Lib/Nat Coalition responses

The Coalition strongly supports the role of nurses as a cornerstone of Australia’s health system. We are committed to delivering strong and balanced health care staffed by dedicated nurses, talented doctors and skilled allied health professionals.

We will be progressively releasing our policies prior to the election. These can be accessed at www.liberal.org.au and www.nationals.org.au

Workplace Relations

An incoming Coalition government will not seek to change the Fair Work Act for the three years of the next term of parliament.

The Coalition will carefully monitor how the Fair Work legislation operates over the next three years, in consultation with workplace organisations and with the public.

If any changes are needed, we will seek a mandate for them at the 2013 election.

In the meantime, the Coalition will work within the existing legislation and with the independent umpire, Fair Work Australia, to ensure that the current Act delivers the best possible outcomes.

The Coalition will also retain Fair Work Australia and the Fair Work Ombudsman. We will keep the Australian Building and Construction Commission (which the former Government established) under its existing legislation because it is a strong “cop on the beat” and has helped to end years of lawlessness on commercial construction sites.

The Coalition has have well and truly absorbed the lessons of the Coalition’s 2007 defeat as well as the different lessons of the current Government’s failures. We believe in workplace freedom but not at the expense of fairness. 

Labor’s Fair Work Act is far from perfect but it deserves a fair go. 

After the Keating Government’s 1993 enterprise bargaining reforms and the Howard Government’s 1996 and 2005 changes, the Fair Work Act is the fourth big change to work place law in just 15 years. The new legislation should be judged by how it operates in practice rather than by how it conforms to expectations. 

Workers and businesses will soon enough know what works and what doesn’t with Labor’s legislation which is only now starting to come into full operation. 

It’s only after possible improvements have been fully considered by the people affected and by the electorate at large at a subsequent election that the Coalition would consider making any changes. 

An incoming Coalition government will have quite enough reform to be getting on with: tackling Labor’s debt and deficit; introducing a real paid parental leave scheme; introducing an element of people power into the running of schools and hospitals; improving the environment and establishing a Green Army; and re-examining the Henry proposals for personal tax cuts and welfare reform. 

Health

The Coalition has a proud history of investing in Australia’s nursing workforce. From 2005 to 2007 alone, the Coalition created an additional 3,700 commencing nursing places. The Coalition also introduced MBS rebates for practice nurses.

A strong and well resourced nursing and midwifery workforce is fundamentally important to supporting Australia’s health system. The Coalition is committed to providing new and flexible education and training opportunities and appropriate career progression pathways for nurses and midwives.

Through strong economic management the Coalition has been able to make significant investments in our health and hospital systems whilst in Government. Funding for health and ageing under the Coalition increased from approximately $20 billion in 1995-96 to over $50 billion in 2007.

Under the Coalition, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that funding for public hospitals increased from approximately $5 billion in 1995-96 to over $11 billion in 2006-07. In fact, the 2003 Australian Health Care Agreements provided a funding increase of $10 billion over the previous Health Care Agreements, representing a 17 per cent real increase in funding for the nation’s public hospitals.

The Coalition is committed not only to providing additional resources for health and hospitals, but to direct action to provide better models of care and alleviate pressure on our public hospitals. For example, the Coalition will provide $1.5 billion for our Real Action Plan for Better Mental Health which will create 800 additional mental health beds, 20 new Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centres and increased funding for an additional 60 headspace youth mental health sites.

It was the former Coalition Government that commenced Australia’s e-health rollout and while we remain committed to e-health, existing implementation should be successfully completed before additional funding commitments are made in order to drive value for money and best practice patient outcomes.

Funding is already committed until 2012 for e-health which the Coalition continues to support.

The Coalition successfully negotiated a series of amendments to the Government’s Healthcare Identifiers Bill and supported this revised legislation through the Parliament.

The Coalition has serious concerns about Labor's ability to manage e-health implementation given their performance over the last 3 years in this and many other programs.

The Coalition will build on the work we started in Government in the area of e-health and we undertake to work with health providers and the business community generally to build our e-health capacity on a sustainable basis.

Aged Care

Australians are living longer and each successive Intergenerational Report has highlighted the challenge and potential costs of an ageing population.

The provision of good quality care for senior Australians is a priority for the Coalition. Australians want choice and flexibility and having a say about the care options that best suit their own or a family members’ needs.

In aged care there are many dedicated and committed individuals doing an extraordinary job under difficult circumstances. The Coalition know that nurses and assistants in nursing who work in aged care provide a high level of care and loyalty to frail older Australians and deserve appropriate recognition.

The Coalition will be consultative and work with, rather than against the sector, to deliver certainty and engagement. The sector will have a strong voice with government and we will listen to the experts. The bureaucracy and red tape must be addressed and older Australians deserve more face to face care.

Details of our Aged Care policy will be issued prior to the election.

Climate Action

The Coalition takes the issue of climate change very seriously. We are committed to a 5% emissions reduction by 2020 and have released a detailed Direct Action policy to achieve this target.

The Coalition’s climate action policy provides incentives for Australian families and businesses to reduce their carbon emissions. It focuses on meaningful, effective and direct action whilst also providing funding for broader improvements to Australia’s environment beyond emissions reductions.

The Coalition has proven that this can be achieved without Labor’s great big new tax on everything. A tax that will increase the cost of living for Australian families, penalise Australian businesses and destroy jobs.

A Coalition Government will fund a range of measures that will reduce emissions and improve Australia’s environment. These include:

Emissions Reduction Fund

The Coalition will create a $2.5 billion Emissions Reduction Fund to support carbon reduction activities by business and industry. The fund will support a range of potential carbon abatement/reduction activities, such as soil carbons and reforestation.

Once in a Century Replenishment of Soils

Improving soil carbons helps soil quality, farm productivity and water efficiency, and should be a national goal regardless of the CO2 abatement benefits. A Coalition Government will commit to a ‘once in a century’ replenishment of our national soils and farmlands.

A New Solar Sunrise for Australia

Rebates of $1000 will be provided for one million additional solar energy roofs on homes by 2020, including either solar power or solar water heating systems.

Solar Towns and Solar Schools Initiative

$100 million will be directed to a Solar Towns and Solar Schools Initiative to allow towns in rural and regional Australia to access solar energy and return surplus energy to the electricity grid. Funding will be provided for schools to install solar panels.

Geothermal and Tidal Towns

The Coalition will provide $50 million to a Geothermal and Tidal Towns Initiative to support the development of additional renewable energy opportunities at community level.

High Voltage, Underground Cabling-Cleaning Up Our Cities and Supporting Remote Renewable Energy

The Coalition will commit $2 million for a major study into the use and application of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission within Australia. The study will also look at the potential to free up urban land for parks and housing.

Green Corridors and Urban Forests

We will facilitate the planting of a minimum 20 million trees by 2020. This activity could be funded and delivered through the Green Army. This will create urban forests and green corridors across our country.

While there are no cost-free approaches to reducing Australia’s CO2 emissions, direct action can be taken to reduce emissions and improve the environment without the onerous costs of a great big new tax.

Indigenous Affairs

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience a burden of disease two and a half times that of other Australians with a 10 year lower life expectancy.  Despite the Labor governments Closing the Gap rhetoric, around 70 per cent of the health issues are due to largely preventable or treatable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and chronic kidney disease.

Until the causes of these diseases are addressed the Coalition believes we will always be managing rather than improving the health of our first Australians.

Environmental health will be a prime focus of a Coalition Government.  Building appropriate houses and reducing over crowding is critical in providing a healthy environment. Ensuring all children attend school and receive a quality education is also essential in ensuring healthier lifestyle choices are made and pursued.

In addition, we must take direct action now to reduce the incidences and impact on a number of chronic health conditions that disproportionately affect Indigenous Australians.

The Coalition will release its Indigenous Policy closer to the election. That plan will outline measures to improve the long term quality of life and health of all Indigenous Australians regardless of where they may choose to live.

Closing the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians will require a dedicated whole of government response and strong leadership. There is no single issue to address however funding through the $1.6 billion Closing the Gap program must be targeted toward taking action in high priority areas. A coalition government will direct Indigenous specific health funding away from Labor’s endless committees and bureaucracies and into directly funding health programs starting with the following priorities:

Homelessness

According to homelessness service providers like St Vincent de Paul and Youth off the Streets, there has been a ‘significant increase’ in the number of homeless. The Salvation Army recently noted a 65% increase in their clients reporting to be homeless.

Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek has conceded that the rate of homelessness has risen while Labor has been in office.

The former Coalition Government took a holistic approach to dealing with homelessness through the National Homelessness Strategy. Our initiatives included $4.75 billion to assist 380,000 households under the Commonwealth State Housing Agreement; $2 billion in rent assistance to around 940,000 families and individuals; support for the Household Organisation Management Expenses (HOME) Advice; and establishment of the Reconnect program to combat homelessness among young people.

The Coalition presided over polices to try to make housing generally more affordable, which assists in ensuring that people are not forced into homelessness due to unaffordability factors.

The Coalition will release its Housing and Homelessness plan closer to the election, again taking a holistic approach to homelessness.

There is a strong link between homelessness and mental illness. The Coalition recently released its Real Action Plan for Better Mental Health. This will provide $1.5 billion to establish 20 Early Psychosis Intervention Centres in major metropolitan and regional areas; 800 beds for acute and sub-acute care specifically to support the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centres; and an additional 60 headspace sites, providing one-stop-shops for young people.

This will build on the $1.9 billion investment made by the previous Coalition Government.

There is no quick fix to deal with homelessness. However we will work towards reducing the levels of homelessness by working with the community and attacking the causes of homelessness rather than addressing the symptoms.

Housing affordability

Housing will never be affordable unless we have a strong economy that provides jobs, real wage growth, lower taxes and lower interest rates. These are the key factors that make housing affordable in the long term. The Coalition will take a prudent and responsible approach to government spending and to reducing government debt. Unless we are prepared to tackle wasteful government spending and reduce government debt, the reality is that Australians will face more rises in interest rates and higher taxes and neither of these outcomes will help people wanting to buy a home or pay down a mortgage.

In 2007 Labor promised to fix housing affordability, calling it "the ultimate barbeque stopper", yet since coming to office and spending more than $20 billion on various programmes, home affordability across the nation has actually declined. House prices and rents are rising faster than average incomes, and homelessness has worsened.

The Coalition affirms that home ownership must an achievable objective for all Australians. We note with concern that many younger Australians are deferring the attainment of this dream as they grapple with rising interest rates, higher house prices and a lack of supply.

A Coalition Government will attack the causes of housing unaffordability, not just the symptoms as Labor does. We will have strong, real action focussed on measurable outcomes; we will work with the local communities that Labor has bypassed in its rush to spend stimulus money; and we will open up a new partnership with state and territory governments to jointly improve pathways to home ownership.

The Coalition will take real action on housing affordability by enuring improved land supply and more streamlined and effective planning processes. We will ensure that local government and local communities are no longer shut out of decisions that effect the quality of life in their neighbourhoods. And we will end Labor's reckless spending which is placing considerable pressure on interest rates

Refugees

The Coalition has always been committed to a strong immigration policy including a generous refugee and humanitarian intake. At the same time Australians expect that such a policy should be implemented in a context of rigorous border protection. Our system of accepting people must be sustainable, orderly and fair to those in desperate situations waiting in refugee camps around the world for asylum in Australia. The Coalition’s border protection policies are consistent with Australia’s obligations under international law.

The government’s policies are anything but compassionate. They have led to over 170 reported deaths of people trying to reach Australia over the open sea. Moreover there are now over 500 children being detained compared to just 21 when the Coalition left office.

Coalition policy is based on stopping the boats by denying the people smugglers the ability to sell permanent residency to Australia. Any policy that continues to provide an incentive to this business is neither consistent with Australians’ reasonable expectations of rigorous border control nor compassionate.