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?
It is important that the Australian Government helps build a regional solution to resettle asylum seekers, both to help people fleeing persecution build new lives as well as to save the lives of those who would otherwise attempt a dangerous journey to Australia by boat.
One of the biggest factors is creating safe pathways for resettlement through UNHCR camps, which is why Labor has increased the intake of humanitarian migrants to 20 000 and is now looking to increase it once again to 27 000.
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?
While energy costs are a complex area of policy involving multiple levels of government, Federal Labor is working to ensure that Australians on lower incomes are supported to live a decent life.
Labor has already delivered tax cuts for low-income earners and families, with someone earning $50,000 now paying $2,000 less a year, as well as taking a million of the lowest-paid Australians out of the tax system entirely by tripling the tax-free threshold to $18,200. Labor has also delivered record pension increases of $207 more for singles and $236 more for couples on the maximum rate per fortnight. That’s about $5,800 extra for a single aged pensioner per year.
When Labor put a price on carbon pollution we ensured that people facing the most pressure from rising energy prices would receive the most support by allowance recipients getting up to $218 extra per year for singles, $234 per year for single parents and $390 per year for couples combined. When the carbon price moves to an emissions trading scheme next year, the drop in the carbon price is expected to bring household savings on electricity bills of around $150 ($3.00 a week) and savings of more than $50 ($1.10 per week) on gas bills in 2014-15.
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?
Labor’s DisabilityCare scheme will provide support to hundreds of thousands of people with permanent and significant disability, their families and carers.
If a person has a permanent disability that means they can’t function without help – like getting around, or communicating for example, it’s likely that they will get support from DisabilityCare Australia.
The support provided through DisabilityCare Australia will be based on need – it will include an individual plan and could include help to access a range of supports, from education to finding a community group. DisabilityCare Australia staff will work closely with people with disability participating in the scheme to develop a personal plan that supports their needs, goals and aspirations.
People will still be able to continue to receive the Disability Support Pension and the amount they receive in pension payments will not change. This is because DisabilityCare Australia is a separate scheme to the Disability Support Pension. DisabilityCare funding provided to people on the Disability Support Pension does not count as income for the purposes of assessing their eligibility for the pension, and any money participants receive under the scheme for supports is not considered income or assets for social security or veterans’ entitlements purposes.
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?
The Federal Labor Government is committed to changing Australia’s drinking culture and reducing the harm from alcohol. We are supportive of raising awareness around harm from alcohol and have invested over $103 million to the National Binge Drinking Strategy.
On 6 August, the Rudd Labor Government announced $20 million towards an action plan to address Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The Rudd Labor Government is committed to reducing the health risks from drinking alcohol, especially for pregnant women or those planning pregnancy, and has made significant investment over several years in improving our understanding of FASD in Australia. The additional funding will build on this existing investment.
The Labor Government requested the Australian National Preventive Health Agency to investigate the public interest for a minimum floor price of alcohol. This process is underway through community consultation and Federal Labor will consider the advice once received.
Multiculturalism
Does your party have a plan for facilitating programs that build and strengthen understanding and reconciliation across cultures?
Labor’s 2013 Federal Budget includes $15 million to empower multicultural communities, including:
- Engaging local coordinators in up to 100 communities to ensure multicultural communities have access to the services and programs they need
- Grants to support the upgrade of infrastructure in multicultural communities
- Expansion of the Diversity and Social Cohesion Program to meet unprecedented demand and provide specific investment to communities at risk of social discord
- Increasing the Government translating services to ensure that communities have access to the information they need.
In the electorate of Sydney, migrant and refugee communities will benefit from eight projects totalling over $300 000 thanks to Labor’s investment under the Building Multicultural Communities Program to organisations like the Ethnic Communities Council of NSW, the Affinity Intercultural Foundation and the Australian Chinese Community Association of NSW.
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?
Labor’s National Gambling Reform legislation delivers on a number of reforms to help problem gamblers and their families, including voluntary pre-commitment and dynamic warnings on all poker machines, as well as a $250 daily ATM limit in most gaming venues. These are the most significant and far reaching national reforms to tackle problem gambling ever seen in this country.
Our reforms mean all new poker machines manufactured from 31 December 2014 will be capable of supporting pre-commitment technology, and a new Australian Gambling Research Centre within the Australian Institute for Family Studies.
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?
Federal Labor is committed to pursuing meaningful change in the Constitution – change that unites the nation and reflects the hopes and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. We believe that constitutional change should recognise the unique history and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, reflect the nation’s fundamental belief in the importance of equality and non‑discrimination by removing references to race and acknowledge that additional effort is needed to help Close the Gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ disadvantage. To build the momentum needed for successful constitutional change, on 12 March this year, a Bill for an Act of Recognition acknowledging the unique and special place of our First Peoples was passed with unanimous support through the Parliament. The Act of Recognition is an important step towards achieving constitutional change to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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?
What will your party do to ensure that Australia reaches and exceeds its target for 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020?
Federal Labor is committed to taking strong action to reduce Australia’s carbon pollution. Since taking Government, Federal Labor has implemented an integrated set of policies that will drive deep reductions in our carbon pollution and enable us to achieve more ambitious reductions in the longer term to secure our clean energy future. Central to this is the emissions trading scheme which puts a legal limit on the pollution. This will cut pollution in the cheapest and most effective way. The limit will reduce year on year to ensure Australia meets our pollution reduction targets.
This is supported by the Renewable Energy Target, which will ensure that by 2020 at least 20 per cent of electricity generation will come from clean, renewable energy. We are currently on track to exceed this target. In addition, Federal Labor is investing in renewable and low emissions technologies through the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation and $3 billion Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
These policies are already working, since coming to office in 2007 Australia’s wind capacity has trebled and Federal Labor has supported the installation of more than 1 million solar panels, up from fewer than 7,500 under the former Coalition Government. Employment in the renewable energy industry has more than doubled to over 24,000 people. Energy from renewable sources is up by 30 per cent and emissions in the national electricity market were down 7 per cent in the carbon price’s first year.
