Key policy differences finally emerge

Labor and the coalition have finally presented voters with a clear choice on two key
issues, water and broadband, less than a fortnight out from the federal election.
In a rare moment for what has so far been the same old same old three-and-a-bit
weeks of campaigning in the lead-up to the August 21 poll, the major parties
presented the public with two very different options on both issues.
Labor used Tuesday to unveil its policy aimed at saving the parched Murray-Darling
Basin, while the coalition countered with a plan to save Australia from the
government's expensive National Broadband Network (NBN).
In Adelaide, Prime Minister Julia Gillard promised to heed advice from the
independent Murray-Darling Basin Authority by paying willing irrigators for all the
water needed to revive the rivers.
But the commitment does not come with any value attached, because it is not yet
known how much water Labor will need to buy.
Ms Gillard said her government would spend as much as it needed to.
"There is money in the budget to keep undertaking water purchases and we will," she
told reporters.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who is yet to announce a policy on the matter,
expressed concerns about Labor's blank cheque approach.
"This is the big problem," he told media in Sydney.
"(Ms Gillard) is making a commitment to something that has not been released, has
not been revealed."
Putting the heat back on Mr Abbott, the prime minister accused him of being so
embarrassed by the coalition's planned cutbacks to Labor's $43 billion NBN, that he
didn't even bother attending the announcement of his party's alternate policy in
Canberra.
Opposition communications spokesman Tony Smith and finance spokesman Andrew Robb
were left to spruik the $6 billion plan to provide 97 per cent of homes with faster
broadband.
Under the plan, $2.75 billion would be spent on creating a national open access
fibre optic network by 2017, with at least another $750 million to come from the
private sector.
Mr Smith said the coalition's proposal was a financially responsible alternative to
the NBN and would still deliver a high-speed broadband network.
However, unlike the NBN, the Liberal-Nationals scheme does not include
fibre-to-the-home, limiting its capacity to deliver speeds of 100 Mega bits per
second (Mbps).
The coalition's plan only guarantees a minimum of 12Mbps, whereas the government's
plan guarantees a minimum of 100Mbps to 99 per cent of homes.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the coalition plan would deny 1000 towns
across Australia access to fibre technology.
"What Tony Abbott has to explain to all of the people that live in those towns is
why he will give them a second-rate broadband network which will hold them back," he
said.
All the while, the political slanging match over costings and budget savings spilled
into a second day of ferocious debate.
The government charged Mr Abbott with contradicting his treasury spokesman Joe
Hockey to the tune of $7 billion on spending measures.
Treasurer Wayne Swan also claimed the coalition had overestimated by $800 million
the amount it would save by axing the NBN.
In response, the coalition said Labor had its own $3.4 billion budget black hole.
However, that line of attack was blunted when Mr Abbott admitted the coalition
analysis contained "a couple of typos".
At the moment, the only financial matter that is certain is that the money favours
Ms Gillard and her team to win the election.
Centrebet reportedly took a number of large bets on a Labor victory following the
prime minister's fault-free performance on the ABC's Q&A program on Monday night,
shortening the odds of her holding onto the top job from $1.62 to $1.48, compared
with Mr Abbott's odds of $2.63 to take out the top job.



Delete & Prev | Delete & Next