Talking with Mark Parton on 2CC - 6 September 2013
I had the opportunity to make a final 'election pitch' to Canberra voters, in speaking with Mark Parton this morning. Here's a podcast.
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Launch of ACT Partners in Recovery Program
We all want the live a contributing life. Today, I was pleased to attend the launch of a program for people living with a severe mental illness; a program overseen by ACT Medicare Local aimed at ensuring more than 400 Canberrans can be assisted with their complex needs to live a meaningful and less-isolated life.
Media Release
Minister for Mental Health and Ageing Jacinta Collins
Senator for ACT Kate Lundy, Member for Fraser Andrew Leigh
SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS SUPPORT SERVICE LAUNCHED IN ACT
The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Senator Jacinta Collins joined Senator for the ACT, Kate Lundy and Federal Member for Fraser, Andrew Leigh to launch the Partners in Recovery program in Dickson today.
Partners in Recovery, a key plank of the Rudd Labor Government’s $2.2 billion mental health reform package, provides coordinated support and flexible funding for people with severe and ongoing mental illness with complex support needs.
“People living with psychosis are 10 times more likely to be homeless, 50 per cent less likely to have completed school and have a life expectancy that lags the national average by up to 30 years,” Senator Collins said.
“The last thing people with severe mental illness, their families and carers need is to battle with multiple service systems,” Senator Collins said.
The Partners in Recovery Program in Canberra is led by the ACT Medicare Local, and will bring together support services like income support, housing, employment and medical care to facilitate ‘wrap around care’ for people with severe and long term mental illness, and complex needs.
The ACT Medicare Local was funded almost $8 million over four years to deliver the Partners in Recovery program, as part of Federal Labor’s $2.2 billion mental health form package, and will provide community based recovery support for Canberrans with severe mental health issues.
Senator Lundy said the Partners in Recovery program was another example of how the ACT Medicare Local is supporting the health needs of the Canberra region.
“It is great to see the partnerships that have developed between our local support services through the consortium being led by the ACT Medicare Local”, Senator Lundy said.
Federal Member for Fraser, Andrew Leigh, said the Partners in Recovery program in Canberra is expected to deliver critical support to over 400 people.
“These are critical services in our local community, Canberra cannot afford for these programs to be cut under an Abbott Government,” said Dr Leigh.
The ACT Medicare Local employs around 30 frontline medical workers including GPs, nurses and care coordinators. These important services would be at risk under a Coalition government.
4 SEPTEMBER 2013
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Media Release
Minister for Mental Health and Ageing Jacinta Collins
Senator for ACT Kate Lundy, Member for Fraser Andrew Leigh
SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS SUPPORT SERVICE LAUNCHED IN ACT
The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Senator Jacinta Collins joined Senator for the ACT, Kate Lundy and Federal Member for Fraser, Andrew Leigh to launch the Partners in Recovery program in Dickson today.
Partners in Recovery, a key plank of the Rudd Labor Government’s $2.2 billion mental health reform package, provides coordinated support and flexible funding for people with severe and ongoing mental illness with complex support needs.
“People living with psychosis are 10 times more likely to be homeless, 50 per cent less likely to have completed school and have a life expectancy that lags the national average by up to 30 years,” Senator Collins said.
“The last thing people with severe mental illness, their families and carers need is to battle with multiple service systems,” Senator Collins said.
The Partners in Recovery Program in Canberra is led by the ACT Medicare Local, and will bring together support services like income support, housing, employment and medical care to facilitate ‘wrap around care’ for people with severe and long term mental illness, and complex needs.
The ACT Medicare Local was funded almost $8 million over four years to deliver the Partners in Recovery program, as part of Federal Labor’s $2.2 billion mental health form package, and will provide community based recovery support for Canberrans with severe mental health issues.
Senator Lundy said the Partners in Recovery program was another example of how the ACT Medicare Local is supporting the health needs of the Canberra region.
“It is great to see the partnerships that have developed between our local support services through the consortium being led by the ACT Medicare Local”, Senator Lundy said.
Federal Member for Fraser, Andrew Leigh, said the Partners in Recovery program in Canberra is expected to deliver critical support to over 400 people.
“These are critical services in our local community, Canberra cannot afford for these programs to be cut under an Abbott Government,” said Dr Leigh.
The ACT Medicare Local employs around 30 frontline medical workers including GPs, nurses and care coordinators. These important services would be at risk under a Coalition government.
4 SEPTEMBER 2013
Community-Business Partnerships
My Chronicle column this month continues the community-building theme, with a discussion of community-business partnerships.
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Community Help from Business and Government, The Chronicle, 3 September 2013
A few weeks ago, I attended the opening of MLC Advice Canberra, a new financial planning business run by 30 year-old Michael Miller. In my role as your federal MP, I go to a lot of office openings, but this one was different. Alongside the finance boffins were a veritable who’s who of Canberra community organisations.
Care Inc director Carmel Franklin came along because Michael serves on her board. Others came to recognise his donations. With each new client, Michael makes a donation to Diabetes ACT, Menslink, or the UC Foundation for regional and Indigenous youth. When I asked him about this, Michael smiled and replied ‘Well, I’m young and I don’t have kids. The business is doing well, so why shouldn’t I help others too?’
Government has an important role in reducing disadvantage, whether it’s through DisabilityCare, Indigenous employment programs, or uncapping university places so more children can be the first in their family to get a tertiary education. But we also need to unleash the potential of Australia’s charities. Partly, that’s about the new Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, which will reduce the burden of regulation and reporting. But it’s also about encouraging collaborations between innovative businesses and great charities.
A terrific community-business partnership is the Students Participating in Community Enterprise program, managed by Rikki Blacka of Volunteering ACT. The idea behind SPICE is to find students who are at risk of dropping out of school, and give them a work experience placement that will demonstrate the relevance of education. Local firms like Keirs Mechanical Repairs in Dickson and Beyond the Cutting Line in Melba have been great supporters of the program, mentoring young men and women who often end up going on to complete apprenticeships. Indeed, I’ve recently had a SPICE student in my own office.
The best community work by firms builds on their expertise and passion. Under managing director Glenn Keys, Aspen Medical (which last year was named ACT Exporter of the Year) has established the Aspen Foundation. The Foundation is targeting trachoma, an eye disease that still causes blindness in remote Indigenous communities.
In the same spirit, Beyond Bank Australia (formerly known as Community CPS Australia) has just announced a long-term partnership agreement with Volunteering Australia. This will see the bank supporting national initiatives to promote volunteering. CEO Robert Keogh also told me that Beyond Bank offers all its staff the chance to volunteer in the community for two days each year – an initiative that’s becoming increasingly popular across corporate Australia.
For me, encouraging volunteering, fostering philanthropy, motivating young leaders, and bringing together social entrepreneurs is a core part of being a good local member. If I’m fortunate to have the privilege of being re-elected as your local MP, it’s something I’m keen to continue over the next parliamentary term. So keep sharing with me your ideas about how we can work together to make this great city fairer and more prosperous in the years to come.
Andrew Leigh is the Federal Member for Fraser, and his website is www.andrewleigh.com.
More Austerity, More Inequality
The Daily Telegraph today features an op-ed of mine on austerity and inequality. Here's the (abridged) published version - the full text appears below.
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It's not time to hit the austerity button yet, Daily Telegraph, 4 September 2013
If anyone doubted the relevance of Keynesian economics, the Global Financial Crisis taught the lessons better than any textbook could. As private demand wilted, every developed country put in place fiscal stimulus – designed to save jobs and keep businesses from going bust. On average, a larger stimulus package meant more growth.
Today, Australia faces the opposite challenge. The University of Queensland’s John Quiggin has estimated that every $10 billion cut from government spending is likely to reduce employment by 0.5 percent. In a workforce of 12.5 million, that means 62,500 more people without jobs.
This matters because the Coalition is still keeping its cuts better hidden than the City of Atlantis. In past elections, every Opposition policy announcement was accompanied by a sheet of offsetting savings measures – the same approach that the Government has taken to our announcements. But you’ll look in vain for a costings table in any recent Coalition policy announcements.
Costings conversations can be eye-glazing at times, but bear with me for a moment.
In May, Tony Abbott announced that he would scrap the mining tax and the carbon price, but keep the assistance to households. This cost $12 billion, and – for once - he identified some cuts in that process, including scrapping the Schoolkids’ Bonus and getting rid of 12,000 public servants.
So far so good. But when he announced a $5 billion dollar company tax cut, Mr Abbott claimed it would be paid for by the May savings, apparently forgetting he’d already spent them.
Then came the $22 billion paid parental leave plan – which Joe Hockey initially claimed would be 100 percent paid for by a 1.5 company tax levy. He then scaled this down to 50, 60 or 70 percent, before admitting he didn’t bother finding out before going on air. The truth is that the company tax levy pays for less than half the scheme.
And then we have the restoration of the private health insurance rebate to the most affluent, a policy whose price tag is around $8 billion and growing.
As US Republican Senator Everett Dirksen used to say, a few billion here, a few billion there, and soon you’re talking serious money. Saul Eslake, who is now chief economist at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch puts the gap at $30 billion. In the past, Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb have estimated it at $70 billion.
At the same time as Mr Abbott is promising big new spending programs to benefit the most affluent, he has promised to shrink government as a share of the economy in every year of his term.
This is no ‘relaxed and comfortable’ agenda, and the mask slipped slightly this week when Mr Abbott said that he would seek to emulate Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Under Thatcher, UK unemployment peaked at 12 percent. Under Reagan, the US jobless figure peaked at 10 percent.
And that’s why Quiggin’s calculation is so important. If a $10 billion cut in spending raises the unemployment rate by 0.5 percent, just imagine what a $70 billion cut would do.
Some readers won’t need much imagination. If you’ve chatted to friends in the UK lately, you’ll know that their unemployment rate spiked from 5 percent to 8 percent in the GFC; and thanks to the austerity of a Conservative Government, has remained there ever since. Queenslanders know that they used to have an unemployment rate below the rest of Australia, but now record an above-average jobless rate. Again, conservative austerity is a significant part of the story.
After a generation of rising inequality, Tony Abbott’s policies will give the most to those that have the most. Abolishing the mining tax will line the pockets of billionaires. Abolishing the means-test on the private health insurance rebate will benefit families earning over $176,000. Paid parental leave will give five times as much to top earners at to minimum wage workers. A child born with a silver spoon in his mouth will get a gold one; the rest will have to make do with plastic.
But it’s not just the spending measures that are regressive – the impact of unemployment will likely fall on the most disadvantaged. When the economy falters – as it would do under severe austerity – it’s the least skilled who are typically the first to lose their jobs.
As polling day draws near, Australians need to realise that Mr Abbott’s agenda is profoundly out of touch with Australia’s egalitarian ethos. For all his sporting prowess, Mr Abbott far better resembles the Sherriff of Nottingham than Robin Hood.
Andrew Leigh is the federal member for Fraser, and his website is www.andrewleigh.com.
"Election Smackdown" on MIX 106.3 - 4 September 2013
In the fourth and final 'Election Smackdown' on MIX 106.3, I debated Liberal candidate Zed Seselja on public sector job losses, costings secrecy and same-sex marriage. Here's a podcast.
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ABC24 Capital Hill - 3 September 2013
On 3 September, I spoke with host Lyndal Curtis and Opposition MP Steve Ciobo. Topics included why an ETS achieves least-cost abatement and the ethics of same-sex marriage.
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Preferencing in Fraser
An article in today's Canberra Times discusses the preference-ordering on the ALP How-to-Vote card for Fraser. The journalist made no attempt to contact me before going to press, leaving readers with the unfortunate impression that I support an extremist party.
As someone who is passionate about multiculturalism, eliminating discrimination, and building community, I was disappointed not to be offered a chance to respond. So here's a summary of what's going on.
In federal elections, it's compulsory to number all boxes. So major parties' How-to-Vote cards typically number all the boxes.
In choosing a recommended numbering for the ALP How-to-Vote card, we could do one of two things.
Whether you do strategy #1 or strategy #2 depends crucially on whether you think there's a chance of your preferences being distributed. Any candidate who comes third or lower has their preferences distributed. The top two candidates' preference ordering is irrelevant.*
And here's the thing. Since the seat of Fraser was created in 1974, preferences of the Labor and Liberal candidates have never been distributed. In other words, it has never mattered in Fraser how Labor voters numbered the other boxes.
So that brings us to informal voting. From 2007 to 2010, the number of informal votes in Fraser nearly doubled, from 2679 in 2007 to 5171 in 2010.
Faced with the choice of worrying about a near-zero chance of Labor preferences being distributed, versus worrying about the very real rise in informality, Labor's How-to-Vote in Fraser opted to focus on reducing informality.
I haven't come lately to the issue of reducing informality. My 2010 book Disconnected crunches the stats on the rise in informal voting, I've spoken several times in parliament about reducing informality (eg. here, here and here), and Sunday's Canberra Times contained an article about my concern about reducing informality in Fraser.
Labor voters in Fraser should number the other boxes any way they want - our How-to-Vote just suggests the easiest option. The key is: if you want to vote Labor in Fraser, please don't make a mistake!
PS. The article also incorrectly describes me as the member for Canberra, but I'll leave it to another time to take umbrage with that error.
* This differs from the Senate, where most candidates have some of their votes distributed to other candidates. There, you really do need to worry about where parties' preference flows are going.
Post-election update (as at 10 Sept): As expected, my preferences were not distributed. Nationally, the informal voting rate rose, but in Fraser, current figures indicate that it has fallen from 4.4% in 2010 to 3.7% in 2013 (a larger drop than was recorded in the ACT overall). Had the 2010 informal voting rate prevailed, nearly 1000 people would have been excluded from the democratic process in Fraser.
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As someone who is passionate about multiculturalism, eliminating discrimination, and building community, I was disappointed not to be offered a chance to respond. So here's a summary of what's going on.
In federal elections, it's compulsory to number all boxes. So major parties' How-to-Vote cards typically number all the boxes.
In choosing a recommended numbering for the ALP How-to-Vote card, we could do one of two things.
- We could number all the boxes in our order of preference. For me, this would put the Greens above the Liberals, above any party with a racist agenda.
- We could number the boxes in the simplest way possible, to reduce informal voting caused by people making mistakes.
Whether you do strategy #1 or strategy #2 depends crucially on whether you think there's a chance of your preferences being distributed. Any candidate who comes third or lower has their preferences distributed. The top two candidates' preference ordering is irrelevant.*
And here's the thing. Since the seat of Fraser was created in 1974, preferences of the Labor and Liberal candidates have never been distributed. In other words, it has never mattered in Fraser how Labor voters numbered the other boxes.
So that brings us to informal voting. From 2007 to 2010, the number of informal votes in Fraser nearly doubled, from 2679 in 2007 to 5171 in 2010.
Faced with the choice of worrying about a near-zero chance of Labor preferences being distributed, versus worrying about the very real rise in informality, Labor's How-to-Vote in Fraser opted to focus on reducing informality.
I haven't come lately to the issue of reducing informality. My 2010 book Disconnected crunches the stats on the rise in informal voting, I've spoken several times in parliament about reducing informality (eg. here, here and here), and Sunday's Canberra Times contained an article about my concern about reducing informality in Fraser.
Labor voters in Fraser should number the other boxes any way they want - our How-to-Vote just suggests the easiest option. The key is: if you want to vote Labor in Fraser, please don't make a mistake!
PS. The article also incorrectly describes me as the member for Canberra, but I'll leave it to another time to take umbrage with that error.
* This differs from the Senate, where most candidates have some of their votes distributed to other candidates. There, you really do need to worry about where parties' preference flows are going.
Post-election update (as at 10 Sept): As expected, my preferences were not distributed. Nationally, the informal voting rate rose, but in Fraser, current figures indicate that it has fallen from 4.4% in 2010 to 3.7% in 2013 (a larger drop than was recorded in the ACT overall). Had the 2010 informal voting rate prevailed, nearly 1000 people would have been excluded from the democratic process in Fraser.
ABC RN Drive - 2 September 2013
On ABC RN Drive last night, I spoke with host Waleed Aly and Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos about vocational training, costings gaps, boat buy-backs and more. Here's a podcast.
Find the full transcript below.
ABC RADIO NATIONAL DRIVE INTERVIEW
MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013
_____________________________________________________________
Subjects: Senate preferences; campaigning; costings; Tafe and trade centres.
___________________________________________________________
WALEED ALY: I’m joined for the last time before the election campaign, and I say that with a tinge of sadness, although we might get them together after the campaign’s all over. Dr Andrew Leigh, the Member for Fraser, previously Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, or then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and Arthur Sinodinos, Parliamentary Secretary to the Opposition Leader, former Chief of Staff to John Howard and according to some reports, as well as prospective Finance Minister, an endangered Senator. Gentlemen welcome and Arthur, you must be concerned!
ARTHUR SINODINOS: An endangered species indeed, well I should be protected under the EPBC Act.
ALY: Well, it’s not likely to happen that way because, now this is the story, some reports have emerged that because of the proliferation of the micro parties and the strange preference flows that pertain in the Senate and proliferation of people who have voted above the line rather than below it, you are in danger. Not much I think we can say, but some danger of being knocked off of that Senate seat in NSW by Pauline Hanson, are you worried?
SINODINOS: Oh look, as long as we maximise the Coalition vote in NSW it should be fine and people put the 1 above the line and preferences flow accordingly it will be fine. It’s a statistical possibility what you mentioned, but I mean my best bet is to maximise Liberal votes for NSW for that very reason.
ALY: Well no that’s certainly true but are you worried about it? I wouldn’t have thought that this would start turning up in reporting from people who’ve crunched the numbers unless it was a realistic possibility.
SINODINOS: Look, it’s a mathematical possibility but I believe our vote in NSW is going to be pretty strong and I’m going to spend the next few days, as Kevin has advised, doing my best to up the vote.
ALY: Good to hear you’re taking advice from Kevin Rudd on campaigning, that’s wonderful, we need unity in politics. Why are you…
ANDREW LEIGH: …and Waleed, just to break in briefly to say how pleased I am that no Labor votes will go to seeing Ms Hanson get elected ahead of Arthur Sinodinos.
ALY: Ah yes.
SINODINOS: (Laughs) thanks.
LEIGH: We’re definitely preferring him over her.
ALY: That’s wonderful. It’s almost schmaltzy. Hey Arthur, why would you be third on the Liberal Party’s Senate ticket? I cannot understand that.
SINODINOS: Oh well, I took over from Helen Coonan, I’m the junior Senator and seniority dictates the line up on the Senate Ticket and I was quite happy with that and it aligns my interests with the party’s interests, which is to maximise the vote.
ALY: Well, hang on, but you’re the prospective Finance Minister
SINODINOS: Well look, what happens after the election is a matter for Tony. Let’s get there and we can worry about all that afterwards.
ALY: Andrew, if Arthur were to lose his seat, would you be happy to be paired with Pauline Hanson in debates in future?
LEIGH: That’s a truly terrifying prospect I think Waleed, but look, the real pity is that the Coalition doesn’t have Arthur as Finance Spokesperson right now. I mean that then would’ve had them I’m sure in a position where months ago they’d brought out all of their costings and where we’re now talking about two properly costed visions of the future rather than this sort of spectacle where Mr Hockey seems to be saying to, the argument Mr Robb’s seems to be saying to people ‘well look, we’d like to sell you this used car but you can’t take it for a test drive and you can’t look under the bonnet because you know, well just trust us that the coat of paint on the outside is tip top and it’ll drive just fine’.
ALY: Alright, I’ll get to a response from Arthur in a moment, but Andrew Leigh, I’m not sure that your costings are out there really are they?
LEIGH: Policy by policy they are, Waleed.
ALY: Yeah but you want them in the one place where you can actually examine them, that’s the point.
LEIGH: Well, this is an important point because it’s one of the subtleties which I think has been lost in the hurly burly of the costings debate. In all previous elections, as Oppositions have brought out policies, they’ve shown on each occasion how they’re going to pay for them. The Coalitions’ departed from that strategy this time around. You even see the difference on the same policies. So you look at Paid Parental Leave that they released in 2010 and the one they’ve released now. In 2010 it was accompanied by a table of costings and savings, this time it’s not. We’ve shown very clearly how we’re paying for everything. The Coalition I think are raising the spectre I think of pretty savage austerity being imposed on the economy.
ALY: Well they’re not really. I mean, this is the bone I have to pick with the way the Labor Party has run their campaign, Andrew, and that is that it seems to have been a phantom campaign against things that nobody’s proposing. You had the GST, then you had cuts in health and education, all of which have been completely ruled out. It’s one thing to say the numbers don’t add up, it’s another thing to say oh this stuff is going to happen when actually it’s been flatly rejected.
LEIGH: But Waleed, I disagree with you there. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that the Coalition’s policies are in many cases unfunded. So it’s fine if Mr Abbott wants to spend $22 billion on an unfair Parental Leave Scheme or to give a tax cut to big miners or to give a tax cut to companies, but he can’t make all of those bold claims and not say where the money’s coming from.
ALY: Yeah, that’s fine, but that’s a different thing from you then saying: where’s the money coming from and that there will be certain cuts when they’ve specifically said there won’t be.
LEIGH: Well, I don’t think it’s unfair to speculate Waleed, I mean...
ALY: Oh no, you are, see that’s the point, you are speculating exactly on things they’ve already ruled out.
LEIGH: Certainly what is mathematically true is that the Coalition can’t pay down debt faster, spend more and tax less.
ALY: Arthur, I might get your response on this and you could perhaps work into your answer why it is that you just won’t come out with actual costings, I mean what we saw last week was not even costings it was savings and it was really a pretend document because there was no detail.
SINODINOS: No, no, no I don’t think it was a pretend document. What was put out last week was something like $31.6 billion worth of savings and that will go towards helping to pay for promises and this week you’ll have the full sonata, the full symphony if you like in terms of the spends, the saves and the contribution to the budget bottom line because all the commitments will be out by then. The point Tony Abbott was making on Sunday is there’ve been promises made including some additional promises today on defence for example and veterans and therefore, you know, until all of that is complete you can’t put out the final document.
ALY: Andrew let’s talk about the campaign launch that Kevin Rudd did mysteriously late into the election campaign, yesterday. He’s focused really on specific kinds of jobs, trade type jobs or vocational education. This was the theme. We haven’t really seen much of that before this last week and then when we did his message on TAFEs seemed really strange to me, that if State Governments cut our funding to TAFEs then the Commonwealth is just going to ramp up its funding. Why wouldn’t every State in the country just say alright, fine, you carry the can and we’ll just cut our funding and we won’t be any worse off.
LEIGH: Well Waleed, you’ve raised an important point and this is certainly something that we’ve been talking about in the context of schools, about the importance of ensuring that as the Federal Government invests more in schools through the Better Schools Plan, that State Governments don’t take money out. But we’ve also got a responsibility to make sure that TAFE training continues and you know this issue has a pretty long lineage, we had the former Howard Government investigate trade centres, which ended up not working out. What we’ve done as a Federal Government is to expand trades training in schools and I’ve got a work experience student with me this week who has a trade training centre in his school, St Francis Xavier, and then we’ve also looked to investing in apprenticeships, boosting their completion bonuses and we want to be ready as a back stop for the TAFE system because you’ve got to invest in skills right across the board as a way of building prosperity.
ALY: That’s fine but what Kevin Rudd’s saying is that we’ll pump money into it in 2015, so some time into the future, we’ll pump money into it if the States decide to rip out their money which is an incentive for them just to rip out money.
LEIGH: I don’t think it’s as straight forward as all of that. I think what Mr Rudd is saying is that it’s important that we maintain a strong TAFE system and that we will commit to making sure the trades training is strong. We’ve done that through investment in apprenticeships, through providing larger completion bonuses and providing more to apprentices to get their tools. The Labor story of productivity, which I know is an issue Arthur and I both care about, is that it is centrally underpinned by great education at all those three levels, schools, TAFEs and universities.
ALY: Alright, I’ll get Arthur to respond on the point in a moment, but before I do that, the campaign launch, why so late really? I mean there’s been some positive reviews about it in the press, some but, there seems to be a consensus that it’s too late to make any kind of difference now, why wouldn’t you launch earlier and get some momentum?
LEIGH Yeah I know, in the past that there’s been differences in the timing of the launch, sometimes they’ve been two weeks out, sometimes they’ve been on week out. I don’t think there’s any great science about these things.
ALY: Oh there’s science over everything, come on Andrew.
LEIGH: Haha, I think the only science is you probably don’t want to launch on the same day, I think that’s a loss all round.
ALY: Arthur let’s hear what the Coalition has planned for that sort of skilled manufacture, that skilled work, you know that stuff that TAFEs produce, that kind of labour that hasn’t been the focus really over the last decade while the mining boom’s been in trend. Does the Coalition actually have a focus on that? What’s its policy?
SINODINOS: Can I just begin on this point about the lateness of Labor’s launch. I think that was partly driven by that fact that, you know you maintain, I think, access to entitlements up until the actual launch of your party’s actual campaign, that may have played a role in their thinking. But I think you’re right to say a week out is a bit odd and may not have left Kevin enough time to do the sort of sell job he needs to do. That said, the policy announced around TAFEs and apprenticeships and the like sound like going back to the future in the 1990s. In fact I think Kevin worked on this stuff when he was in Queensland and the National Training Authority was set up, I think it was in 1993, trying to do something similar to what’s been talked about here. What we’ve tried to do with the TAFE system over a number of years is to actually make it more contestable, more market oriented and that’s been the theme of reform under a couple of Governments, including when Julia Gillard was Prime Minister, stemming from her time as Education and Training Minister. I mean what we’ve said on education and training is for example, we want to give loans to apprentices to help them with the expenses of getting through their apprenticeships, right, and that would supplement the other assistance we’ve been giving for employment or have suggested we’re going to give for employment and training. And importantly also taking the burden off employers, including through lower Company Tax and the like so we can actually increase the number of jobs that are potentially available for apprentices.
It was a bit tragic that when Rudd came to power in 2007, he decided to dismantle the technical colleges which we were putting into place, re-badged them and tried to replace them with trade training centres when I think it would’ve been better for the sake of continuity of policy in this area if we just refined and improved on whatever were the deficiencies of the technical college concept and got that sort of fully, if you like, implemented. Because the point John Howard made, which we should all, I think, should always have conscious of, is that not everybody is going to be interested or able to go to university and we have to have adequate alternatives for people and the proper sort of trade training system can help in that regard.
ALY: Sure but those centres need money…
SINODINOS: Sure.
ALY: …and it’s been States that have been ripping that money out, not least of which have been Liberal Party States so Victoria and WA that have been ripping money out. Now you’ve got Kevin Rudd saying that we’ll put that money back if it goes because it’s that important. Will you come out with any sort of commitment on funding? Will you match that?
SINODINOS: Well Susan Ley’s going to have a bit more to say on this in the next day or so…
ALY: I look forward to that…
SINODINOS: …at a conference in I think Brisbane and speaking on all of that.
ALY: Tony Abbott has said that if he wins the election he will repeal the carbon price. He’ll be able to do that because Labor will have to be acquiesce because of the walloping it gets at the polls which means that it wouldn’t dare block the repeal of the Carbon Price. So will Labor, ultimately, if they are in Opposition in the Senate, let that amendment pass given that Tony Abbott would have to be held to have a mandate for that.
LEIGH: I will fight for a carbon price with every fibre of my being
ALY: Even though there’s a clear mandate for the Coalition if they win government?
LEIGH: I don’t believe that the Coalition are as lay down as they are to win.
ALY: Yeah but if they do, this is the only circumstance in which this becomes relevant, if they do it clearly becomes a mandate.
LEIGH: If the Coalition wins, they will have a majority in the Parliament but that doesn’t tell me as a Member elected in, were I fortunate enough to be in that Parliament, which is the hypothetical that you’re giving, I would then be elected by an electorate which feels very strongly about pricing carbon, which respects the science and respects the economics of an ETS as being the lowest cost approach.
ALY: Gentlemen, I’m going to extend this just briefly because I do just want to get your reflections as we wind our way to the end of the campaign, Arthur I’ll start with you. Has this been a good campaign? What are the highs and lows that you’ve seen so far?
SINODINOS: Ah look, I’ll believe it’s a good campaign if we win. That’s the only test of a good campaign. If you’re asking me highs and lows, the highs are when you’re out there actually talking to real people as it were, on the street, and trying to respond to their questions, trying to come up with proper responses, and the thing that always strikes you is how interested people are in what’s going on and the outcome and how well informed they are. The lows of the campaign, is when there’s misinformation about what your party’s going to do and I’ll be fighting that until election day.
ALY: Not the James Diaz controversy earlier on? I’ve had that as a suggestion for a low in the campaign you might have nominated, Arthur.
SINODINOS: Well, I suppose Labor would nominate that as a high in the campaign, I’m not sure.
ALY: (Laughs) and I’ve always wanted to know what a real person is, am I not real, Arthur? Is that what you mean?
SINODINOS: Waleed, you are one of the most real people I’ve ever met. I’m talking about those I meet in the flesh.
ALY: Alright, OK, nicely handled, still offended. Andrew? Your highs and lows?
LEIGH: Well I think Arthur put it nicely there in terms of the importance of the ideas that you wrote something a while back, Waleed, where you talked about poisonous politics being the politics of teams, not the politics of ideas. And I really enjoy the conversation on the street, the couple that came up to me and said: “so tell me why Labor’s going to be the best choice for my three year old daughter”, or the woman I spoke to yesterday from Florey in my electorate who’s a part time public servant who’s worried not just about the quality of our public services, but also about her future employment. If you were going to nominate a low, I think I’d go with the politifact wisdom and nominate the boat buy back as being that. But it’s been just a tremendously invigorating campaign for me on the ground in North Canberra. I’ve got nearly 140,000 electors, biggest electorate in Australia, so getting to as many mobile offices, community forums and hitting the phones and door knocking has been wonderfully invigorating.
ALY: But Andrew maybe if you bought all those boats we could relocate them to a naval base in Brisbane.
LEIGH: (Laughs) Three quarters of a million boats in South East Asia, Waleed, I think we’ll need a significant sum of money particularly as they can probably build boats faster than Mr Abbott could buy them.
ALY: I don’t know, that’d be a hell of a Navy, that would be an amazing Navy, that many boats. Oh well we’ll just have to go and think about whether or not this can be bipartisan.
LEIGH: A flotilla rather than an armada?
ALY: Arthur, Andrew, it’s been one of the genuine highlights for me in this election campaign having the chance to speak to you, I hope we get an opportunity to do it again. Thank you so much for your time and I’ll let you get back to campaigning.
LEIGH: Thanks Waleed.
SINODINOS: Thanks Andrew, thanks Waleed.
ALY: Arthur Sinodinos, perhaps threatened NSW Senator. Pauline Hanson may be in the frame to take his seat, but perhaps not, he’ll be Finance Minister if the Coalition wins, and Andrew Leigh, who’s the Member for Fraser in the Lower House for the Labour Party.
ENDS
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Find the full transcript below.
ABC RADIO NATIONAL DRIVE INTERVIEW
MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013
_____________________________________________________________
Subjects: Senate preferences; campaigning; costings; Tafe and trade centres.
___________________________________________________________
WALEED ALY: I’m joined for the last time before the election campaign, and I say that with a tinge of sadness, although we might get them together after the campaign’s all over. Dr Andrew Leigh, the Member for Fraser, previously Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, or then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and Arthur Sinodinos, Parliamentary Secretary to the Opposition Leader, former Chief of Staff to John Howard and according to some reports, as well as prospective Finance Minister, an endangered Senator. Gentlemen welcome and Arthur, you must be concerned!
ARTHUR SINODINOS: An endangered species indeed, well I should be protected under the EPBC Act.
ALY: Well, it’s not likely to happen that way because, now this is the story, some reports have emerged that because of the proliferation of the micro parties and the strange preference flows that pertain in the Senate and proliferation of people who have voted above the line rather than below it, you are in danger. Not much I think we can say, but some danger of being knocked off of that Senate seat in NSW by Pauline Hanson, are you worried?
SINODINOS: Oh look, as long as we maximise the Coalition vote in NSW it should be fine and people put the 1 above the line and preferences flow accordingly it will be fine. It’s a statistical possibility what you mentioned, but I mean my best bet is to maximise Liberal votes for NSW for that very reason.
ALY: Well no that’s certainly true but are you worried about it? I wouldn’t have thought that this would start turning up in reporting from people who’ve crunched the numbers unless it was a realistic possibility.
SINODINOS: Look, it’s a mathematical possibility but I believe our vote in NSW is going to be pretty strong and I’m going to spend the next few days, as Kevin has advised, doing my best to up the vote.
ALY: Good to hear you’re taking advice from Kevin Rudd on campaigning, that’s wonderful, we need unity in politics. Why are you…
ANDREW LEIGH: …and Waleed, just to break in briefly to say how pleased I am that no Labor votes will go to seeing Ms Hanson get elected ahead of Arthur Sinodinos.
ALY: Ah yes.
SINODINOS: (Laughs) thanks.
LEIGH: We’re definitely preferring him over her.
ALY: That’s wonderful. It’s almost schmaltzy. Hey Arthur, why would you be third on the Liberal Party’s Senate ticket? I cannot understand that.
SINODINOS: Oh well, I took over from Helen Coonan, I’m the junior Senator and seniority dictates the line up on the Senate Ticket and I was quite happy with that and it aligns my interests with the party’s interests, which is to maximise the vote.
ALY: Well, hang on, but you’re the prospective Finance Minister
SINODINOS: Well look, what happens after the election is a matter for Tony. Let’s get there and we can worry about all that afterwards.
ALY: Andrew, if Arthur were to lose his seat, would you be happy to be paired with Pauline Hanson in debates in future?
LEIGH: That’s a truly terrifying prospect I think Waleed, but look, the real pity is that the Coalition doesn’t have Arthur as Finance Spokesperson right now. I mean that then would’ve had them I’m sure in a position where months ago they’d brought out all of their costings and where we’re now talking about two properly costed visions of the future rather than this sort of spectacle where Mr Hockey seems to be saying to, the argument Mr Robb’s seems to be saying to people ‘well look, we’d like to sell you this used car but you can’t take it for a test drive and you can’t look under the bonnet because you know, well just trust us that the coat of paint on the outside is tip top and it’ll drive just fine’.
ALY: Alright, I’ll get to a response from Arthur in a moment, but Andrew Leigh, I’m not sure that your costings are out there really are they?
LEIGH: Policy by policy they are, Waleed.
ALY: Yeah but you want them in the one place where you can actually examine them, that’s the point.
LEIGH: Well, this is an important point because it’s one of the subtleties which I think has been lost in the hurly burly of the costings debate. In all previous elections, as Oppositions have brought out policies, they’ve shown on each occasion how they’re going to pay for them. The Coalitions’ departed from that strategy this time around. You even see the difference on the same policies. So you look at Paid Parental Leave that they released in 2010 and the one they’ve released now. In 2010 it was accompanied by a table of costings and savings, this time it’s not. We’ve shown very clearly how we’re paying for everything. The Coalition I think are raising the spectre I think of pretty savage austerity being imposed on the economy.
ALY: Well they’re not really. I mean, this is the bone I have to pick with the way the Labor Party has run their campaign, Andrew, and that is that it seems to have been a phantom campaign against things that nobody’s proposing. You had the GST, then you had cuts in health and education, all of which have been completely ruled out. It’s one thing to say the numbers don’t add up, it’s another thing to say oh this stuff is going to happen when actually it’s been flatly rejected.
LEIGH: But Waleed, I disagree with you there. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that the Coalition’s policies are in many cases unfunded. So it’s fine if Mr Abbott wants to spend $22 billion on an unfair Parental Leave Scheme or to give a tax cut to big miners or to give a tax cut to companies, but he can’t make all of those bold claims and not say where the money’s coming from.
ALY: Yeah, that’s fine, but that’s a different thing from you then saying: where’s the money coming from and that there will be certain cuts when they’ve specifically said there won’t be.
LEIGH: Well, I don’t think it’s unfair to speculate Waleed, I mean...
ALY: Oh no, you are, see that’s the point, you are speculating exactly on things they’ve already ruled out.
LEIGH: Certainly what is mathematically true is that the Coalition can’t pay down debt faster, spend more and tax less.
ALY: Arthur, I might get your response on this and you could perhaps work into your answer why it is that you just won’t come out with actual costings, I mean what we saw last week was not even costings it was savings and it was really a pretend document because there was no detail.
SINODINOS: No, no, no I don’t think it was a pretend document. What was put out last week was something like $31.6 billion worth of savings and that will go towards helping to pay for promises and this week you’ll have the full sonata, the full symphony if you like in terms of the spends, the saves and the contribution to the budget bottom line because all the commitments will be out by then. The point Tony Abbott was making on Sunday is there’ve been promises made including some additional promises today on defence for example and veterans and therefore, you know, until all of that is complete you can’t put out the final document.
ALY: Andrew let’s talk about the campaign launch that Kevin Rudd did mysteriously late into the election campaign, yesterday. He’s focused really on specific kinds of jobs, trade type jobs or vocational education. This was the theme. We haven’t really seen much of that before this last week and then when we did his message on TAFEs seemed really strange to me, that if State Governments cut our funding to TAFEs then the Commonwealth is just going to ramp up its funding. Why wouldn’t every State in the country just say alright, fine, you carry the can and we’ll just cut our funding and we won’t be any worse off.
LEIGH: Well Waleed, you’ve raised an important point and this is certainly something that we’ve been talking about in the context of schools, about the importance of ensuring that as the Federal Government invests more in schools through the Better Schools Plan, that State Governments don’t take money out. But we’ve also got a responsibility to make sure that TAFE training continues and you know this issue has a pretty long lineage, we had the former Howard Government investigate trade centres, which ended up not working out. What we’ve done as a Federal Government is to expand trades training in schools and I’ve got a work experience student with me this week who has a trade training centre in his school, St Francis Xavier, and then we’ve also looked to investing in apprenticeships, boosting their completion bonuses and we want to be ready as a back stop for the TAFE system because you’ve got to invest in skills right across the board as a way of building prosperity.
ALY: That’s fine but what Kevin Rudd’s saying is that we’ll pump money into it in 2015, so some time into the future, we’ll pump money into it if the States decide to rip out their money which is an incentive for them just to rip out money.
LEIGH: I don’t think it’s as straight forward as all of that. I think what Mr Rudd is saying is that it’s important that we maintain a strong TAFE system and that we will commit to making sure the trades training is strong. We’ve done that through investment in apprenticeships, through providing larger completion bonuses and providing more to apprentices to get their tools. The Labor story of productivity, which I know is an issue Arthur and I both care about, is that it is centrally underpinned by great education at all those three levels, schools, TAFEs and universities.
ALY: Alright, I’ll get Arthur to respond on the point in a moment, but before I do that, the campaign launch, why so late really? I mean there’s been some positive reviews about it in the press, some but, there seems to be a consensus that it’s too late to make any kind of difference now, why wouldn’t you launch earlier and get some momentum?
LEIGH Yeah I know, in the past that there’s been differences in the timing of the launch, sometimes they’ve been two weeks out, sometimes they’ve been on week out. I don’t think there’s any great science about these things.
ALY: Oh there’s science over everything, come on Andrew.
LEIGH: Haha, I think the only science is you probably don’t want to launch on the same day, I think that’s a loss all round.
ALY: Arthur let’s hear what the Coalition has planned for that sort of skilled manufacture, that skilled work, you know that stuff that TAFEs produce, that kind of labour that hasn’t been the focus really over the last decade while the mining boom’s been in trend. Does the Coalition actually have a focus on that? What’s its policy?
SINODINOS: Can I just begin on this point about the lateness of Labor’s launch. I think that was partly driven by that fact that, you know you maintain, I think, access to entitlements up until the actual launch of your party’s actual campaign, that may have played a role in their thinking. But I think you’re right to say a week out is a bit odd and may not have left Kevin enough time to do the sort of sell job he needs to do. That said, the policy announced around TAFEs and apprenticeships and the like sound like going back to the future in the 1990s. In fact I think Kevin worked on this stuff when he was in Queensland and the National Training Authority was set up, I think it was in 1993, trying to do something similar to what’s been talked about here. What we’ve tried to do with the TAFE system over a number of years is to actually make it more contestable, more market oriented and that’s been the theme of reform under a couple of Governments, including when Julia Gillard was Prime Minister, stemming from her time as Education and Training Minister. I mean what we’ve said on education and training is for example, we want to give loans to apprentices to help them with the expenses of getting through their apprenticeships, right, and that would supplement the other assistance we’ve been giving for employment or have suggested we’re going to give for employment and training. And importantly also taking the burden off employers, including through lower Company Tax and the like so we can actually increase the number of jobs that are potentially available for apprentices.
It was a bit tragic that when Rudd came to power in 2007, he decided to dismantle the technical colleges which we were putting into place, re-badged them and tried to replace them with trade training centres when I think it would’ve been better for the sake of continuity of policy in this area if we just refined and improved on whatever were the deficiencies of the technical college concept and got that sort of fully, if you like, implemented. Because the point John Howard made, which we should all, I think, should always have conscious of, is that not everybody is going to be interested or able to go to university and we have to have adequate alternatives for people and the proper sort of trade training system can help in that regard.
ALY: Sure but those centres need money…
SINODINOS: Sure.
ALY: …and it’s been States that have been ripping that money out, not least of which have been Liberal Party States so Victoria and WA that have been ripping money out. Now you’ve got Kevin Rudd saying that we’ll put that money back if it goes because it’s that important. Will you come out with any sort of commitment on funding? Will you match that?
SINODINOS: Well Susan Ley’s going to have a bit more to say on this in the next day or so…
ALY: I look forward to that…
SINODINOS: …at a conference in I think Brisbane and speaking on all of that.
ALY: Tony Abbott has said that if he wins the election he will repeal the carbon price. He’ll be able to do that because Labor will have to be acquiesce because of the walloping it gets at the polls which means that it wouldn’t dare block the repeal of the Carbon Price. So will Labor, ultimately, if they are in Opposition in the Senate, let that amendment pass given that Tony Abbott would have to be held to have a mandate for that.
LEIGH: I will fight for a carbon price with every fibre of my being
ALY: Even though there’s a clear mandate for the Coalition if they win government?
LEIGH: I don’t believe that the Coalition are as lay down as they are to win.
ALY: Yeah but if they do, this is the only circumstance in which this becomes relevant, if they do it clearly becomes a mandate.
LEIGH: If the Coalition wins, they will have a majority in the Parliament but that doesn’t tell me as a Member elected in, were I fortunate enough to be in that Parliament, which is the hypothetical that you’re giving, I would then be elected by an electorate which feels very strongly about pricing carbon, which respects the science and respects the economics of an ETS as being the lowest cost approach.
ALY: Gentlemen, I’m going to extend this just briefly because I do just want to get your reflections as we wind our way to the end of the campaign, Arthur I’ll start with you. Has this been a good campaign? What are the highs and lows that you’ve seen so far?
SINODINOS: Ah look, I’ll believe it’s a good campaign if we win. That’s the only test of a good campaign. If you’re asking me highs and lows, the highs are when you’re out there actually talking to real people as it were, on the street, and trying to respond to their questions, trying to come up with proper responses, and the thing that always strikes you is how interested people are in what’s going on and the outcome and how well informed they are. The lows of the campaign, is when there’s misinformation about what your party’s going to do and I’ll be fighting that until election day.
ALY: Not the James Diaz controversy earlier on? I’ve had that as a suggestion for a low in the campaign you might have nominated, Arthur.
SINODINOS: Well, I suppose Labor would nominate that as a high in the campaign, I’m not sure.
ALY: (Laughs) and I’ve always wanted to know what a real person is, am I not real, Arthur? Is that what you mean?
SINODINOS: Waleed, you are one of the most real people I’ve ever met. I’m talking about those I meet in the flesh.
ALY: Alright, OK, nicely handled, still offended. Andrew? Your highs and lows?
LEIGH: Well I think Arthur put it nicely there in terms of the importance of the ideas that you wrote something a while back, Waleed, where you talked about poisonous politics being the politics of teams, not the politics of ideas. And I really enjoy the conversation on the street, the couple that came up to me and said: “so tell me why Labor’s going to be the best choice for my three year old daughter”, or the woman I spoke to yesterday from Florey in my electorate who’s a part time public servant who’s worried not just about the quality of our public services, but also about her future employment. If you were going to nominate a low, I think I’d go with the politifact wisdom and nominate the boat buy back as being that. But it’s been just a tremendously invigorating campaign for me on the ground in North Canberra. I’ve got nearly 140,000 electors, biggest electorate in Australia, so getting to as many mobile offices, community forums and hitting the phones and door knocking has been wonderfully invigorating.
ALY: But Andrew maybe if you bought all those boats we could relocate them to a naval base in Brisbane.
LEIGH: (Laughs) Three quarters of a million boats in South East Asia, Waleed, I think we’ll need a significant sum of money particularly as they can probably build boats faster than Mr Abbott could buy them.
ALY: I don’t know, that’d be a hell of a Navy, that would be an amazing Navy, that many boats. Oh well we’ll just have to go and think about whether or not this can be bipartisan.
LEIGH: A flotilla rather than an armada?
ALY: Arthur, Andrew, it’s been one of the genuine highlights for me in this election campaign having the chance to speak to you, I hope we get an opportunity to do it again. Thank you so much for your time and I’ll let you get back to campaigning.
LEIGH: Thanks Waleed.
SINODINOS: Thanks Andrew, thanks Waleed.
ALY: Arthur Sinodinos, perhaps threatened NSW Senator. Pauline Hanson may be in the frame to take his seat, but perhaps not, he’ll be Finance Minister if the Coalition wins, and Andrew Leigh, who’s the Member for Fraser in the Lower House for the Labour Party.
ENDS
Polling Places for Fraser
Below is a list of the polling places in the Fraser electorate, courtesy of the AEC website (which has volumes of useful information, if only you know where to find it).
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| Opening times | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AINSLIE |
Ainslie Pre-school Baker Gdns |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| AINSLIE |
North Ainslie Primary School Sherbrooke St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| AMAROO |
Amaroo School Katherine Ave |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| ARANDA |
Aranda Primary School Banambila St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| BELCONNEN |
Lake Ginninderra College Emu Bank |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| BONNER |
Neville Bonner Primary School Mabo Blvd |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| BRADDON |
Ainslie School Donaldson St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| BRUCE |
Calvary Hospital Haydon Dr |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| CAMPBELL |
Campbell Primary School Chauvel St |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| CANBERRA CITY |
Pilgrim House 69 Northbourne Ave |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| CHARNWOOD |
St Thomas Aquinas Primary School Lhotsky St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| DICKSON |
Daramalan College Cowper St |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| DOWNER |
Downer Community Centre Frencham Pl |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| EVATT |
Evatt Primary School Heydon Cres |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| EVATT |
Miles Franklin Primary School Alderman St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| FLOREY |
St Francis Xavier College Barnard Crct |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| FORDE |
Burgmann Anglican School Forde Francis Forde Blvd, |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| FRASER |
Fraser Primary School Tillyard Drive |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| GIRALANG |
Giralang Primary School Canopus Cres |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| GUNGAHLIN |
Burgmann Anglican School The Valley Ave |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| HALL |
Hall Pavillion Gladstone St |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| HARRISON |
Harrison School Wimmera St |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| HOLT |
Kingsford Smith School Starke St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| JERVIS BAY |
Assembly Hall Dykes Ave |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| KALEEN |
Kaleen Primary School Ashburton St |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| KALEEN |
Maribyrnong Primary School Alberga St |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| LATHAM |
Latham Primary School O'Loghlen St |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| LYNEHAM |
Lyneham Primary School Hall St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| MACGREGOR |
Macgregor Primary School Hirschfeld Cres |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| MACQUARIE |
Macquarie Primary School Bennelong Cres |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| MELBA |
Mt Rogers Primary School Alfred Hill Dr |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| NGUNNAWAL |
Ngunnawal Neighbourhood Centre Yarrawonga Street |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| NGUNNAWAL |
Ngunnawal Primary School Unaipon Ave |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| NICHOLLS |
Nicholls Joint Facility Kelleway Ave |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| O'CONNOR |
St Joseph's Primary School 62 Boronia Dr |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| PAGE |
St Matthew's School Stutchbury St |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| PALMERSTON |
Palmerston Primary School Kosciuszko Ave |
8am - 6pm | Yes |
| PARKES |
Old Parliament House 18 King George Tce |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| REID |
Reid Preschool Dirrawan Gdns |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| SCULLIN |
Salvation Army Hall Cnr Ross Smith Cres & McIntosh St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| TURNER |
Turner School Condamine St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| WATSON |
Majura Primary School Irvine St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| WEETANGERA |
Weetangera Primary School Southwell St |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
| WRECK BAY |
Community Office Wreck Bay Rd |
8am - 6pm | Assisted access |
ABC666 with Ross Solly - 2 September 2013
I joined ABC666's outside broadcast from Urban Roast cafe in Belconnen at 7.10am this morning, and spoke with Ross Solly about the campaign trail, the risks Coalition cuts pose to public and private sector jobs in Canberra, and what the parties' policies say about their core values. Here's a podcast.
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