the performance of local schools.
The Reality
One of the major achievements of the
Rudd-Gillard administration was the delivery of the report into the funding of
education – the Gonski Report. In contrast, one of the more entertaining performances
of the Abbott Government so far has been their triple somersault with full
cowardly pike over the Gonski Reforms.
Now, with Pyne’s third backflip yesterday, at the instruction of his
Prime Minister, there’s no funding model of any kind. States can direct the
additional funding (for four years) wherever they like — which allowed Pyne to
partially restore the promise about individual schools to say they wouldn’t be
worse off “as a result of Commonwealth actions”. But there’s no requirement on
the states to adhere to the needs-based funding model developed by the Gonski
panel — a state could direct all the additional funding to wealthy private
schools if it so desired.
10.
We will take direct action to reduce carbon
emissions inside Australia, not overseas – and also establish a 15,000-strong
Green Army to clean up the environment.
The Reality
Speaking of backflips, Tony has donned the sequinned lycra to reverse his
crappy 2009 position on climate change. While maintaining vehement objection to
the Carbon Tax – which he also used to support – the Prime Minister’s attitude to
climate change and the environment suggest a quiet return to his original
position, where climate change was crap and all was good in the world.
Issues loosely described as green have attracted much government attention
in the seven months since the election
- Abolished the Ministry of Climate Change
- Abolished the Climate Commission
- Denied any link between bushfires and climate
change
- Approves the largest coal port in the world to
be established on the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area
- Dumped the Murray Darling Basin area from the
list of Critically Endangered habitats
- Axed the COAG Standing Council on Environment
and Water
- Moves to remove the Tasmanian forests’ World
Heritage listing to allow logging to commence
- Changes national environment laws to allow WA to
enact their infamous Shark Cull
- Announces a review into Australia’s Renewable
Energy Target, to be headed by Dick Warburton – who admits to not believing
that excess carbon dioxide is causing global warming
- Blamed the Carbon Tax for the closing of Alcoa
smelters, despite Alcoa denying that it was a factor.
- Axes 480 jobs from the Environment Department
- Moved final authority on some environmental issues from federal to state
level, downgrading their value and allowing for inconsistencies across the
country
- The Green Army will not be administered by the
government, but will be sent out to tender
11.
We will deliver strong borders – where the boats
are stopped – with tough and proven measures.
The Reality
The single most memorable quote from the last two Liberal election
campaigns is the sound of Tony Abbott promising to Stop the Boats. Of course, this priority is open to interpretation.
Clearly, the Liberal Party’s goal was to stop asylum seeker boats from reaching
Australian waters – and that, they have done. Whether it’s permanent stop is
yet to be seen.
Unfortunately, their solution has been messy, diplomatically fraught, the
subject of deliberate obfuscation, and has included undermining the objectivity
of our military forces and has resulted in one death, countless injuries and
the abandonment of our own humanity.
The Abbott Government’s response to the ‘problem’ of asylum seekers has
centred on Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB), yet has spread far beyond a
border protection operation. The Government has:
- Instructed public servants and detention centre
staff to call asylum seekers “illegals” despite this being legally incorrect
- Provided free of charge, two navy patrol boats
to the Sri Lankan government to stop asylum seekers fleeing the same government
that now owns the boats
- Turned boats back to Indonesia using military
intimidation
- Offloaded asylum seekers from their boats into
substandard (orange) “life boats” and towed them into Indonesian waters
- Violated Indonesia’s sovereign waters multiple times
while on Operation Sovereign Borders activities
- Shuffled existing refugees who arrived by boat
to the bottom of the priority list for family reunion status
- Twice tried to reintroduce temporary visas for
asylum seekers who have been found to be genuine refugees fleeing persecution
- Twice tried to introduce retrospective TPVs to
apply to over 20,000 refugees already in Australia
- Sent unaccompanied minors to offshore detention
centres
- Prevented the UN from inspecting the Australian
run detention centre on Nauru
- Endangered around 10, 000 asylum seekers and
their families by releasing their personal details on the Department of
Immigration website
- Failed to provide safe haven for asylum seekers on
Manus Island
- Provided incorrect information to the Australian
media regarding the Manus Island riots in February, and failed to correct it
for several days
- Discontinued the tradition of free legal aid for
asylum seekers
12.
We will deliver strong and stable government
that restores accountability – to deliver a better future for all Australians.
The Reality
The Abbott Government is hardly a model for strength, stability,
accountability, or for that matter, transparency (which wasn’t promised, but
should’ve been!)…although they have proved themselves adept at obstinacy, uncertainty,
indictment, ambiguity and clarity.
Consider these events:
- Indonesia characterised Australia as a threat
after repeated diplomatic miscalculations by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison
- Recent opinion polls have shown support for the
government falling to a level where they would likely lose the next federal
election
- Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos has
appeared before ICAC over his involvement with Australian Water Holdings
- Treasurer Joe Hockey’s re-election finance
group, the North Sydney Forum, has also received funds from AWH
- Public servants have been prohibited from making
comments critical of the government on social media, even anonymously, and have
been instructed to dob in on colleagues who do
- The government has established a covert
political hit squad based in Parliament House and paid for by taxpayers to
target political enemies.
- The Minister responsible has repeatedly refused
to answer questions at media briefings regarding OSB – and then cancelled the
briefings.
- The government is prepared to release the
previous Government’s confidential cabinet papers to the Royal Commission into
the Pink Batts scheme, despite the established practice of sealing cabinet
papers for 30 years
- The Prime Minister accused the ABC of bias
against the government, and then announced an efficiency review into the ABC
and SBS
- Rejoiced in the blatant bias of the Liberal Speaker of the House, Bronwyn Bishop
- Closed down the National Steering Committee on
Corporate Wrongdoing
- Privatised the Australian Valuation Office at a
cost of nearly 200 jobs
- Denied human rights lawyers access to Manus
Island detention centre
- Has failed to report on the death of an asylum
seeker, two months after the riots during which he was killed
- Amended the Ministerial Code of Conduct to
permit ministers to own shares in companies
- Appointed several former Liberal ministers and
supporters to prime positions, including Alexander Downer, Sophie Mirabella,
Tim Wilson and Peter Costello
- Required that all media requests be run via the Prime Minister's office for Chief of Staff approval
We must not exclude from attention the
numerous actions taken by the Abbott Government which were not listed as
priorities in the Liberal pre-election pamphlet, yet which seem to have enjoyed
a meteoric rise up the To-Do list since the election:
- Pokie reform legislation to help control problem
gambling has been thrown out
- The Commonwealth Firearms Advisory Council,
designed to advise the federal government on firearms safety in the community,
has been defunded
- AUDAid has been abolished, and with it, hundreds
more public servants’ jobs
- ACT Marriage Equality laws have been struck down
- The latest version of the NBN has been
downgraded to something akin to a pair of soup tins and a string
- The government failed to provide customs vessels
to monitor Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean, despite their promise to do
so
- Tony Abbott has re-established the awards of
Knights and Dames without consulting with his cabinet
- Headed up the search for missing airliner MH370
One infamous appearance on the ABC’s 7:30
saw Tony Abbott admit that he has a fast mouth and sometimes finds the truth
hard to wrangle. As Prime Minister, he’s proved his reluctance to accept dissent from anyone. He is utterly committed to his version of the truth
and will not be swayed.
At the end of Mr Abbott's introduction in the Real Solutions pamphlet, the following words appear:
This is the Australia that we believe in.
The Abbott Government is now about 20% of the way through its first - and perhaps only - term in office. Is the government committed to delivering real solutions...or have the solutions become irrelevant now that they're in government?
Is this the Government Coalition voters believed in?