PRIME MINISTER  EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY  ELECTION CAMPAIGN POLICY LAUNCH SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE - 23 JUNE 1987  Fellow Australians,  Never in peace-time has Australia's future depended so much on a single decision - your decision on the llth of July.  Never have you, the Australian people, been called upon to make a more fundamental decision for yourselves, your families - your children - about the way you want your country to go - about what kind of a country you want Australia to be.  It is a decision about what kind of a people we are.  It is a decision about what kind of a nation we are going to be.  Are we to continue to unite together in the great task of national renewal, reconstruction and revitalisation, for which we have been working so hard together, and on which the success of our country depends?  Are we to go forward with strength and stability - stability in government, stability in our society?  Or are we to take the other course, the path of our opponents - inflicting upon the nation itself all their own divisions, all their own disunity, all their own instability?  On behalf of the Australian Labor Party I ask for a resounding decision, a decision that will show the world just what kind of a people we are  - a strong, united, stable, confident, forward-looking people  - responding to the leadership of a strong, united, stable, confident, forward-looking government.  We come before you as one, united team.  We come before you with one pledge - that as one, united team, we will continue and intensify our undivided efforts in the task of national renewal and revitalisation of our economy, our industry, our society.  Fellow Australians,  This election is about our faith in Australia's future. It is about our faith in ourselves.  And it is about our belief and faith - my faith, our government's faith in the character and calibre of the Australian people. And it is a belief and faith based firmly upon experience.  Four and a half years ago I pledged a Labor government to seek national reconciliation instead of confrontation and division - to create 500,000 new jobs in three years.  Our opponents said it couldn't be done. That was their judgement about the Australian people.  But together we did much better. We easily exceeded our 'o target.  In four years, we have created 800,000 new jobs - and in the past six months alone - 100,000 new jobs.  Two and a half years ago we called for a continuation of the economic restraint so necessary for the reconstruction of our economy and industry, which is the key to our future.  Our opponents mocked the concept of co-operation and restraint. They wanted - as they still want - a return to confrontation in industry. That was their judgement on the working men and women of Australia and the business community of Australia.  But, building on the basis of restraint and responsibility, we have saved the steel industry, transformed the motor vehicle industry, set about the reconstruction of Australia's entire manufacturing and services base.  Exactly one year ago I put to the people of Australia the greatest challenge of all. ^  I told you of the disastrous drop in the prices of our exports ~ a collapse in world trade that has now cost every Australian family $2,000.  I said then that this meant a year of the toughest decisions imposed in peace-time.  Our opponents said that the Australian people would never cop it.  They said the Australian people would never understand why the loss of $9 billion in our national income meant that we all had to adjust - that it was not just for the farmers and the other exporters to carry the loss - we all had to shoulder the burden.  We said we would not shirk the hard decisions needed to ensure a bright future for us in this generation and for our children in theirs.  I told you I would rather risk electoral defeat than take the soft options that would mean we mortgage our great future.  And it is because we backed our judgement of the Australian people - took the tough decisions, made the hard choices -that we can now stand before you, confident and proud of what we have achieved together, but more important, confident and proud of the great things we can achieve together, for our families, our children, for our country, in the years ahead.  Yet our opponents', who are incapable- of governing themselves, now seek to govern Australia on a grab-bag of contradictory proposals drummed up on the run - proposals which could only have one result: They would wreck utterly the efforts we, the Australian people, have made together over the last four years and in particular over the past year.  They have not only got their sums wrong.  They have got Australians wrong.  Friends,  The real danger from our political opponents is this:  All that has been achieved by your restraint and responsibility would be wasted. The benefits you have foregone and the sacrifices you have been called upon to make would have been in vain. ;  It is only because we have made the tough decisions, and put them in place in the last Budget, the May Statement, and two successive Premiers' Conferences, that we can now give these undertakings:  Interest rates are again falling and under Labor will continue to fall.  Inflation is again falling and under Labor will continue to fall.  Employment is growing - at twice the rate of the rest of the Western world - under a government which has created 800,000 new jobs in four years; and under Labor, employment will continue to grow.  In the completed Budget in September there will be no new taxes and no tax increases.  But we shall never jeopardise Australia's future by irresponsible promises.  We make our future undertakings on the firm basis of the c achievable, the credible, the responsible.  And let me emphasise: 0  Everything in our program is affordable, achievable and economically responsible.  This Labor Government has achieved the most significant C reform of the taxation system since Federation.  And the fundamental reason why our our opponents could never achieve any tax reform in all their years in office is that they never had the courage to act against tax avoidance. And they let it become Australia's biggest growth industry -and that's the description given by their own Royal Commissioner.  We have smashed the tax avoidance industry.  We have cut out wasteful privileges and windfalls for the few.  That is why we are able further to reduce income tax. Following the first round of tax cuts in December, new tax scales will operate from 1 July, 1987. They will bring the top marginal rate down from the Liberal legacy of 60 per cent to 49 per cent.  And the rate for taxpayers on average earnings will have been brought down from 46 per cent to 40 per cent.  And it is because of our tax reforms that we are able to undertake that the September Budget will continue the full indexation of pensions.  This is what a Labor Government means for the next three years: genuine reductions in taxation, lower inflation, lower interest rates, higher pensions, more jobs.  Yet our opponents invite you to throw all this away, for a tax bribe nobody believes in - least of all, its discredited authors - and something which, if ever seriously attempted, would destroy the economy and rip apart the social fabric -the basis of the Australian ideal of a fair go for all.  They invite you to turn your backs on the meaning of everything we have been able to achieve together over the past four years. .  They invite you to turn your backs on the real meaning of Australia's future -  a future founded on the great ideals of fairness and justice in our society - a fair go for all.  Indeed, my friends, it is almost impossible to judge which is the more dangerous  - their economic vandalism,  - or the wholesale vandalism they propose against the social framework of this nation.  They have long been the parties of social division. Now they stand as the parties of social devastation.  The whole basis of our call to the Australian people at the election in 1983 and again in 1984 was an appeal to this great truth about the Australian community - the truth that the legitimate aspirations of the diverse groups and interests which go to make up the nation can best be achieved, not by fighting each other, not by setting group against group, Australians against Australians, but by working together, recognising and respecting each other's rights, fair expectations .and fair hopes and aspirations.  That was the basis on which we sought a mandate and that was the basis on which the mandate has been twice given.  And it is on that basis - the people's response - the recognition of this great truth about Australia - that we have been able to fight back together against the huge difficulties imposed upon us by events abroad.  The toughness with fairness we have applied to the affairs of this nation and the response of the Australian people now enable us to set new goals - realistic, responsible achievable goals for Australia's future.  We seek to create an Australia where there are no second class citizens.  And we will achieve that only by refusing to accept - as a Government, as a society, as a people - second rate policies.  In this highly competitive world we cannot settle for the second rate in industry, in technology, in education.  *  We must continue - now as a matter of urgency - the work of modernising and revitalising our economy and industry, so that we can compete with the world - on the world's terms.  That is the only way we can restore and improve living standards for all.  The greatest resource in Australia is not something that we can grow or dig up from the soil. It is the capacity of its people, our great human resource. And above all - the resource of the future - the children of Australia.  For our next term, we are setting achievable new, goals for Australia's future in the world.  And at the head of those goals is the future of all our children.  So we set ourselves this first goal:  By 1990 no Australian child will be living in poverty.  And to this end, my Government will establish a new program of family help - a program designed to lift more than 1 million Australian children into security and to help the more than half a million Australian families in greatest need, the hardest pushed, the most disadvantaged.  Labor's new Family Allowance Supplement will be paid, to mothers, on the basis of family income and family size.  The Family Allowance Supplement will total $22 per child per week - with an extra $6 a week for children aged between 13 and 15.  Where those families are in privately rented accommodation, they will also be eligible for rent assistance of $15 a week.  The Government will further recognise the special costs faced by families with children who are disabled. They will receive a Child Disability Allowance of $112 a month, free of, means testing.  This government sets the welfare of the Australian family as its top priority.  But for us, the family is not about statistics and abstract averages. It is about real people and real needs.  Friends, it is just impossible, with any credibility, to proclaim concern for families and then proceed to smash every part of the social infrastructure that determines the welfare of Australian families. Yet that is the measure of our opponents' hypocrisy.  For us, the family means jobs. It means bringing inflation down. It means housing. It means bringing interest rates down. It means child care. It means education. It means health care that every Australian family can afford.  We will continue to put the health of Australian families first. With the introduction of the Medicare program, Australia now has, for the first time, a fair, affordable and stable health insurance system covering all Australians.  We will continue the work of improving Medicare, as a system of universal health insurance, and even more important, the fairest means of delivering the best achievable health care ±>oU to all Australians.  Our opponents propose a return to the pattern of their years in Government, with five separate confused and confusing schemes in seven years. They propose to consign more than two million Australians to a life-time of insecurity in the face of ill-health.  They propose to tear Medicare apart. c You pay more - you get less. That's what they are about.  I ask for your renewed mandate for Medicare. There is no more vital issue for the families of Australia.  We have boosted the purchasing power of the pension by eight per cent since coming to office - compared with a two and a half per cent decline during the Fraser/Howard years.  The next Labor government will take two further initiatives which ensure that temporary changes in circumstances will not lead to a loss of entitlement to fringe benefits or the pension. The details of the measures are set out in the comprehensive Policy Statement I have issued today.  We have improved greatly the availability and quality of care for the aged and disabled at home. We are shifting the emphasis away from unnecessarily putting the aged in nursing homes and towards home and community care. And that's the preference our senior citizens themselves have expressed.  But I repeat - for us of-the Australian Labor Party, our commitment to the families of Australia rests on our concern for their jobs, their housing, and the education of the children of Australia.  And we mean education for life.  So that no Australian child need go through life frustrated and diminished by not having had a chance to develop his or her full talents.  And by making sure that we do that, we will at the same time lay the strongest possible foundations for the challenging task ahead -  . mobilising all the skills and talents of this nation  . harnessing the new technology to lift Australian industry into the 21st century  . making Australia more competitive in this tough and competitive world  . placing Australia foremost in the ranks of the world community.  Our approach to education and industry policy is designed to build upon our strengths to enable us to capture a larger share of the most dynamic areas of world trade.  We are determined to give Australian children their flying start in life.  When we came to office, barely a third of our school children stayed on to Year 12.  We have boosted that proportion to half.  Our goal for 1990 is to have two thirds of our school children staying on to Year 12.  We will maintain the 8-year funding scheme for all schools, which has guaranteed unprecedented stability and security in funding and planning for all schools - government and non-government. ,  But we are now taking major steps to ensure that training and the development of skills does not stop at the school gate.  And I now announce the initiatives foreshadowed in the May Statement.  A new skills training program will be introduced to upgrade the skills of Australia's workforce.  Vocational training opportunities for young people will be expanded through continued support for apprenticeships and the introduction of a new youth training program for 15-20 year olds who have been unemployed for at least six months. The adult training program will be restructured and expanded.  Our ability to provide jobs for our people will depend increasingly on the competitiveness of our industry. This is the most urgent challenge we face.  The wage restraint exercised by the trade union movement coupled with the depreciation of the Australian dollar, has made Australian industry more competitive than in recent memory.  Under the Labor Government, Australian workers will continue to receive wage increases as large and as prompt as Australians economic circumstances can afford. The Liberal/National Parties have opposed any wage rise in 18 of the last 20 National Wage Cases stretching over a decade. Their policy now for Australian families is for a wage ' freeze.  There will be no wage freeze under Labor.  Wage restraint and price restraint 90 hand in hand.  The continuation of our policies will reduce the inflation rate to seven per cent by Christmas and six per cent by the middle of next year.  We will extend the already successful network of Price Watch Committees to every regio in Australia.  We will continue to give the highest priority to housing.  We will continue our First Home Owners' Scheme which has assisted nearly a quarter of a million young Australians to buy their own homes.  One of the few matters on which the warring factions of the Opposition agree is the total abandonment of Commonwealth responsibility for public housing.  And the only consequence which all their conflicting policies have in common is that interest rates would go through the roof - a fact recognised by independent commentators, here and abroad.  And one of the most critical factors in this election is this: the return of our Government and the maintenance of our policies, is essential if interest rates are to continue to fall.  But let's be very clear.  We can make all the right decisions about the economy, the right and responsible decisions about taxation, the right decisions about education, the right decisions for the security of the old, the sick, the underprivileged.  But in the end all that will be in vain if we don't live in a world at peace.  And under my Government, Australia will continue to make the maximum contribution towards ensuring a peaceful world.  And we have done that not by shouting, not by waving banners, not by bandying slogans - but by the hard, undramafcic, grinding work, addressing ourselves to the real issues.  Our alliance relationship with the United States, whose close and constructive nature has been reaffirmed in the / past two days, has given us a position of influence from which to work positively for peace.  As befits two great democracies, this fundamentally close relationship does not depend on absolute uniformity of views. For example, without calling into question the integrity of the United States in developing its concept of space defence, we have made it quite clear that Australia will not participate in the Strategic Defense Initiative.  Our voice on the vital issues of peace is heard and respected in Washington, in Moscow, in Western Europe, in Beijing, in Tokyo and in the great region to which we belong.  The prospects for real progress in disarmament between East and West are better now than for years. We can all take great encouragement and some pride from the likelihood of an agreement between East and West on intermediate nuclear arms before the end of this year  - encouragement, because this will surely provide a stepping stone towards cuts in strategic nuclear weapons,  - pride, because Australia's voice has been at the forefront of those urging the super-powers towards meaningful negotiations.  I was gratified.when the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament said to me in January this year that Australia now played a leading role for the cause of peace and disarmament and that those causes would be better served if other countries followed Australia's example of strong political commitment and technical expertise.  We have taken the initiative to develop the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone. It is a testimony to our determination not to leave the great issues of peace and disarmament to the super-powers but to do what is within our capacity to shape our destiny and to associate ourselves with the aspirations of our South Pacific neighbours.  Under Labor. Australia has been a leader at the United Nations in seeking to outlaw all nuclear testing by all states in all environments for all time through a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Such a Treaty is the first requisite towards ending the nuclear arms race and ultimately ridding the world of nuclear weapons.  Side by side with our unremitting efforts for peace, we have firmly and faithfully discharged the first duty of any Australian Government - the defence of Australia.  We have embarked upon the largest defence capital program in Australia's peace-time history. We have set the course towards a decade of development, towards self-reliance in the defence and security of Australia.  And, for the first time in Australia's history, we are ensuring that the defence of Australia, through our defence-related industries, promotes the industrial and technological base of Australia in peace-time.  And that is an outstanding example of our Governments r fundamental approach - an integrated, comprehensive, ° coherent and consistent approach - with all sections of industry, all departments and levels of government, making the maximum contribution to our national goals.  My friends, Now we are in mid-course - and we are on course.  Let's make absolutely sure that Australia is not blown off course.  Let's see it through. And let me emphasis this:  We of the Labor Government have never believed that sound economic management and the economic growth we have been able to achieve as a result, was the supreme end in itself.  We have never believed that the only values in life - in the life of our nation, in the life of our families- - are the ones with the dollar tag upon them.  The matchless beauty of our land has a value beyond dollars and cents. That's why we stopped the Franklin Dam. That's why we have made mining illegal in Kakadu. It's why we are protecting the special forests in Tasmania. And that's why we will save the Daintree.  The enrichment of the arts and culture and leisure opportunities of our people goes to the very heart of-our future together - our national identity - how we see ourselves, how the world sees us.  Above all, we of the great Australian Labor Party are deeply committed to our vision of a generous and open Australia, a fairer, more just Australia -  - an Australia where true equality of opportunity for all is the reality for all - not just in education, job-training and the development of skills, but in all the opportunities life in this abundant country can offer.  There are people from something like 130 lands in our country ~ all capable of making their contribution to the common good - the future we can all share.  With this rich diversity, we have at the same time a deep underlying unity and stability.  If we make sure that we keep hold of that unity and~-stability, then that is what is going to make Australia a truly great and unique nation.  Fellow Australians:  We stand together on the threshold of the third century of one of the most remarkable experiments in nation-building ever attempted in the course of human history.  No beginning could have been more unpromising.  And sure, we have Australian achievements - splendid achievements - to celebrate.  But we Australians have mistakes to rectify, amends to make and wrongs to put right if Australia is to achieve its full promise of what it can be and should be - simply the best and fairest nation on earth.  So let's use this election as a springboard to the future -towards the promise of the future.  It is a promise of what can be achieved in our time, for this generation and for the generations to come  - By a free, proud, independent, intensely individualistic, uniquely diverse people  - Yet a united people  - A people who want a fair go for themselves and their families  - But just as much, a fair go for all their fellow citizens, for all their fellow Australians  - For their own children, their own families - but for all Australian children, all- Australian families  - For all members of this great Australian family. This is the promise of Australia. This is the Australian vision. This is the reality of the Australian dream.  Together, let us begin a new century of Australian i achievement.  - A new century of opportunity - of even greater equality of opportunity for all.  - To make the best country in the world an even better, fairer Australia.  Australia will win through. Let's see it through -Together.  1987 FEDERAL ELECTION POLICY SPEECH BY IAN SINCLAIR, FEDERAL LEADER, NATIONAL PARTY 0F AUSTRALIA : CESSNOCK TOWN HALL, JUNE 21, 1987  My friends.  This day 200 years ago those hardy and unwilling souls who were to be Australia's first European settlers were braving the tempestuous Atlantic as they pitched and rolled towards the uncertainties and hazards of their new home.  Ashore, the original Australians with their elemental culture faced an even bleaker future.  Today under the Hawke Government we who are their successors can be no more confident of what lies ahead for us.  Like the passengers in a boat on a mighty river our course is set by the helmsmen.  When the weather was fine and the water clear and calm the task was easy. As the water have grown darker and deeper and rougher the vessel's progress has almost stopped. Ahead we can sense the rumbling and the roar of a mighty waterfall.  If we steer on the same economic course, we are headed for disaster.  We cannot just trim our course a degree or two - that will only delay the inevitable.  We roust make a decisive change - and now.  It takes courage to make that change, determination to carry it through, and understanding to know what the course must be.  Our present helmsmen say our economic course has been good enough: stick with it, they argue; and the threat of that ominous precipice will go away.  But the rush of the economic flow, accelerated by the indulgences of the past, is such that decisive change is vital.  This premature July 11 election gives you the chance to make that change.  When you vote, you will be doing much more than giving a political party the right to govern for the next three years.  You will be given the choice to change the future of Australia, and most vitally, that of your family and yourself.  We've had over four years of hard Labor.  And I ask you are you better off today?  What has four years of Labor done?  - It's given us the biggest-taxing Government in peacetime history;  - It's given us the biggest-spending Government in peacetime history;  - It's driven the dollar lower and interest rates higher than they've ever been;  - It's tripled our foreign debt to $105 billion gross or over $80 billion net;  - It's pushed inflation to four times the level of our overseas competitors;  - It's given us new taxes like the capital gains and fringe benefits taxes;  - It's given us a health System which pushes costs out of control and creates massive queues for treatment at our public hospitals;  - It's allowed education standards to slip and opportunities for tertiary education to decline;  - It's cut family living standards by over $31 a week;  - It's pushed bankruptcies particularly among small businesses to new record levels;  - It's pushed farmers off the land and put thousands more on the edge of disaster;  - It's left more than 23% of young people and 8.2% of the total workforce unemployed;  - And it’s let the union bosses virtually control the country as this week's seatbelt dispute affecting the whole motor vehicle industry so clearly demonstrates.  I could go on but it would take all day. Labor's policies have been tried. They have failed.  Lahor has pursued tired old socialist rhetoric perhaps more subtly under Hawke but equally as comprehensively as under Whiblam.  It has allowed a burgeoning bureaucracy to stifle individual initiative. Big government and big unions have flourished. Ordinary Australians have been forgotten.  On July 11, you have a choice  You can follow Labor to economic disaster, to a future of high interest rates, high taxes, high inflation and massive debt, where the Banana Republic prophecies of the Treasurer are confirmed.  You can follow a party that jumps to the strings of its union maskers, scorns the flag and the family, destroys our health System, poisons our education System and refuses to accept its responsibility for national security.  But you have a choice - a real choice.  In the Senate and the House of Representatives on July 11 you will be given a chance to alter the course of this nation and restore hope once more for your family, your friends and yourself.  Your living standards are the issue of this election. To get living standards up again for ordinary Australians, decisive steps must be taken, and now.  We have to get government spending down, the budget deficit down, interest rates down, and taxes down.  THE ECONOHY  To improve living standards net after tax profits and net fake home pay for the individual Australian must increase.  Greater productivity will mean more jobs and greater personal reward. To achieve this we need lower government spending and tax cuts.  The size of the Government's take under Labor has been a real disincentive. Keating's four deficits have left a national shortfall of nearly $27 billion over four budget years.  These deficits, the explosion of Australia's overseas debt, and our uncertain industrial record, have led to the loss of our Triple A credit rating and a real threat to our international competitiveness.  To restore interest rates to continuing comparability to those of our overseas competitors, Government deficits must be cut.  The National Party will seek a balanced budget by 1989/90 and urge State Governments to do the same.  Expenditure cuts will be achieved by the termination of some federal functions, reduction of others and wherever possible the elimination of overlapping responsibilities with the States.  Amendments will be made to the Audit Act to facilitate financial delegation and enhanced awareness of the costs and savings possible by more effective financial management within the public sector.  Further personal and corporate tax reductions should then be pursued so that the maximum rate of tax would be no more than 25 cents in the dollar.  The "bonus for working" concept involving the introduction of a flat 23% tax rate for increases in taxable income from one year to the next should be carefully assessed and if achievable PAYE scales amended accordingly.  Fuel is a major cost item for all Australians. Automatic fuel indexation should be terminated as soon as possible.  For farmers, fishermen and the forestry industries there will be a full rebate of excise on petrol and diesel used off-road.  An exemption of sales tax on lubricants used in these industries will be provided.  For most taxpayers in primary industry the cyclic effect of variable incomes has meant large tax payments and penal provisional tax rates in a year of drought or other financial exigency.  The National Party, therefore, will seek once more the re-introduction of full tax deductibility for Income Equalisation Deposit Bonds, in the year of deposit with tax payable in the year of withdrawal. Interest rates on IEDs will be at lower than market rates.  Australians for too long have been encouraged to be a nation of spenders, not savers.  The National party recognises the worth of achieving greater Personal savings. If a scheme could be developed to allow for all taxpayers a deduction for up to the first $5,000 of interest earned it would increase enormously the domestic funds available for investment in this country.  Were this possible without facilitating tax evasion and within deficit priorities it would have the strong support of the National Party.  THE FAMILY  Over the past four years it is not just the individual but the traditional Australian family that has suffered.  Our tax policy is designed to give significant assistance to single income families with children.  Existing family allowances will be maintained and the dependent spouse rebate kept at $1,000 a year.  We will seek to make child care expenses incurred by working parents treated as a business related expense in the tax System.  Bodies such as the Constitutional Commission, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the Commission for the Future the National Health and Occupational Safety Commission, the Prices Surveillance Authority, the Coal Industry Tribunal, the Advisory Council on Prices and Incomes, the Economic Planning Advisory Council, and the Schools Commission, to name but a few, will go.  Redundant public sector assets will be sold. These funds, however, will be used predominantly to reduce our national debt.  Significant cuts in public spending have now been separately identified by the National Priorities Project, by the Liberal Party and by the Queensland National Party Senate candidate and former Secretary of the Treasury, Mr John Stone.  Some of these proposals are acceptable, others may not be. Even Treasurer Keating with the immense resources of government behind him has been unable to accurately assess the yield from his capital gains and fringe benefits taxes.  I accept, therefore, that with any detailed list of cuts in Opposition, complete precision may prove difficult. Suffice to say after careful examination I am convinced that necessary cuts and tax changes can now be legislated simultaneously in our first budget.  Experience shows that tax reform without simultaneous legislation to implement related expenditure cuts could lead to rejection of the latter and a deficit blow-out.  This, of course, would be totally unacceptable.  Accordingly, as a first step to major tax reform and in light of the consideration given to National Party concerns in the tax policy of the Leader of the Liberal Party, Mr John Howard, the National Party will support his program, both for expenditure savings and immediate tax reform.  Above all the capital gains tax and the fringe benefits tax introduced by Hr Keating will go in legislation introduced in the first session of the new Parliament.  Labor's negative gearing measures will be repealed.  Bona fide entertainment expenses met in the course of doing business again will be tax deductible.  However, the Party does not see this as the end of tax reform nor of expenditure cuts.  Labor's lump sum superannuation tax scales will be modified to be taxed at 25%.  We will seek further changes in due course. The corporate rate must be reduced to the maximum personal rate.  The Family Law Act will be changed to ensure that parents meet their maintenance payments and to take into greater account the needs of children.  Our Government will work with the States to introduce laws to give the police and the courts power to deal with offensive anti-family or anti-social behaviour.  The party will seek a national inquiry into all forms of child abuse. Children are our future and they must be protected.  AIDS AND DRUGS  The money currently spent on sensationalised advertising campaigns on AIDS and drugs will be diverted to work on cures and real assistance to sufferers.  The emphasis in our drugs campaign will be on penalising drug pushers and helping drug users to kick the habit.  EDUCATION  We will commence a nationwide "basic skills" program for children to lift minimum levels of reading, writing and arithmetic.  Technical education at school and at TAFE colleges is essential to developing the work skills necessary for personal satisfaction and job generation.  The Nationals will place particular emphasis in working with the States to encourage opportunities for young people in these fields and to ease the present restraints imposed by the existing apprenticeship scheme.  The number and value of AUSTUDY scholarships will be maintained to ensure access to tertiary education on ability but without penalising the financially disadvantaged.  Post-graduate scholarships, particularly at a doctorate level, have declined in relative value in recent years. In conjunction with private enterprise initiatives will be taken to maintain adequate opportunities for students to qualify for senior degrees so that basic and applied research and innovative design and conceptual thinking may be enhanced.    EHPLOYMENT   The Commonweatth Employment Service is administratively top-heavy and too often it has failed in its task to match employer demands with employment needs.  The CES, together with the Community Youth Support Scheme, will be overhauled and where possible responsibilities transferred to the private sector. Encouragement will be given to occupational training to better prepare the unemployed for jobs.  We have to he imaginative enough in our planning and brave enough in our commitment to diversity in education to give young Australians a real chance to gain skills and get jobs.  SOCIAL SERVICES  Work for the community or approved job training will be required for those receiving unemployment benefits.  The work test will be strengthened.  Unemployment benefits will no longer be paid to under 18 year olds although in cases of financial need a special benefit will be maintained.  For those leaving non-seasonal jobs voluntarily a 26 week qualification period will be required.  Entitlement for supporting parents benefit will be revised. Payment will be restricted to those with children up to the age of 16 unable to support themselves and their children nor obtain support from the other parent. Those who apply for the benefit must prove they have tried to obtain maintenance. Maintenance dodgers will be pursued through a maintenance collection agency.  The administration of the Social Services Department will be tightened to minimise social welfare fraud.  THE ELDERLY  Labor's Assets Test has been yet another anti-family measure for so many in small business and in the rural sector.  The transfer of ownership for family enterprises between generations inevitably leaves sortie assets in parents' hands.  In today's adverse circumstances those assets are earning insufficient income to sustain even a reasonable standard of living, yet the Assets Test denies the owners access to any pension.  The Assets Test will go.  The National Party will also work for the extension of present earnings permissible while maintaining the right to a full pension.    HEALTH   Medicare is a shambles.  It has meant high costs and impossible public hospital queues.  Australians deserve better.  Pensioners, the disadvantaged, and the chronically ill will pay nothing as at present.  All Australians again will have the right to choose their own insurance arrangements.  Basic health care will be available from a nominated private health fund. The cost will be covered by your Medicare levy.  Those Australians who can afford to will pay the first $250 of their hospital and medical costs in any one year. Voluntary health funds may offer additional insurance to cover this payment, the additional 15% you are required to pay for medical expenses under the existing Medicare plan and the cost of private hospital and other health care.  A special program will be introduced to give immediate access to private hospitals for existing complaints for those thousands of Australians who are unable under Labor's Medicare to gain access to public hospitals for elective surgery.  That 100,000 Australians today are denied access for such operations in the public hospital System is itself an indictment of the Labor Government. That a delay of two years is not uncommon compounds the offence.  We will negotiate with the States to relieve the acute shortage of nurses by allowing the registration of nurses following in-hospital training, as in the past, as well as through the recently introduced tertiary courses.  INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS  Under Labor Australia has been living through an industrial nightmare.  The wages accord was a disaster. The superannuation loading was a con.  A few weeks ago Labor did another deal with the unions and introduced yet more industrial legislation into the Parliament.  Had they proceeded with it, unions would have been put even further above the law. If there were to be another Hawke Government, that unwanted legislation can be expected to return.  The National Party believes in responsible unionism. But more than that, we believe that workers are more important than union bosses. If workers want to opt out of a union they will be allowed to.  If a business and its employees want to enter into a voluntary agreement on the terms and conditions of employment and register these with award status they will be allowed to.  Those agreements could cover penalty rates and the hours to be worked before overtime or penalty rates are incurred. Importantly, union bosses will be subject to the same reporting and financial obligations as directors of public companies.  Income other than union fees of all industrial organisations will be subject to tax.  INDUSTRY  Our economic and social policies are designed to encourage the individual and foster opportunities for employment and economic growth.  These cannot succeed unless Australian industry is once more allowed to function in an environment as free as possible from government regulation and control.  Under the Nationals Labor's anti-business taxes will go. Under the Nationals Government regulations will be reduced.  Under the Nationals investment will be encouraged in an environment where inflation and interest rates will go down.  SHALL BUSINESS  Industrial relations changes will enhance job prospects in small business.  The National Party will ensure the Government meets its trading debts within 30 days. Greater contracting out to the private sector will be required.  Small businesses will gain access to Australia's postal services through new Post Office franchises similar to those now applicable to newsagents.  A special industrial advocate will be briefed as required to represent small business before the Arbitration Commission and to help in court cases involving the secondary boycott provisions of the Trade Practices Act.  PRIMARY INDUSTRY  Separately my colleague, the Deputy Leader of the National Party, Ralph Hunt, has issued a full and detailed policy statement outlining the party's intentions to revive the family farm and restore the viability of our major rural commodities. However, no policy speech of the National Party would be complete without particular reference to our concern that Government constraints such as export inspection charges will be lifted.  Water and soil conservation too are major concerns.  Labor terminated our Bicentennial Water Resources Program.  Now assistance will be given not only for on-farm conservation but to the States to help provide water for regional city and town supplies.  Subject to discussion with the Queensland Government, a special grant will be made to complete the pipeline from the Burdekin Dam to the City of Townsville.  Greening Australia, a major non-Government program to increase tree stocks, has our full support.  We will negotiate with the States for more effective assistance for natural disaster relief, provide dollar for dollar Commonwealth assistance for the duration of drought and extend drought assistance to small business in drought declared areas where those businesses depend on farm businesses.  MINING AND RESOURCES  Another great export industry that has suffered under Labor has been the mining industry.  Commonwealth mineral export controls will go. So too will the coal export levy.  Resource Rent tax will be abolished as will any coal marketing authority.  Coal industry workers will be made subject to the same laws of conciliation and arbitration as other workers within our Industrial Relations policy.  We will progressively deregulate the Australian oil industry to give incentive for exploration. Australian crude oil will be sold at word prices and we will move towards a free market for oil sales. Transitional arrangements will be made to ensure a market for small producers.  Labor's policy on uranium has made Australia the laughing stock of the world.  There is so-called "good" uranium from South Australia which we can export but "bad" uranium in the Northern Territory which we cannot.  Nuclear energy is year by year more vital to meet the world's electricity requirements. Australia has a responsibility to ensure its resources are used safely and wisely to meet that demand.  We will resume development of the Australian uranium industry under guidelines that maintain our stringent safeguard requirements and nuclear non-proliferation arrangements.  FOREIGN AFFAIRS  Recent events in Fiji and Vanuatu and differences between the United States and Australia at this weekend's ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in Singapore reflect the changing strategic situation in our region and the progressive estrangement of the Hawke Government from the United States.  The National Party will co-operate with the United States to protect our joint interests in the Pacific and pursue to the maximum diplomatic efforts to restore New Zealand's participation in ANZUS.  We will re-establish close tics with Papua New Guinea and play a positive role as an active member of the regional community.  We will support multi-lateral disarmament and play a responsible role within the Western Alliance.  Present international trade disputes, particularly those affecting agricultural commodities, are of great concern and positive efforts will be made to lift tariff and non-tariff barriers to our exports.  The National Party rejects apartheid. However, we oppose economic sanctions against South Africa and would seek the restoration of air links between our two countries.  We will terminate Government support for the African National Congress and other terrorist organisations and prohibit any group supporting or involved in terrorism from establishing an official presence in Australia.  DEPENCE  Increasing Soviet military strength in the Pacific, coupled with Soviet attempts at economic penetration and the adventurism of Libya, pose a serious threat to the continuation of a regional stability which had been almost taken for granted.  In these circumstances a well-trained and well-armed Australian Defence Force IS essential.  The disastrous reduction in defence personnel under Labor must be halted.  We will give to the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal a comprehensive reference to ensure comparability of Service pay and conditions to those in the public service and the private sector.  Defence housing will be improved through a special vote from the defence budget.  Administrative regulations will be changed to allow financial delegation to Base Commanders to' permit the transfer of funds between divisions of expenditure and a carry-over of up to 20% of funds from one financial year to another.  Permissible training days and personnel ceilings for the Reserves will be lifted.  School cadets for young men and women will be re-established.  TRANSPORT  In a sparsely populated and vast continent like Australia transport remains a priority for government.  The National Party seeks the allocation of six cents a litre of fuel excise to upgrade the nation's roads. The two cents a litre bicentennial levy will be maintained until 1990.  We will amend the Australian Flag Act to enable foreign vessels to compete in the Australian coastal shipping trade, across the Tasman and in the supply of rock phosphate to Australia.  We will terminate the Two Airlines Agreement.  Australian Airlines and QANTAS will be reconstituted into public companies and a percentage of shares offered to employees and the public.  We will provide a parallel north-south runway at Sydney's Kingsford Smith airport.  COMMUNICATIONS  Telecom will maintain its responsibility for the telephone network. Progressively, line construction and maintenance, the wiring of premises and value added services will be transferred to licensed teletricians in the private sector.  We will ensure the continuation of the rural and remote area telephone program, and give all Australians access to untimed local phone calls.  Australia Post's monopoly on standard letter carriage will be retained, but we will encourage more flexible administrative arrangements to maximise services in rural and remote areas.  The politicisation of the ABC has generated concern as to its ability to function in its traditional way. Its directorate and management will be replaced to re-establish its independence and its structure reviewed to reduce the inefficiencies of its administrative hierarchy.  ARTS  Australian creativity in music, theatre and the arts is particularly significant at this time of increased awareness of our cultural diversity and abundant natural talent.  In changes affecting the operation of the Australia Council, recognition will be given to the need to encourage Australian artists, authors and composers as well as our musicians and performers.  In conjunction with the States, efforts will be made to ensure music, arts and the theatre are available through regional centres.  NORTHERN TERRITORY  The National Party believes that Aboriginal land rights is a matter for the States and rejects uniform federal land rights legislation.  Responsibility for Aboriginal land and national parks in the Territory will be transferred to the Territory Government.  Full powers of self-government will be granted to the Territory as soon as possible.  SUHHARY  Today I have covered the major policies the National Party is offering in the election on 11 July.  Details of all our policies are set out in a policy summary also being released today.  Over the last few months divisions among those who share our beliefs in the urgent need for a new national direction for Australia have gained a lot of media attention.  That these differences have been public rather than private does not affect the essential strength of the National Party around Australia.  The Party has always been a loose federation of strong State organisations.  However, the majority of these Senators and Members elected on July 11 alone will determine our Parliamentary attitude in government.  To do otherwise opens the path to corruption, abuse, and ultimately, tyranny.  Much too was made of the split in the Coalition but already, John Howard and I have had preliminary discussions about the formation of the next Liberal and National Party Government.  The National Party approaches the election with a firm commitment to form once more a strong united and effective conservative partnership.  Since 1950 the National and Liberal parties consistently have worked together as separate parties but in coalition in government.  Our parties led this nation through its greatest age of prosperity - then rebuilt it after the disaster of the Whitlam years brought it almost to its knees.  We are ready now to rebuild it again.  The policies of the Labor Party are the policies of the pasfc.  They have failed.  The National Party gives you a real choice on 11 July.  You owe it to your family, your children and Australia to think of the future when you vote.  Think of Australia, think of how much better off you should be and then vote for the Nationals. Policy Launch by the Prime Minister, Bob Hawke  8 March 1990.  My Friends, Fellow Australians  The message I bring to you today is a message of confidence in the future of Australia, and a renewed commitment to a better, fairer future for all Australians.  It is a message based firmly on realism.  - The realism and substance of our policies for the future.  - The fact that the tough and hard decisions we have had to make for the good of Australia are starting to work.  - The fact that we are building together a nation of opportunity, fairness and security.  - And above all, on the strength of the Australian people.  My Friends,  I know that we have had to take hard and unpopular decisions for difficult times. I know - I understand completely - that those decisions have been tough for many decent, hard working Australians. But I also know that I would not be fit to lead our great country if I had chosen the easy, popular way at the cost of the nation's future. And anyone - however glib or smooth - who tells the people of Australia that the future lies at the end of an easy road is not fit to be your Prime Minister. This is not a time for slogans or hollow rhetoric. It is a time for leadership. It is a time for substance. It is a time for realistic policies. It is a time for real answers. It is a time for vision with realism. And now more than ever, it is a time for stability and unity in government. And by those tests, the people of Australia have never had a clearer choice. And in a very deep sense, the choice lies between two opposing principles - the choice between opportunity and privilege. This, in the final analysis, is the great divide between Labor and the Liberal/National Coalition - a profound difference over goals for the nation, and over a range of specific issues: taxation, education, training, industrial relations, health care, child care, superannuation. On all these vital issues, you have the decisive difference - Labor working to enlarge equality of opportunity for all; a Liberal/National coalition working to deny opportunity and entrench privilege.  My Friends,  Labor presents a comprehensive, realistic, responsible and achievable plan for Australia’s future:  - a plan for continued growth and rising productivity.  - a plan to increase the nation's savings and reduce the nation's debt.  - a strategy to boost exports and replace imports.  - a strategy to free up international trade and to tie Australia into the economic boom in Asia and the Pacific.  - a framework of education and science policies to prepare our young people for the challenges of the 21st century.  - an agenda for a fair society with opportunity open to all Australians wherever they were born, whatever their background.  - a commitment to the right of all Australians to health :are through Medicare.  - a plan to protect Australia's precious environment for all time, for all Australians.  Our plan represents an historic step towards great national goals:  - a modern, growing economy, earning its income, paying its way through exports to the markets of the world, re-equipped and restructured in its attitudes, its institutions and its technology.  - a self confident and vigorous partner in the world economy and in the economy of our region - the region of the future.  Let me emphasise:  The new proposals I present today are achievable, responsible, fully paid for. By contrast, our opponents, at last count, had a credibility gap of $6000 million in unfunded promises. Our new proposals build on our years of hard work together - our work together to create one million six hundred thousand new jobs to take 250000 people off the dole. The task of managing the Australian economy in these times .of strong growth has, of course, called for rigorous `policies - and sometimes tough decisions. And let me say frankly to all my fellow Australians: there was no decision tougher for us than to have interest rates that hurt home buyers and squeezed business. None of us has enjoyed that. But our task was to get the right economic climate, so that the falls, when they came, could be sustained. Because we've followed the right policies, interest rates are going down. And that's the verdict of the banks which set them.  My Friends,  Now is the time for further measures to reform our economy and to improve your living standards. The first element in our plan is the wage/tax and superannuation package we are presenting for your endorsement on 24 March. It is a package which will deliver to the average wage and salary earner the equivalent of an extra $50 a week in wage rises and tax cuts, in four stages over the next 16 months. It is a package which meets fully the tests of economic responsibility, fairness and foresight. It is a package which the country can afford. It is a package which the working men and women of Australia deserve. It is not something which the Government is handing out. It is something which you have earned by your work and restraint. Our package to raise wages and cut taxes – responsibly, fairly, steadily - is central to Labor's plan for Australia's economic strength. By stark contrast, our opponents, with breathtaking irresponsibility, seek to govern without a wages policy. They have no better idea of the outcome of that lack of policy, now, than the Leader of the Opposition had last November when he said: "Who's to know?". But in fact, we do know. We know who would suffer. We know it from their record. The Liberal and National Parties would give us the law of the industrial jungle, where the rich, the powerful, the groups with most industrial muscle, would grab the big but short lived gains. A system that is fair for all would be replaced by a free for all. Theirs is a recipe for a wages explosion - for runaway inflation - for massive unemployment. It is a recipe to feed higher and higher interest rates. It is a recipe to destroy the award restructuring which is doing so much to reform Australian industry. But there is another, immensely serious, consequence of the Liberal/National desire to smash our wage/tax package and the Accord with the trade union movement which underpins it. Australians now have for the first time a national superannuation scheme which all people covered by industrial awards can enjoy; a benefit which helps fight inflation; a benefit which prepares Australia for the ageing of its population; and a benefit which the nation and its businesses, large and small, can afford. Yet the Liberal/National coalition would sabotage this national savings plan, a plan already amassing a huge bank for investment in Australia's export and import replacing industries. Because of our policies, eight out of ten Australian employees already get an average of $15 a week paid into their own personal superannuation scheme by their employer. Over the next three years, under our package, that will double to $30 a week saved for your retirement. And let me add for those who have retired or are planning their retirement that no aged or service pensioner will pay any income tax by 1995.  Every one of the dollars saved through our superannuation plan helps finance Australia's development without foreign debt. It's a national savings scheme - good for you, good for Australia. It's too important to be put at risk.  My Friends,  We need more exports. We need more competitive industry. We need manufacturing muscle, built on the backbone of our great mining and agricultural resources. We have begun, strongly begun, that process. Under Labor the proportion of people working is at record levels. They are better educated than ever before, better trained and working with better tools and technology. What better base for productivity growth? And what more complete rebuttal could there be of the Opposition's putting down of Australia's productivity as virtually zero than the official figures released here and overseas just this very week? There's the fact -Australia's productivity is on the rise, and sharply so. Seven years ago, Australia's steel industry was on the verge of shutdown. We have together - government, unions, employers - transformed the steel industry. Today we are exporting steel to the world - $750 million in the last year. The value of these exports will treble to over $2 billion by 1992. Seven years ago, our motor vehicle industry was collapsing under the weight of self-defeating protection and inefficient work practices. Today we are shipping Australian cars and car parts to Japan and the United States. Our ship building industry has been revitalised. Now the Europeans can catch a ferry across the English Channel - made in Tasmania. We are now exporting electronic equipment to Asia, pharmaceuticals to Europe and optical lenses throughout the world. Australia is now one of the world's great tourist destinations, our telecommunications industry is leading the way into export markets, and our exports of education, health and legal services are achieving unprecedented growth.  But we can do more. We must do more. Earlier in this campaign I outlined Labor's integrated strategy to boost Australian exports. And I outlined a ten point plan to lift further the productivity of our industry.  My Friends,  No longer content to be just the lucky country, Australia must become the clever country. To realise that vision, I am announcing new initiatives today to build on our substantial achievements in education and scientific research - to unleash the skills and talents of our people. When, we came to office, thirty six per cent - around one in three children – completed high school education. Today, sixty per cent finish Year 12; that's sixty seven thousand more kids a year with a better chance in life, a new opportunity for the future. To assist parents with the financial burden of keeping their -children at school longer, for their children's good and the country’s good, we will introduce a new Education Completion Allowance. For those students not receiving AUSTUDY, family allowance for students during the last two years at high school will be replaced with a payment of $300 twice a year - a total of $600 and an increase of $115 - paid at the time when the demands on parents for books and equipment are greatest. And we want to encourage that ever-increasing number of young Australians finishing high school to strive for excellence. So today I'm announcing the Australian Students Prize. Five hundred awards of $2000 each will be made to our best young achievers at the end of Year 12. And for all these kids finishing school there is now a greater opportunity than ever before for a job - or, if they choose, a place in universities, TAFE colleges, apprenticeships and job training.  My Friends,  In this national task of mobilising our human resources, our scientists and researchers stand at the forefront. Australia must reduce its reliance on imported technology and borrowed research. We must become a leader in the production and export of ideas. My Government has already dramatically boosted our science and technology potential - with a $1000 million package of initiatives last year. But to stay abreast and move ahead of the world, we need to pool the talents of our university, Commonwealth, State and private sector researchers and link them more effectively to the rest of the economy. The Government has now decided to establish a network of fifty world class Co-operative Research Centres. These research centres will create additional jobs for about 1000 talented Australian scientists. They will be established over the next five years, built around outstanding research leaders and pooling the talent of outstanding research groups not only from the CSIRO, other government research organisations and the universities, but also from private industry. When fully established we will be providing $100 million a year in additional funding to support the new centres. Each research centre will be staffed with a team of highly skilled scientists, using the latest high tech equipment, exchanging information around the world - making scientific breakthroughs in medicine, technology, pollution control, communications. And so, instead of young Australian scientists having to go to Europe, America and Japan to find the leading edge of scientific research, we'll have their scientists coming to us. The new centres will be located wherever possible on or near university campuses, so that research staff can help in the equally vital task of training young researchers. This is the most significant step ever taken by a Federal Government to draw together the strengths of Australian researchers. It will equip Australians with the scientific research capacity to take our modern nation into the 21st century.  My Friends,  At the same time we cannot afford to exclude any group of Australians from making their contribution to the national mobilisation of resources. In particular, a Labor Government will never accept that any fit and able Australian is unemployable. We will never accept the proposition that some Australians are expendable, to be dropped through a trap door and forgotten. We offer instead a safety net of training and re-training for the unemployed. We will abolish the dole and replace it with a Jobsearch allowance for those actively seeking work. For those who cannot find a job after 12 months, there will be a Newstart allowance, conditional on accepting training or retraining for available work. Despite our success in lifting the proportion of children staying on to finish school, we recognise that some schools and some kids are still missing out. Therefor, Labor will provide $37 million over three years to address literacy and learning problems in disadvantaged schools. Further, we will expand Secondary Education Hostels for Aboriginal Children. And we will provide $60 million over the next two years to improve school facilities, equipment and curricula.  My Friends,  There is a new generation of social issues facing those who live in the outer areas of our cities. The voluntary groups and State agencies that have to deal with crisis in peoples' lives, day to day, know that isolation is becoming a major social problem -isolation from employment opportunities, from family support, from education. I now commit my Government to provide, with the States and voluntary groups, a new level of Commonwealth support. We will extend marriage counselling services. We will establish Family Resources Centres. We will support State efforts to care for teenagers after school. And we will help provide improved transport for outer urban areas through the provision of more trains and buses. The total cost of these measures will be $128 million over three years.  My Friends,  In the task of national mobilisation to build a more productive and competitive economy, the women of Australia have a key role. Today - International Women's Day - I re-affirm our deep commitment to equality of opportunity for the women of Australia. It is a commitment to give women a full say, a real choice and a fair go. We recognise that if women are to have a real choice, they need access to child care. That is why we have established what is already one of the best systems of child care in the world, and why we will make it even better - more places and more affordable access to them. Under our existing child care strategy we will have created 144,000 new child care places by 1992. Of itself that represents a trebling of child care places since we came to office. Today I announce that we will be making available additional funding capable of creating, with the States, another 50000 child care places over the next five years. And, further, we will provide the incentive for employers to extend child care in both the public and the private sectors. We expect an estimated 28000 new places in employer provided and commercial centres. To do this we will greatly increase the fee-relief for low and middle income families. It will mean, for example, that a family with a gross income of $30000 a year, with one child at a child care centre, will receive a fee-relief benefit of $65 a week - over twice the benefit currently paid. And for the first time, we will extend fee-relief to low and middle income families using commercial child care centres. Parents are entitled to be confident they are getting quality attention for their kids, whether they are using Government-funded or commercial centres. So we will work with all the key interests in child care to develop a system of accreditation. In all, we will spend some $400 million in what will constitute the biggest expansion of child care in Australia's history. We estimate there will be a quarter of a million places by mid-1996. Last week in Perth, with Premier Carmen Lawrence, I committed my Government to new policies for women including a national program for the early detection of breast cancer, fully funded at $64 million over three years.  My Friends,  Central to everything I am putting forward today - and central to the decision you will make on 24 March - is the kind of Australia we want for our children. And that's not just a matter of education and jobs and opportunities and economic growth. It is, very importantly, the natural environment they'll inherit. We in this generation have no greater responsibility than to pass on intact to future generations Australia's priceless environment. My Government unequivocally accepts that responsibility. That's why we stopped the damming of the Franklin. And that's why we protected our irreplaceable rainforests, the tall forests of Tasmania, the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu. Nor do we accept that this responsibility ends at Australia's shores. We are leading the fight to prevent mining in Antarctica. We are leading the fight to end the barbaric practice of drift net fishing in the South Pacific. We are making a strong scientific effort to help tackle the greenhouse and ozone problems and are banning virtually all use of CFCs. And our commitment to the environment will not end there. I will be making a separate statement on the environment in the coming weeks.  My Friends,  It has been said that those who do not learn the lessons of the past will be condemned to repeat them. Everything the Coalition has done, and all it still stands for, shows that they have not learned the lessons of their post failures, and that they wish to condemn the nation to a traumatic and socially destructive repetition of them. I said at the outset that the great divide between us lay between opportunity and privilege. There are two key issues in this election which starkly show the difference - capital gains tax and Medicare. The plain fact about the Liberal/National plan for the abolition of the capital gains tax is this: billions of dollars that would have been available for education, health, training, roads would be shovelled into the pockets of less than one in a hundred Australian taxpayers. The capital gains tax is a fair tax. The vast majority of wage and salary earners do not pay capital gains tax and never will. And you find on Medicare that same conflict between privilege and opportunity. For all their confusion, their twisting and turning, the truth is that the Liberals and Nationals would dismantle Medicare - scrap bulk billing - leave two million and more of our fellow Australians without health cover - benefit only the wealthy - and saddle the Australian family once again with all the burden, the anxiety, the cost, the inconvenience and the confusion that existed before we delivered affordable health care to every Australian. I will tell you our policy in two words: Medicare stays.  Fellow Australians,  A party that cannot govern itself cannot govern Australia. And that's why I've said that your choice on 24 March will determine whether our highest aspirations for the future are to be fulfilled. We can attain stronger national prosperity from a world competitive economy - greater financial security for families - a ladder of opportunity for all Australians - unshakeable protection of the natural environment. We can attain these goals - in the 1990s. Under Labor, Australians will attain them. That is Labor's pledge for Australia's future. And it is my pledge as Australia's leader. I don't seek to create false hopes or to raise unrealistic expectations. There is still hard work ahead of us as a nation. None of us should be under any illusion about that. But I make my pledge for the 1990s with confidence because we have already done much of the hard work, laid the enduring foundations, taken many of the tough decisions in the 1980s. Remember: the reason for those tough decisions and the discipline in the 1980s was precisely so that we can, with continued and united effort, create a more secure future, in a stronger Australia. Only Labor can make that continued and united effort – and- only Labor can create that more secure future. Because only Labor has the plans, the vision, the guts and the leadership to assure our country's future - a future rich in hope and promise as we approach the threshold of the 21st century.  MINISTER FOR FINANCE  MARCH 1990 ERC SCORESHEET - LABOR'S FISCAL DISCIPLINE  90/91 91/92 92/93  $m $m $m  SAVINGS IDENTIFIED (347.7) (547.8) (602.9)  IN ECONOMIC STATEMENT  OUTLAYS ANNOUNCED  Labour marker reform 24.9  Tasmanian package 7.0  Non Govt Schools 5.0  Roads/Land Transport 100.0  Export Marketing 10.0  Initiatives for Women 16.0  Veterans 4.8  Childcare 86.8  Education 37.0  Family Services 8.4  Urban Transport 25.0  Research Centres 5.0  OUTLAYS TO BE ANNOUNCED.  INCREASE TO BUDGET SURPLUS.  PETER WALSH  MINISTER FOR FINANCE  8 MARCH 1990.  EDUCATION STATEMENT.  Over the past seven years, the Government has demonstrated its capacity to provide leadership in improving our education and training system. In an historic achievement in April 1989, the Federal Government, in co-operation with the States, issued the Hobart, Declaration on Schooling. This represents the first step towards a truly Australian system of schooling. Australian Ministers of Education have agreed for the first time on what our schools should be doing and agreed to eliminate unnecessary differences between schools in different States and Territories. This is extremely important for the 70000 school students who change schools between States each year.  Education Completion Allowance.  One of the Government's greatest and most enduring achievements has been to increase dramatically the number of young people who complete their secondary school studies. During their period of office, the Coalition increased retention rates by only two percentage points from 34 per cent to 36 per cent. Since we came to office, the proportion of young people completing year 12 has risen to 60 per cent. If the Year 12 retention rate had remained at its 1982 level, there would have been 67000 fewer students in Year 12 in  1989. Income support has been a major factor in achieving these results. Since 1983 the number of young people receiving AUSTUDY in high school has more than doubled from 53000 to 120000 in 1989. Today, I announce a further initiative aimed at helping more families provide a worthwhile education for their children. A new Education Completion Allowance of two payments of $300 each year will be paid to the parents of full-time secondary students in Years 11-12 and 15-17 year old full-time tertiary students, where Family Allowance is otherwise payable in respect of these students. The new payments will subsume current Family Allowance entitlements for these students, and involve in net terms an additional $115. They will be paid at the time when the demands on parents for books and equipment are greatest, February and July. Parents of senior secondary students aged 18-24 may also receive the payments if they satisfy the Family Allowance income test (as Family Allowance is not currently available in these cases, the initiative provides an additional $600 per annum in support). Eligibility for the payment will be restricted to those full-time students not in receipt of AUSTUDY. The Completion Allowance will benefit an average of 230000 students each year. The Completion Allowance is designed to complement AUSTUDY and assist in the costs associated with continuing full-time education and training, particularly the purchase or hire of textbooks. The payments will be indexed to movements in the Consumer Price Index on an annual basis after 1991. They will be administered through the Department of Social Security's Family Allowance Program. In a full year the cost is estimated to be $34,3 million.  Secondary Support Program.  Increased retention rates have, of course, resulted in extra pressure on our schools. The Commonwealth will provide $20 million to government schools and $10 million to nongovernment schools in each of 1991 and 1992, to help schools meet the challenges of increased retention. These new funds will be used to provide the facilities and equipment needed in schools where the impact of increased retention has been the greatest.  Australian Students Prize.  During our period in office we have been concerned not only to provide opportunities for participation in education and training but also to encourage excellence. We have already announced our support for International Olympiads in maths, chemistry and physics. $1.5 million will be provided over the next five years to support the participation of Australian students in these events. The young people who participate in these events bring credit to themselves and to our nation. In striving to be among the best in the world, in their selected areas, they set an example for all young Australians. Today, I announce a broader initiative to encourage excellence in our school system. Commencing in 1991, the Australian Government will provide 500 awards valued at $2000 each to students who achieve outstanding results in Year 12. These awards will be called the Australian Students Prize in recognition of the contribution these students can be expected to make to the future of our nation.  Disadvantaged Schools Program.  Increased income support has greatly helped students from poorer families make the most of the opportunities our society and education system can provide. Nevertheless, there are some areas requiring further, more specialised, attention. The cornerstone of the Government's commitment to equality of opportunity in education is the $43 million provided annually to assist disadvantaged schools under the Disadvantaged Schools Program (DSP). In 1991, we will introduce a new program to improve literacy and learning skills among students attending disadvantaged secondary schools, at a cost of around $5 million a year over three years. We will also expand the coverage of the Disadvantaged Schools Program to a total of 500000 students next year, at an additional cost of around $8 million each year. Currently the DSP assists 422000 students in 1663 schools around Australia.  Special Education.  To help overcome the problems involved in the education of disabled children, the Federal Government will increase, from the beginning of 1991, its per capita grant for students with disabilities in government schools by 20 per cent, and will fund students with disabilities in non-government schools at the highest rate for non-government schools, category 12. These changes recognise the benefits of increased integration. Accordingly, the new per capita grant levels will be portable, so that all children with disabilities can take their grant with them, upon integration into regular schools. This will cost $4.2 million in a full year.  Girls in Schools.  I have previously announced, on 2 March 1990, that we will provide $3 million over three years to make curricula in our schools equally relevant to girls and boys.  National Negotiation on the Quality of Teaching.  The Government recognises that we depend greatly on the morale and skills of teachers if we are to continue to improve opportunity, excellence and equity in our nation's schools. It is not possible to build greater quality into our schools without responding to the issues which determine the quality of the nation's teachers. Accordingly the Government announced on 1 March 1990 that it will co-ordinate a ‘National Negotiation on the Quality of Teaching’ to be held in the months following the election and involve all parties interested in improving the quality of teaching in Australian schools.  Government Schools.  Federal Government funding for government schools will have increased by 50% between 1985 and 1992. All government schools will have reached the community standard by 1992, and the Federal Government will maintain its per capita funding to government schools at the same level in real terms through to the year 2000.  Non-Government Schools - A Funding Commitment For Australia's Future.  Funding stability and security for Australia's non-government schools will be provided under the Government's policies through to the Year 2000. Between 1992 and the Year 2000 the Government will maintain in real terms its general recurrent grants to all non-government schools and increase its recurrent funding to needier non-government schools. The Government's planned program of real increases for those schools most in need will ensure that, if other funding partners match our commitment, all schools will have reached the 'community standard' by the Year 2000. This will be achieved at a cost to the Government of an additional $116 million per annum by the Year 2000. By the Year 2000, non-government schools will have enjoyed an unprecedented 16 years of stability and security of funding.  Learning for our Environment.  In the climate of concern about the future of our planet, governments have a responsibility to encourage children to think creatively and constructively about the environment The Federal Government announced last year $400000 in 1990 for an environmental education strategy to promote learning for the environment in schools.  EDUCATION.  (Announced 8 March 1990).  Education Completion Allowance Government Schools    90/91 91/92 92/93  $m $m $m  16.2 34.3 34.3  10.5 21.1 10.5  1.0 1.0 1.0  7.2 14.8 15.5  2.1 4.2 4.2    37.0 75.4 65.5  Special Education  (Announced 25 February 1990)  Non-Government Schools 5.0 10.0 13.1  MAJOR NEW SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE CO-OPERATIVE RESEARCH CENTRES.  Background Information.  Background.  For Australia to have a technologically sophisticated economy in the future, it is essential to have a world class scientific and technological capability in the universities, CSIRO and other Commonwealth, State and private sector laboratories. It is also essential that these resources be linked as effectively as possible to the various sectors of the economy. Australia's combined scientific and technological resources are substantial but they are dispersed both geographically and institutionally. This makes it difficult to establish the concentrations and networks of researchers - and the expensive facilities and equipment - needed in many research fields to keep pace with the rapid scientific and technological change occurring internationally. Indeed, there is widespread agreement amongst Australian scientists that, even in traditional areas of strength, Australian laboratories are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain world class research. There is also increasing concern that our undergraduate and graduate programs in science and technology are not always of world class - thereby jeopardising the future quality and performance of the public and private institutions in which graduates are employed. These concerns were brought out strongly at the first meeting of the Prime Minister's Science Council, as was the urgent need to take steps to remedy them.  Co-operative Research Centres.  To address these concerns the Government will establish a major new program to enable outstanding research groups to join together to build a series of world class Co-operative Research Centres. The program has been developed by the Chief Scientist, Professor Ralph Slatyer, following an examination of major research programs in other countries and consultations with leading figures from the Australian technology community, including members of the Prime Minister's Science Council. The program will play a vital role in ensuring that Australia will benefit from the combined strength of the nation's science and technology resources. It will help ensure that Australian research and research training will remain at the forefront in those areas of greatest importance to this country. The basic approach will be to relocate and link outstanding university, CSIRO and other research groups, whenever it is possible and appropriate, into Co-operative Research Centres with facilities concentrated at the one location. Each participating group will retain its separate institutional affiliation but the Centres will constitute integrated collaborative research teams. Supplementing this approach will be the development of research consortia and information networks, so that laboratories or researchers not in close physical proximity can also participate in the program. The work of the Centres will be focussed on challenging research fields and areas which underpin existing or emerging industry sectors. In the establishment of each Centre, the management of Universities, CSIRO and other research organizations will be strongly encouraged to seek the involvement of State Government bodies and particularly industrial firms to provide a commercial focus where necessary. Wherever possible the Centres will be located on or adjacent to university campuses. This will enable non-university staff to participate in undergraduate and research training. It will facilitate the establishment of strong graduate schools in the universities and will enable students to benefit from contact with many outstanding researchers who are at present outside the university system. There will also be benefit to these researchers from contact with students. The establishment of the Centres will also foster the development of precincts around the campuses which will become increasingly attractive as locations for research-intensive and knowledge-based firms. The Centres will be important in enabling expensive facilities and equipment to be utilised efficiently and without unnecessary duplication. In a number of cases, it will be possible to house the Centres in common facilities, through the joint occupancy of buildings by university, CSIRO and other research staff. In the longer term the program will provide opportunities for new approaches to the design and siting of buildings so as to maximise the possibilities of colocation and of changing usage patterns as circumstances change in the future.  The scale of the program.  To ensure that the program has maximum impact on Australian research and research training, it will commence immediately and result in fifty Centres being established over the next five years. The first fifteen Centres will be started during, 1990-91 and the remainder in the following years. Each Centre will build up to full strength over a period of about two years. It is expected that the average size of each Centre will be about twenty full-time researchers, although individual Centres will vary above and below this figure, the scale depending on the requirements in particular research fields. The average cost of each Centre, when fully established, will be of the order of $4 million per year. The co-operating institutions will be expected to provide half the resources for each Centre, with the Government providing the other half. The institutions' contribution would normally include the cost of existing staff facilities and research support. When the program is fully established, the Government will therefore be contributing $100 million per year to it. It is intended that this supplementary Government funding will be flexible and will be able to be used for staff, buildings, equipment or other research support.  Other benefits.  It is expected that up to 1000 additional scientists will be employed in the Centres. The program will therefore be a major response to the concerns of talented young Australian researchers now unable to find sufficiently challenging and rewarding jobs in this country. The program will also provide opportunities for both junior and senior Australian researchers now overseas to return to Australia. The Centres will greatly help in strengthening tertiary education in Australia, particularly graduate education. This will contribute directly to the supply of young scientists, engineers and technologists needed for the large number of posts expected to fall vacant through retirement in the late 1990s. The establishment of the program will also benefit researchers who do not participate directly since it will reduce pressure on research grants provided by the Australian Research Council (ARC), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) and other granting bodies. It is expected that a number of research groups and individual researchers now funded by these bodies will have their funding requirements met through various Co-operative Research Centres.In a similar way the task of re-equipping laboratories throughout the universities and CSIRO will be assisted by the existence of the new program.  Establishment and administration.  The program will be administered for the first few years by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, under the guidance of a committee drawn largely from members of the Prime Minister's Science Council. It is envisaged that the Committee will issue an advertisement as soon as practicable calling for applications for funding and setting out guidelines for prospective applicants. A period of about six months will be allowed for applications to be submitted. This lengthy period will be allowed so that prospective participants will have time to consult in depth with prospective partners and submit well argued cases. Assessment procedures will be along similar lines to those already established by the ARC and NH&MRC, but with modified guidelines which will encourage co-operative research. Funding will be approved for a period of the order of five years in the first instance. Continued funding will be negotiated following review and evaluation. The program itself will be subject to careful scrutiny in its early years to ensure that its objectives are being met. It will be thoroughly reviewed once all the Centres are fully operational.  FAMILY SERVICES AND URBAN TRANSPORT.  The Government now intends to provide increased support for the services that are needed by families in the outer areas of our cities. Of most importance, this will assist children to develop to their maximum potential and participate fully in society once they reach adulthood. Labor is committed, in particular, to doing more to address the root causes of disadvantage amongst children. The measures to address education disadvantage (Disadvantaged Schools Program, national literacy initiative) are one element of this (see Education Statement).  MARRIAGE COUNSELLING AND FAMILY MEDIATION.  Disadvantage, however, also often results from family stress and breakdown. Accordingly, the Government will increase, by $15 million over the next 3 years, its support for preventative programs such as marriage counselling and family mediation that support the family and reduce the chances of family breakdowns through factors such as child abuse, domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse and the risk of youth homelessness. Currently many provincial towns and rural areas are unserviced, and metropolitan services are attempting to provide coverage for a wide area. Priority will be given to unserviced and underserviced rural and metropolitan areas.  FAMILY RESOURCE CENTRES.  A large number of family and child support services is funded and delivered by all levels of government and community organisations. However, many disadvantaged families do not know of the existence of such services, have difficulty in gaining access to the right service or are sometimes referred to an inappropriate agency. We will work in close co-operation with the States and community organisations to improve the effectiveness of the services that are provided to assist disadvantaged and vulnerable families and children. An important requirement is to improve co-ordination of service provision so that families and children in need of assistance are able to gain quick and easy access to the particular service that they require. To assist this process, the Government will provide $15 million for the establishment of Family Resource Centres. Such centres will work closely with existing community organisations, provide a focal point for existing family support services at neighbourhood and wider regional levels, and assist the planning of future service provision. Over the next 3 years the Government will progressively establish at least 15 Family Resource Centres located in areas of population growth, such as outer metropolitan areas, where the need is greatest.  OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE (OSHC).  The Outside School Hours Care component of the Children Services Program will be extended to provide facilities for adolescents aged 11-16 years in disadvantaged areas.  Current OSHC services are aimed at 5-12 year olds and generally don't provide activities suitable for older children and adolescents. As a result, adolescents aged 13-16 years often have no appropriately supervised activities after school, with the consequent greater risk of drug abuse, petty crime, vandalism and physical abuse. The Government will allocate over $9 million for extension of the OSHC to provide more appropriate activities for older children such as supervised sporting activities, and drop-in centres with facilities for homework and media/art workshops.  HOSTEL ACCOMMODATION FOR DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS.  The Government will also extend hostel accommodation for disadvantaged students from remote locations to enable them to pursue secondary or further education. This will cost $4 million over three years.  URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORT.  Increased priority will be given to improving transport systems in the major cities. The continuing growth in traffic is placing increasingly heavy demands on our road systems. The problems of congestion and travel times are most acute in our largest cities. The Government is committed to addressing this problem through our continuing commitment to road infrastructure development, and through increased priority for urban public transport development. Public transport systems have tended to grow from the centre of cities and, therefore, tend not to provide good access to the more distant residential and industrial areas. This contributes to the social and economic isolation of the least-advantaged residents of those areas. In co-operation with the States, the Government will build on its commitment to improving urban transport under the Australian Centennial Roads Development Program (ACRD) by providing an additional $85 million over three years to the States for public transport. In total, well over $200 million will be available under the ACRD to improve urban public transport, particularly in the most disadvantaged metropolitan areas.  EFFECT OF THE GOVERNMENT'S CHILD CARE ANNOUNCEMENTS.  Nearly 280000 families will benefit from new child care arrangements announced today.  The Government's child care policy:  - creates new child care places.  - makes child care affordable.  - is directed to lower and middle income families.  - provides for a minimum level of quality.  - and is relatively easily administered.  CREATING NEW CHILD CARE PLACES.  Today's announcements commit the Government to making available additional funding capable of creating, with the States another 50000 child care places over the next five years. And we will be providing incentives for more commercial child care centres to be built, by extending fee relief to those centres for the first time. Fee relief for employer provided care will be significantly increased. We expect an estimated 28000 new places in employer provided and commercial centres. This total of 78000 places under the new initiatives comprises:  - 10000 centre based places in the community sector.  - 10000 family day care places.  - 30000 outside school hours care places.  - and estimated growth of 28000 employer and commercial places.  INCREASING AFFORDABILITY BY IMPROVING FEE RELIEF.  Many low and middle income families presently have difficulty affording child care because fee relief is insufficient or, in the case of commercial centres, it is not available at all. The measures announced today both increase fee relief and extend fee relief to commercial centres.  The new measures include:  - increasing the maximum fee relief ceiling to $100 a week.  - increasing the income threshold for maximum fee relief from $280 gross weekly income to $370 a week, for a family with one child.  - more generous fee relief withdrawal rates above this income to phase out eligibility for fee relief over a broader income range - so that some fee relief will be available to families with income up to $64000 per annum for one child in care.  - extending fee relief to commercial centres.  Examples of Increased Benefits.  Families using community centres and family day care already get some fee relief, depending on their incomes. The new measures mean that fee relief will be higher for families using these centres and more families will get it. The table below shows these increases. And since fee relief to date has not been available for commercial centres, the table shows the fee relief families using those centres will now get for the first time.  Child Care Benefits.  (Family with one child using 50 hours of care) INCREASE    ANNUAL NEW -------------------------------  GROSS FAMILY WEEKLY FEE Community  INCOME RELIEF(a) Centre  $10,000 $86 $ 8  $20,000 $85 $24  $30,000 $65 $37  $40,000 $46 $46  $50,000 $27 $27  $60,000 $ 8 S 8    GUARANTEEING QUALITY.  To be eligible for fee relief, employer provided and commercial centres will be required to meet State/Territory licensing requirements and other conditions such as minimum hours of operation. The Government will bring together the key interests in the child care industry to develop a system of accreditation for child care services, to ensure children and their parents have access to quality care. For the first time, employer and commercial provided centres will have access to training and management support activities which will help achieve quality across services.  OTHER MEASURES.  These include:  - Introduction of fee relief for families with school-aged children using outside school hours care.  - Improved fee relief for families using occasional care.  - Extra funds for special child care services to meet the needs of Aboriginal, migrant, disabled, and isolated children.  - and $100000 for the Playgroup Associations of Australia to upgrade and purchase equipment.  CONCLUSION.  The Government estimates that by mid-1996 there will be an extra 108000 child care places (30000 already committed and 78000 as a result of today's announcement). This would bring the total number of child care places in Australia to a quarter of a million. By directing fee relief to those who need it, the Government s maximising the effectiveness of scarce budgetary resources in providing affordable child care. The Coalition's child care policy of itself creates no new places. The child care tax rebate is only $20 for a first child under five years old and $10 for any other children. Yet it applies to all families no matter how high their incomes - except poorer families whose second income earner pays insufficient tax and therefore receives nothing. And for those families on less than $50000 the Coalition's policy does little to make child care affordable. Moreover, the Coalition's policy does nothing about ensuring minimum standards of quality. It would be difficult to administer - and therefore is wide open to rorting. In all, the Government will spend $400 million in what will constitute the biggest expansion of child care in Australia's history - properly targeted assistance for quality care, paid in cash, easily administered and of very great value to the hundreds of thousands of families who will get it.  CHILD CARE - BACKGROUND BRIEF.  INTRODUCTION.  One of the Hawke Labor Government's greatest achievements has been in child care. Over the last seven years, in a climate of economic restraint, the Government has provided tens of thousands of Australian families with access to child care services and helped them to meet the cost of care. We have introduced:  - an income tested fee relief system to assist low to middle income earners to afford child care.  - a major expansion of child care places from 1983 to 1988, involving an increase in the numbers of centres, family day care schemes and outside school hours care services.  - guidelines to ensure that working families are given priority of access to services.  - a needs based planning system to ensure that new services are located in areas of high need.  - an expansion of services for children in special need (children from non-English speaking backgrounds, Aboriginal children, children with disabilities and those in remote and isolated areas).  - new services providing occasional care for women at home.  More recently, the Government has introduced the Industry Initiative, a scheme designed to encourage private sector employers to provide child care services on a non profit basis for their employees.  In summary, the Government's policy objectives for child care have been to:  - increase the supply of formal child care places.  - ensure that care for low to moderate income earners is affordable.  - target places to those most in need of work related care.  - promote choice by supporting a range of service types.  - and promote quality of care.  Support has been made available for the following types of services:  - community centres which are open for sufficient hours and weeks in the year to meet the needs of working parents.  - family day care in the homes of carers which is the preferred choice of many working parents with very young children.  - care for children of school age before and after school and during vacations while their parents work.  - occasional care for parents not in the workforce who need to leave their children in the care of others for short periods.  - services designed for the needs of children with disabilities or the cultural needs of Aboriginal children or those from non-English speaking backgrounds.  - child care facilities designed for rural and isolated communities.  - activities to support the training and management needs of workers in the child care industry and the community groups which operate child care services.  These efforts have led to:  - an increase in spending on children's services from $65 million in 1982-83 to an estimated $232 million in 1989-90.  - more than double the number of subsidised child places since 1983, from 46000 to 114000.  - cost sharing agreements with States and Territories both capital and recurrent costs.  - improved consultation including a National Advisory Committee and Planning Committees in each State and Territory to advise on the development of new services.  - more than 132000 families using services funded under the Children's Services Program at any one time and around 14000 workers employed in subsidised child care services together with an estimated 14000 home based carers in family day care schemes.  THE CHALLENGE FOR THE 1990s.  There are two main factors which influence access to child care - supply and affordability. The Government's new proposals tackle both. The number of child care places will almost double which involves the largest expansion ever undertaken of community child care. And child care is made more affordable for low and middle income earners through sweeping improvements in the fee relief system.  INCREASING SUPPLY.  The Government has made a commitment to provide 30000 new places under the National Child Care Strategy by 1992-93. We will now extend this commitment by a further 78000 places to provide a total of 108000 places between now and 1995-96. More than 123000 families will benefit from this expansion. All sectors of the child care industry - community, commercial and employer provided - will be encouraged to participate in providing these new places.  The new places comprise:  - 10000 new centre-based places in the community sector.  - 10000 family day care places.  - And 30000 outside school hours care places including vacation care.  - an estimated 28000 new places in commercial and both public and private employer provided child care centres.  The States will be asked to share capital and recurrent costs for the additional centre-based places planned in the community sector and for additional outside school hours care. It is estimated that around 28000 new places will be created over the next five years in the commercial/employer sector as a result of extending fee relief to low and middle income families using these services. The Industry Initiative, currently available to private sector employers only, will be extended to public sector employers including Commonwealth and State Government departments, statutory authorities and Government Business Enterprises. All employers must meet the capital costs of establishing services. Commonwealth Government employers will charge fees to cover all costs: the only assistance given to employees will be means tested fee relief. It is estimated that more than half of these additional 28000 places will be provided by employers in the workplace. Child care tax rebates, as proposed by the Opposition, would not guarantee any increase in the supply of child care places. Tax rebates would provide the same assistance to all families, rich or poor, except for those where the secondary income is below the tax threshold: these families would receive nothing. The level of tax rebate proposed by the Opposition will have only a marginal effect on affordability and hence is unlikely to encourage any significant increase in child care places. In contrast, the Government's new levels of fee relief targeted to low and middle income earners will make a crucial difference to their ability to afford child care. In this way, effective demand (ie a desire for a service backed up by the ability to pay for it) will increase. The key elements of the fee relief system will be indexed annually to maintain the value of the benefit. There is no such commitment from the Opposition to index their rebate.  FRINGE BENEFITS TAX.  Section 47(8) of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act enables employers to secure priority of access in centres under the Children's Services Program and have these payments exempt from the FBT. Similar payments by an employer to a commercial centre are presently not exempt. To encourage the expansion of employer sponsored child care the Government will now enable employer payments to secure priority of access in private child care centres to be exempt from FBT.  IMPROVING AFFORDABILITY.  About 156000 families will benefit from significant improvements to the fee relief system. To help low and middle income earners meet the cost of their child care fees, the Government will:  - increase the fee relief ceiling to $100 per 50 hour week for all long day care services, including family day care.  - increase the fee relief income threshold for maximum benefit from $280 to $370 gross per week.  - reduce the fee relief withdrawal rates to 10 cents in the dollar for one child and 20 cents for two or more children.  This improved system will be extended to commercial centres from 1 January 1991.  From 1 October the fee relief ceilings for long day care will be increased as follows:  - community centres - $92.50 to $100 per week.  - Family Day Care - $68 (for 40 hours of care) to $100 per week (for 50 hours of care).  - About 94000 families using existing Government funded long day care services will receive extra help with their fees.  Tables 2 and 3 show the estimated levels of benefit for families by income and service type, for one child or two children. The family income eligible for maximum fee relief benefit will be linked to the cut-off point for Family Allowance Supplement for non-renting families with one child (currently $370 gross per week) effective from 1 October 1990. This is an increase from $280 per week. Above this income, fee relief will be withdrawn at a lower rate of 10 cents in the dollar for one child and 20 cents in the dollar for two or more children in care, effective from 1 October 1990 (compared with current withdrawal rates of 17 cents and 23 cents respectively). This means that some help with fees will be available to families with incomes up to $64000 per annum for one child in care. The improved fee relief system will be extended to !commercial child care centres from 1 January 1991. About 32000 families currently using these centres will receive help with their fees for the first time. Commercial centres will be required to meet certain conditions relating to matters such as State/Territory licensing requirements and minimum hours of operation. These currently apply to community services and are designed to ensure that the Government's objectives for work related care are met. For the first time, commercial and employer provided centres will have access to training and management support -activities which will help achieve consistent quality across services. The Government will also bring together the key interests in the child care industry - State and Territory Governments which are responsible for licensing and other regulations, Local Government, representatives from the community and commercial sector and the union movements- to develop a system of accreditation for child care services. Our aim is to ensure that children and their parents have access to quality care. It is expected that the process of developing an accreditation system will take some time. For this reason, all State/Territory licensed long day care services, community, commercial and employer provided, will be deemed to be accredited on an interim basis from 1 January 1991. Fee relief will also be extended to existing non profit child care centres currently not funded under the Children's Services Program: an estimated 4000 places by 1 January 1991. Many of these are located in TAFEs and on university campuses and others are parent run co-operatives in the community. Fee relief will assist about 6000 low to middle income working families and people training for employment to use these services. The Government will also introduce a uniform system of fee relief for parents using before and after school care services. About 8000 families will receive help with their fees of up to $9 a week for each child. Eligibility for fee relief in Commonwealth funded occasional care centres will be extended to families who are in receipt of Family Allowance Supplement and do not hold Health Care Cards. Where there are two or more children in care, families in receipt of Family Allowance will become eligible. This will be effective from 1 October 1990 and will help another 16000 families on low and middle incomes with a maximum benefit of $10.80 per session. Additional funds will be made available for special children's services. These funds will assist children in rural and remote communities, provide special programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and extend activities to improve access to standard services for children with disabilities and from non-English speaking backgrounds. The Playgroup Associations of Australia, which reach many families with young children cared for at home, will receive a one-off grant of $100000 in 1990 to upgrade and purchase much needed equipment.  CONCLUSION.  This commitment represents the biggest expansion of child care services in Australia's history. By 1995-96 the Government estimates there will be an extra 108000 child care places, bringing the total number in Australia to over a quarter of a million. It builds upon a solid record of achievement and will support many tens of thousands of Australian families, especially those on low and middle incomes, to meet the challenges of life in the 1990s. As demand for child care services will continue to grow, at the end of this planned and targeted expansion, the Government will consider commitments to the further expansion of the community sector for the second half of the decade.