Asylum Seekers and Offshore Processing
What policies will your party put in place to work collaboratively in the region to improve the conditions for asylum seekers in Indonesia and Malaysia and other places so that they do not have to seek refuge by engaging people smugglers?
Firstly, Labor has increased our refugee intake from 13000 to 20000. We would also look to increasing that to 27000 in the next parliament.
Minister Burke said this in a press conference August 23rd 2013: “Unlike the old situation where people would remain in a regional processing, almost forever, unless they ended up coming back to Australia, under the regional resettlement arrangements people get processed and then they get settled. That’s what happens. As people are settled, they leave the centre and they move into the community and what matters is you have the processing happening. You have people starting to move through the system. You have a steady pace of people arriving and a steady pace of people leaving. And some people will leave voluntarily in advance of a settlement determination. Because they know that, if they actually wanted to get to Australia, the moment they are settled in Papua New Guinea, they no longer have a refugee claim. So, if they wanted any chance of being settled in Australia, they have to actually go home or go to another country and register with the UN to come through the offshore program.”
Energy Affordability
What will your party do to ensure people on low and modest incomes and people living with additional disadvantage pay no more than 4 per cent of their income on the energy they need to live a decent life?
The Labor party has already put in place a comprehensive package of compensation for households affected by price increases. We are always looking to support low income earners and will continue to do so.
Disability
How will you ensure that people who are marginalised through poverty, or who are otherwise socially excluded, have access to the support they need from the NDIS?
Because the NDIS is a Labor party policy, all Australians with a disability who are in need of support will receive it.
Alcohol Misuse
Does your party support reform of alcohol taxes to discourage harmful consumption, especially increasing taxes on alcoholic products with high volumetric content of alcohol?
Yes.
Multiculturalism
Does your party have a plan for facilitating programs that build and strengthen understanding and reconciliation across cultures?
The Labor Party, long standing champions of a multicultural Australia, will stand up to attempts by the Liberals to use race and ethnicity to divide Australians and will defend the world-leading success of Australian multiculturalism.
Gambling
In government, would your party be willing to introduce some of the key measures suggested by the Productivity Commission to reduce problem gambling, including setting the maximum a gambler can lose on poker machines at $1 a button push, limiting the opening hours of poker machine venues and moving towards a system that allows gamblers to set enforceable limits (mandatory pre-commitment) on their losses?
Yes.
Constitutional Recognition
What commitments do you and your party have to help raise public awareness of the need for the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians?
I wholeheartedly support such recognition. I am a supporter of the group ‘Recognise’, which is actively working to achieve this result.
Climate Change
Will your party keep the price on carbon and commit itself to long-term investment in a green economy through renewable energy sources?
Yes.
What will your party do to ensure that Australia reaches and exceeds its target for 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020?
Since the government introduced the carbon pricing scheme last year, emissions from electricity production have fallen to a 10-year low, while hydropower, wind power and other renewable sources of energy are on the rise. In other words: it’s working. The Coalition’s big idea is to replace a system that is actively reducing emissions with one that would let our biggest emitters return to their bad habits.
