Australian Election 2010

Linda Mottram, Canberra

Last Updated: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:34:00 +1000

Australian commentators frequently note that the two major Australian parties have converged and offer few policy choices to voters.

That same assessment dominated commentary during the first half of the 2010 campaign for the general election on August 21 which sees the Liberal-National coalition leader Tony Abbott in a close challenge to unseat the Labor party under Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

As the pace of the campaign has picked up closer to polling day, some key differences have emerged. But on some of the bigger questions, there are still few differences to discern.

Economy

Economic policy is the broad backdrop against which all Australian elections play out. The Gillard government is running on it's record in office, with Kevin Rudd as leader. Major stimulus spending is credited by Labor with averting recession during the global financial crisis and supporting or creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. It has been vulnerable though to attacks over mismanagement and excessive cost in major programs, with the opposition claiming that Labor is incompetent to manage the economy.

The Liberals also say Labor has left a legacy of debt and deficit, though they have conceded they would have run a deficit under the same conditions. Both sides are committed to returning the budget to surplus in three years. The Liberals are open to attack over a lack of detailed economic policy, seen by Labor as a particular Abbott weakness.

Both parties broadly believe in reducing taxes overall. Labor though plans a new mining resources rent tax which the Liberals would abolish. The Liberals would also impose a 1.5 per cent levy on business to pay for a key social policy.

Paid leave for parents

With funds from the business levy, which the Liberals say would be temporary, they plan to pay for a generous paid parental leave scheme, to allow parents to take leave from their jobs during the first months after the birth of a child. Labor has a scheme that will cost $AU250 million a year. The opposition's scheme is expected to cost $AU3.1 billion in the first year of operation.

Tony Abbott said at the launch of his policy that it was "very important that my daughters' generation doesn't have to struggle the way their mothers did trying to wrestle with the difficult choices of work and family. We need to make those choices much easier."

Claims that the Liberals' scheme is more about vote-buying stem from the fact that payments are not tailored to the most deserving, an important element of fairness for many Australian voters.

The workplace

Labor has campaigned heavily on claims that the Liberals would bring back "WorkChoices," laws governing the workplace legislated under the previous Howard Liberal government curtailing workers' rights in the interests of promoting a more efficient and productive economy. The system is widely considered to be a major reason the Howard government was defeated in 2007 and was later abolished by Labor. Mr Abbott has repeatedly denied he intends to reinstate the scheme.

"WorkChoices is dead, it's buried, it's cremated," he said during the campaign.

He says if he wins office, he will make no changes to Labor's workplace laws during his first term. Because of this, the two parties go to the polls with very similar positions.

Broadband

With an eye to the virtual future, Labor has announced a plan to connect just over 90 per cent of Australia with broadband speeds of 100 megabits per second via a new optical fibre network to homes at a cost of up to $AU43 billion. It claims the scheme will put Australia at the forefront of international standards, allowing Australian business better market access while also improving delivery of education and health services. Critics question the economic viability of the plan.

The opposition says it would not proceed with that scheme but would instead spend just over $AU6 billion to encourage the private sector to extend broadband services. It would guarantee minimum speeds of 12 megabits per second to 97% of the country, relying on various technologies. Critics say this approach lacks vision, employing a patchwork of options that will cement inequities across the country. Commentators also say it will leave unchallenged the dominance of Australia's major telco, Telstra.

Immigration, asylum seekers and population

Traditionally, immigration attracts broad bipartisanship in Australia. The issue has become more heated in recent years though with complications including asylum seekers arriving by boat, the increased focus on skilled migration and tensions over the treatment of overseas students. Now population is part of the equation too.

Tony Abbott has announced he would cut the annual Australian immigration intake from a high of 300,000 two years ago to 170,000, though the intake is forecast to fall to that number anyway, raising scepticism about the Liberals' announcement.

An Abbott government would maintain the numbers of immigrants filling skills shortages, though Mr Abbott raised questions about overseas student numbers in future.

"What I don't want us to be doing is selling immigration outcomes in the guise of selling education," he said.

Mr Abbott also announced he wanted to see an increase in the Australian birthrate. At the same time, Julia Gillard has rejected calls for a substantially bigger Australian population, stressing the need for sustainability and starting a debate on the different population needs in different parts of the country.

On asylum seekers, the positions diverge significantly. The opposition would "turn back the boats", a position rejected by Labor. A Liberal government would also reopen the Howard government's detention centre on Nauru, while Labor is talking to East Timor about setting up a regional processing centre there. The Liberals have announced they will reintroduce temporary protection visas for asylum seekers, an option rejected by Labor.

Climate change

Climate change policy also differs significantly with Labor's political attack reiterating a past comment by Tony Abbott that climate change is "crap." Julia Gillard though has not sought to quickly reintroduce Kevin Rudd's legislation for a carbon trading scheme, which failed to pass the Senate and was shelved until 2013 under Kevin Rudd. Ms Gillard says she will call a citizens assembly of 150 people to help rebuild a community consensus towards future legislation, with the aim being to set a price on carbon. The policy was unpopular when announced, with many Australians still anxious to see strong climate action. Labor has previously legislated to increasing the use of renewable energy.

Tony Abbott has opted for direct action policies, including tree planting and a green army as well as work on soil carbon sequestration to try to bring down carbon output, though Labor says the approach will still see emissions rise.

Foreign policy, aid and defence

There has been very little attention to foreign policy and defence issues during the campaign, beyond answers to specific questions posed by journalists.

Both sides maintain support for the Australia-US alliance, and various overseas military deployments including the war in Afghanistan, the regional assistance mission in Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and the International Stabilisation Force in East Timor.

Julia Gillard has said irregular people movements in the region are a priority. Tony Abbott says he would seek to redress the poor handling by the Rudd government of Australia's relations with Indonesia, Japan and India and says he would travel to unnamed neighbouring states in the first three months in government.

There is bipartisan support for increasing Australia's international development assistance to 0.5 per cent of Australia's gross national income by 2015.