Post by Freddy on Sept 29, 2012 14:21:06 GMT 11
A prime minister who embodies the best of Labor
Date
September 29, 2012
Category
Opinion
Steve Bracks
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ANYONE who believes federal Labor is not a reformist government is deluding themselves. Just think for a moment about the policy reform agenda under Prime Minister Julia Gillard during this term of office:
■Establishing a national broadband network, enabling Australia to take a world-leading position on connectivity. (Even Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak wants to take up Australian citizenship as a result.)
■Securing retirement incomes through a significant pension increase and an increase in the Superannuation Guarantee contributions.
■Pricing carbon emissions through a carbon tax, enabling Australia to move to a more sustainable industry development footing.
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■Reallocating mining tax proceeds to broaden the Australian economy through economic infrastructure investments, small business support, and increasing the future pool of superannuation funds under management to $4 trillion by 2015.
■Repositioning Australia, through the Ken Henry inquiry, to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the so-called Asian Century.
■Investing in education through the Gonski reforms, enabling Australia to capitalise on enhanced skills for a growing economy.
■Establishing a comprehensive network of marine parks and sanctuaries across Australia (something that the Victorian Labor government led the way on 10 years earlier).
■Creating a National Disability Insurance Scheme by aggregating risk and providing commuted benefits to a large number of Australians.
That sounds like a reform agenda to me. And it sounds like a Labor agenda.
Yet there is still this meaningless call by some for a debate on ''Labor values'' - despite the fact that the Gillard government has revisited the party's core values in a 21st-century context. In doing so, it has done exactly what many of us have called for.
This federal government will go down as one of Australia's most reformist governments. It is a government that has managed Australia's economy and fiscal position better than almost any other country. A government that has given back the proceeds of this economic growth through progressive social policies. And, of course, it is a government that has done all this without a majority in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. It is truly a government that has embodied Labor's reform tradition.
That's not a bad achievement. And credit for this outcome must go to the Prime Minister. Who else could negotiate to hold the government together, pass ground-breaking legislation and position Australia to be the envy of the rest of the world?
It would be hard to imagine anyone else holding their nerve on this reform agenda.
Now we are in the final 12 months of this three-year term in office for the Gillard government, it is worth asking two key questions: Do we want this reform agenda to continue? And what would the alternative Abbott government's agenda look like?
The answers to these questions would inevitably produce a better and much more productive national debate.
Steve Bracks was premier of Victoria from 1999 to 2007 and, with party elders John Faulkner and Bob Carr, wrote a report on the state of the ALP after the 2010 federal election.
Read more: www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/a-prime-minister-who-embodies-the-best-of-labor-20120928-26r29.html#ixzz27pE7lf5p
Date
September 29, 2012
Category
Opinion
Steve Bracks
Email article
Reprints & permissions
Ads by Google
Self Managed Superfund.
www.esuperfund.com.au
Take Control of Your Super! Start Your Self Managed Fund Today.
ANYONE who believes federal Labor is not a reformist government is deluding themselves. Just think for a moment about the policy reform agenda under Prime Minister Julia Gillard during this term of office:
■Establishing a national broadband network, enabling Australia to take a world-leading position on connectivity. (Even Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak wants to take up Australian citizenship as a result.)
■Securing retirement incomes through a significant pension increase and an increase in the Superannuation Guarantee contributions.
■Pricing carbon emissions through a carbon tax, enabling Australia to move to a more sustainable industry development footing.
Advertisement
■Reallocating mining tax proceeds to broaden the Australian economy through economic infrastructure investments, small business support, and increasing the future pool of superannuation funds under management to $4 trillion by 2015.
■Repositioning Australia, through the Ken Henry inquiry, to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the so-called Asian Century.
■Investing in education through the Gonski reforms, enabling Australia to capitalise on enhanced skills for a growing economy.
■Establishing a comprehensive network of marine parks and sanctuaries across Australia (something that the Victorian Labor government led the way on 10 years earlier).
■Creating a National Disability Insurance Scheme by aggregating risk and providing commuted benefits to a large number of Australians.
That sounds like a reform agenda to me. And it sounds like a Labor agenda.
Yet there is still this meaningless call by some for a debate on ''Labor values'' - despite the fact that the Gillard government has revisited the party's core values in a 21st-century context. In doing so, it has done exactly what many of us have called for.
This federal government will go down as one of Australia's most reformist governments. It is a government that has managed Australia's economy and fiscal position better than almost any other country. A government that has given back the proceeds of this economic growth through progressive social policies. And, of course, it is a government that has done all this without a majority in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. It is truly a government that has embodied Labor's reform tradition.
That's not a bad achievement. And credit for this outcome must go to the Prime Minister. Who else could negotiate to hold the government together, pass ground-breaking legislation and position Australia to be the envy of the rest of the world?
It would be hard to imagine anyone else holding their nerve on this reform agenda.
Now we are in the final 12 months of this three-year term in office for the Gillard government, it is worth asking two key questions: Do we want this reform agenda to continue? And what would the alternative Abbott government's agenda look like?
The answers to these questions would inevitably produce a better and much more productive national debate.
Steve Bracks was premier of Victoria from 1999 to 2007 and, with party elders John Faulkner and Bob Carr, wrote a report on the state of the ALP after the 2010 federal election.
Read more: www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/a-prime-minister-who-embodies-the-best-of-labor-20120928-26r29.html#ixzz27pE7lf5p
