Week 4 election campaign promises

AAP General News (Australia)
08-13-2010
Week 4 election campaign promises

CANBERRA, August 13 AAP - Week 4 election campaign promises:



LABOR



WELFARE

* $100 million seniors package including: $6500 extra part-time earnings allowed; employment
skills upgrade package valued up to $4000 for mature age workers; stronger protection
against unfair reverse mortgages; and the appointment of an age discrimination commissioner.

* At a cost of $14.8 million, offer up to $6000 in relocation expenses to long-term
unemployed people willing to move to a regional area for work and up to $3000 for those
moving to a different metropolitan area. Employers will receive a $2500 incentive to employ
a relocated jobseeker. Penalties to apply if the job is lost within six months.

* Tougher compliance measures for jobseekers who do not attend employment service appointments.



EDUCATION

* A no-school, no-play truancy policy linking school attendance and participation in sport.

* $222 million to expand and maintain the National School Chaplaincy Program.

* $482 million program to give bonuses up to $100,000 to schools that demonstrate improved
attendance rates, literacy and numeracy standards and $8000 bonuses to individual teachers
based on performance; an Australian Baccalaureate; and national online assessments for
parents to monitor children's progress.

* $16 million Teach Next plan to provide specialised training to professionals wanting
a career in teaching.



HEALTH

* 30 extra sub-acute beds for Royal Darwin Hospital.

* The annual family tax benefit for welfare families to be tied to health checks for
four-year-olds before they start school.

* Up to $15 million for a GP super clinic for the ACT to offer after hours GP services
and take pressure off hospital emergency departments.

VETERAN AFFAIRS

* $18.2 million over three years to cover out-of-pocket medication expenses for around
70,000 military veterans.



AGED CARE

* $5 million to improve translation services for people in aged care, including $2.2
million for interpreter services.



INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

* $20 million towards combating alcohol and drug abuse in Aboriginal communities.

* A referendum on the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples, plus the appointment of an expert panel to build support for the measure.



WATER

* Implement the Murray Darling Basin Commission plan to restore the health of the rivers,
and by 2014 return about one in every seven litres of irrigation water to the basin via
a buy-back scheme.

* $13.7 million to restore the Snowy River to health and send 56 billion litres of
water down the river over two years.



AGRICULTURE

* New legislation to make it an offence to import illegally harvested wood and a code
of conduct to place the onus on suppliers to ensure wood is not coming from illegal sources.



ENVIRONMENT

* Incorporate a 1,200-hectare parcel of Aboriginal land known as Koongarra into Kakadu
National Park, to prevent uranium mining from ever taking place.



INFRASTRUCTURE

* $2.1 billion on a 14-kilometre rail link in Sydney's western suburbs from Parramatta to Epping.



TRADES

* $354 million in apprentice incentives, including tax exemption bonuses, worth an
extra $1700 per year, for trade apprentices who reach certain milestones and a mentoring
program to tackle work-related stress and time management issues.









COALITION



EMERGENCY SERVICES

* $10 million toward an early fire detection system.



IMMIGRATION

* Immediately re-open the Nauru asylum seeker processing centre.

* Automatic jail terms for people smugglers and Australians harbouring illegal immigrants.



WELFARE

* Relax Youth Allowance criteria for regional students.



HEALTH

* $3 million for early cancer detection equipment at Royal Darwin Hospital.



COMMUNICATIONS

* $6.3 billion towards a national broadband network, a mix of fixed line, wireless
and satellite access to high-speed broadband.



INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

* A referendum at the 2013 election on the wording of a constitution preamble recognising
indigenous people.

* Indigenous affairs to be turned into a stand-alone portfolio for a senior cabinet minister.



WATER

* $751.5 million over four years to secure the future of rivers in the Murray Darling
Basin, including a $300 million investment in rural water infrastructure and $200 million
for a study into the impact on irrigators of reduced water limits.



TAXATION

* Formation of an Office of Due Diligence to examine government spending programs.

* Receipts showing details on how tax money is spent provided to every taxpayer.

* Release all Henry tax review details within 30 days of coming to power.



VETERAN AFFAIRS

* $45.6 million package to assist veterans, including superannuation indexation and
free pharmaceuticals for around 87,000 disabled veterans from January, 2012.



EDUCATION

* $200 million Better Teacher Reward Fund for schools to recognise their best teachers,
particularly disadvantaged and regional schools and those with a higher number of special
needs students. Bonuses to be decided by an independent board.

* $120 million to establish a school technology fund to provide direct grants to schools
to develop new learning approaches including the integration of ICT and multimedia technologies.



AAP jn/dep

KEYWORD: POLL10 PROMISES WEEK 4

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