With less than a week to go before Australians go to the polling booths TheRealists have taken the liberty to write an alternative campaign launch speech for Tony Abbott.
“I, Tony Abbott, stand before you today asking for you to put your trust in me and to elect me as the 28th Prime Minister of Australia.
There have been many policies thrown around during the course of the campaign, and I know that many people are undecided about who to vote for. So let me cut through all the campaign noise and the spin, and tell you why I am better placed than Labor to lead this country.
When the Rudd/Gillard government was elected in 2007 it promised to do many things. It promised to take action on climate change, it promised an education revolution, it promised to say sorry to the Stolen Generations, it promised to build a national broadband network costing then only $4 billion, it promised to keep grocery and fuel costs down, it promised to turn the boats back, it promised that every school kid will get a laptop, it promised 31 GP Super Clinics, it promised 260 new childcare centres, it promised to end the blame game in hospitals, it promised a review into tax reform and then ignored its recommendations. Rudd and Gillard promised the world and barely delivered anything.
I’m not going to make any promises. I’m going to set out a vision for Australia that I would like to achieve, a vision vastly different to that of the Labor party.
The Liberal party believes that individuals are better at making decisions for themselves rather than having government make decisions for them. The Liberal party believes that the money that the government obtains from its citizens should be spent wisely and efficiently. The Liberal party believes that people and communities, left to themselves, are better at providing services than centralised government bureaucracy. The Liberal party believes that having a job is preferable to receiving welfare. The Liberal party believes that welfare should be provided for those in genuine need, rather than a right that one is born with. And the Liberal party believes that being seen to be doing good is not sufficient if you don’t have the will and conviction to make the tough decisions.
That is why I won’t shy away from the tough decisions that need to be made. That is why I will stand up for individuals over government, and that is why I will return money to the hands of individuals rather than spending it on wasteful government programs.
A Liberal government will look to introduce a flat rate of tax as recommended by the Henry Tax Review, providing incentives for people to earn, save and invest more. We will expand the welfare quarantine provisions that are currently in place in the Northern Territory to apply throughout Australia. A Liberal party will replace the current plethora of welfare payments and grants with one simplified welfare payment for those that are in genuine need.
The Liberal party will recalibrate the funding of public hospitals and schools to be a system where education and health credits are given to every citizen and the people decide how to spend their credits, making a more fair, efficient and equitable system.
The Liberal party will make real reform in the welfare of our indigenous people, providing for conditions that allow jobs and growth rather than the stagnation and welfare that we have now.
Julia Gillard says she wants to bring in “the right kind of migrants” but has no policies to achieve this. The Liberal party will enhance our immigration program to require that immigrants come from counties that have a history of successful integration into Australian society, and the Liberal party will stand up to big business and reduce our immigration levels from the current record high levels to levels that are more appropriate to the needs of our country.
The Liberal party won’t put at risk $43 billion dollars worth of taxpayer money investing in one technology to build a broadband network that duplicates much of what already exists without any taxpayer input. The liberal party won’t spend billions on carbon capture and storage technology that scientists say have no hope of ever working. The Liberal party won’t have a cash for clunkers scheme that has questionable environmental benefits. The Liberal party won’t waste money on pink batts or building school halls that schools don’t want.
The Liberal party will reduce taxation, reduce wasteful government spending, and reduce government intervention into people’s lives.”