Speech to Coalition Campaign Launch, Brisbane
8th August, 2010
Ladies and gentlemen, friendsAmerican Army General George S Patton was once asked what is the most important quality of a leader.
"It's very simple," the General said: "Be willing to make decisions".
Where have the people been over the last three years with the ability to make decisions? Where have they been?
The Rudd Government was incapable of making the decisions a government is expected to make. The Gillard Government is no better. After only 45 days it's already looking tired and flabby.
Now, she's had to resort to text her ex, to ask her to accompany him to the ball because she can't find anyone else to dance with. He wasn't good enough six weeks ago, why is he good enough today?
Now every Australian will be reminded that Kevin Rudd's dreadful record is Julia Gillard's too. They've been dancing together before, they've been dancing together before, now it's time they were voted off the show.
It's been all glitter, all talk, but no action.
- The dance card began with the 2020 Summit and more than 900 recommendations have disappeared without trace.
- Remember the 160 reviews and reports initiated by Labor's Bureaucracy Central, the vast majority ignored and now gathering dust on shelves?
- Or the Henry Tax Review, that was supposed "root and branch" reform of our tax system but it is also cramming up the "too hard" basket.
- Or the Murray Darling Basin Water Plan, three years in the making but now too hot to reveal.
- Remember Labor's commitment to govern for all Australians but a billion dollars for regional programs was taken out of their first budget and more in the second.
- Remember the promise to lower living costs - but they just watched.
- Remember the other 60 or more promises from 2007 that they did not keep. Why should you believe any of the promises they make this time?
- Remember this is the Government that is still unable to rein in the incredible waste and the rorts in its school halls' stimulus program.
- Remember the roof insulation scheme disaster which will cost you a billion dollars to fix; remember the green Loans debacle; and of course the boats that won't stop coming?
Indeed now Labor seems to have given up on decision making altogether. After messing up their response to climate change - "the great moral issue of our time" - they now plan to hand the decision on the future of emissions trading tax to 150 people randomly selected from the phone book.
What's next? 150 people to write our defence policy, 150 to draft the next budget? Surely we should be electing people at this election who have the ability and the willingness and the capability to make those decisions.
New or Old Kevin, New or Old Julia, Labor will not simply make the hard decisions.
This is not governing; this is loitering without intent.
Everything has been about Labor's future and not yours.
But how different it once was.
For the best part of a decade in government, I sat in the Cabinet Room with Tony Abbott. We had to make some very hard decisions, we had to do it in the national interest, and sometimes it hurt.
Doing the hard work was the hallmark of that government and it's got to be the hallmark of the government we want to lead now.
We will make the decisions to build a stronger and more secure Australia. We are determined to give all Australians, wherever they live, the best possible chance to achieve their goals and to live their dreams. When individual Australians are confident and doing well, so is our Nation.
Tony and I, and the Liberal and National parties we lead, stand before you with a plan for a better Australia.
We will give you a government you can be proud of - not one you ridicule or are embarrassed about.
We have already released significant policy initiatives and we're committed to improving services and building our Nation's essential infrastructure.
No matter where you live, you or your children should be able to access the best possible education. I have already announced that the next Coalition government will create a one billion dollar fund to address the disadvantage faced by students from rural communities.
This fund will help to provide students and schools in remote and regional areas with better opportunities to link with and enjoy more of the learning experiences that are available in larger centres.
The Coalition will use 21st Century tools to provide a 21st Century learning experience to Regional Australia
Labor changed the rules for the Independent Youth Allowance leaving thousands of students, especially in regional areas, no longer eligible and denying them the resources to access a tertiary education. Students from regional areas are much less likely to finish Year 12 than their metropolitan counterparts, and are significantly under-represented in tertiary education.
Under pressure from the Coalition and student groups - and I pay tribute to the negotiating skills of Chris Pyne our next Minister for Education and our regional Members and Senators - Labor eventually relaxed the criteria for students in the most remote regional areas, but more than 20,000 students in inner regional areas continue to be disadvantaged.
It is clear that the Youth Allowance system does not fairly address the particular problems and additional costs faced by distant families with a university or TAFE education. In Government the Coalition will, in consultation with student, parent and school organisations, move to establish a new, targeted program to support families with children forced to leave home for tertiary study especially from rural and regional areas.
Today, as an interim measure, I announce that the relaxed eligibility criteria for the Independent Youth Allowance will be extended to students in the Inner Regional Category. Those students who have to move away from home and whose parents earn less than $150,000 will be eligible for the independent youth allowance under the criteria as applied under the previous Liberal-National Government.
Effective communications unite all Australians in national and global communities. Better telephone services, internet access and broadcasting infrastructure will ensure regional Australians fully participate in the social and economic benefits of new technology.
A robust communications network will create better health services, better education, better employment and more business opportunities in regional Australia.
Labor misled all Australians with its failed national broadband network.
A Coalition government will not leave regional Australia without modern connections. We will work to fill in the black spots to help country residents catch up on the communications urban Australians take for granted.
Now, I have often said that what is good for regional Australia is good for the nation, but Labor does not understand. Every Labor Cabinet minister lives in a capital city.
A Coalition Government will be different. We will deliver a fair share for those who live outside the capital cities. There will be new scholarships for country students to become doctors, nurse practitioners and dentists. We will put local people on local boards to run local hospitals, not city bureaucrats. There will be less desks and more beds - less clerks and more doctors and nurses.
The Coalition knows that Australia needs the best possible transport networks to keep our nation moving and our economy growing. We will progressively work to achieve our vision to upgrade the national road network from north to south, from east to west.
We will complete a four-lane highway from Sale and Colac through Melbourne and Sydney to Brisbane via the Pacific Highway and then north past Gympie.
We will complete a four-lane highway between Launceston and Hobart and continue to push the highway east of Adelaide so one day there will be a four-lane road linking Adelaide to the Eastern States. We will build the long-awaited Toowoomba range crossing. We'll improve the highway network connecting Perth and its airport with the fast growing mining communities of that state.
We will continue to upgrade Australia's critical rail infrastructure, to improve travel times between our capital cities. We will build the essential rail freight routes into Sydney, the Brisbane to Redcliffe rail link and the inland rail from Melbourne to Brisbane.
We have announced a $300 million Bridges Renewal Fund to help councils rebuild or replace crumbling old bridges. We will build the 500 road stops required for truck drivers and restore AusLink's pre-eminence as our national transport plan
The Coalition's Trade Policy, restores the Export Market Development Grant scheme, provides $200 million a year for our hard-working exporters to assist them to open up new markets, in services, manufacturing and agricultural products. We will boost funding for rural research and rebuild Australia's vital quarantine and customs services that have been allowed to run down under Labor.
Under Labor, things have gone off track in Australia and our future looks less certain. The Government has not delivered in the areas it said it would, like health and education and infrastructure, border security and the increased cost of living.
The Rudd Government came to power with the familiar claims that this time Labor would be different.
Well, Labor has been different, but not in a way we hoped. As big spenders they're worse than Whitlam. As big taxers, they're worse than Hawke. As promise keepers, they're worse than Keating.
Labor has not earned a second chance. They won't get any better!
Labor changed the Prime Minister to change the mining tax. But you'll have to change the government to dump the tax. If you want to stop the mining tax, you have to change the government. If you want to stop the emissions trading tax, you will have to change the government. If you want to stop the reckless spending, you'll have to change the government. If you want to stop the boats, you'll have to change the government. If you want to stop the rorts, you'll have to change the government.
The Nationals bring a commitment to the Coalition to reverse Labor's neglect of regional Australia and to deliver a fair share of the wealth that is created in the regions back to the regions.
We have been absolutely steadfast from day one in blocking the big new taxes Labor has fired like torpedoes into the regions.
Australians must now make a very important decision. We cannot risk another three years. Labor has created a crisis in competence in government. They cannot make decisions, they cannot manage their programs. Their legacy has been debt, waste and incompetence. Labor has let you down.
The Coalition is experienced, capable and determined to fix the problems our nation now faces. We are ready and we're committed to real action.
I ask for your support. We will stand up for you and we will make you an Australia you can be proud of.
