Senator Meg Lees. Australian Democrats Parliamentary Leader.20 September 1998. M  MEDIA RELEASE. EMBARGO 1.80pm TODAY. Check Against Delivery.  Campaign launch speech.  (Please note additions incorporated into to the speech in response to the announcements from the Liberal Party Launch earlier this morning. This speech supersedes the version, of this speech faxed to you this morning.)  Looking around us here today, I don't think you could find a more symbolically Australian place to launch an election campaign: standing within the Opera House on Bennelong Point, with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.  Symbolic because we have our own team of stars within the Opera HOUSE - people such as:  • Aden Ridgeway from New South Wales.  • Jim Downey from Victoria.  • Brian Greig from Western Australia.  • John Schumann from the Adelaide Hills seat of Mayo.  • Rick Farley from the ACT and the many other candidates here today.  Symbolic also, because our Party is about is building bridges. The Democrats want to build a bridge between the First Australians and the rest of us.  The Democrats want to build a bridge between rural Australians and the rest of us.  The Democrats want all Australians to embrace the values of honesty, tolerance and compassion so as to build a bridge into a new century, together.  Sadly, there are candidates in this campaign who do not want to bring Australians together.  They are the candidates for One Nation: candidates who stand for division, candidates who stand for intolerance, candidates who want Australia to look backwards - not forwards.  What they believe is dangerous to our society, and I am proud that, in this campaign, we are tackling them head on.  By election day, I am sure that everyone will understand that.  In both Houses there is a battle for balance of power between the Democrats and One Nation, and in both Houses we intend to win.  A vote for the Democrats is not just a vote against One Nation. It is also an endorsement of the values and policies we stand for.  Since the Democrats were formed 21 years ago, there has been a revolution in Australian society -with increasingly complex issues affecting our daily lives. Issues such as the floating of the dollar, deregulation, out-sourcing, privatisation, increasing pollution levels, competition policy and even the recession we had to have. The Australian Democrats have been active, principled contributors to debates on these and many other complex issues over the years.  We are not economic luddites. We do not have our heads in the sand, nor do we want to turn back to the '50s.  We have made solid contributions to the debates on these and many other big issues based on research, dialogue and common-sense. And throughout we have consistently asked the question - how do these issues affect ordinary Australians?  Public policy issues are becoming increasingly complex in the world around us - but within these issues the Australian Democrats are still proud to carry a torch for some simple, enduring beliefs.  We believe that every child has a right to a quality, free education.  We believe that the environment should be conserved and protected for future generations.  We believe in both the dignity of work, and equally, in the dignity of those who are unable to work.  We believe that when sick, Australians have a right to expect quality, free health care.  We believe that Government have a place running some service, such as Telstra, which benefit all Australians, and we believe that governments should be held to account, and responsible to their citizens.  These are the policies that Australia has to have.  For the Coalition and Labor parties, this election is about Just one issue. Sadly this one issue is not health, not education, not the environment, not accountability or jobs.  They are running as single issue parties in this campaign. And the issue is tax: whose tax cuts are biggest, whose sales tax scheme is meanest, whose tax slogans can lead to power.  We are also active in this issue - proud to line up with welfare, church and environment groups as together we push for a real and meaningful debate.  Central to this is the question that the Howard/Costello and Beazley/Evans teams dare not ask - How much tax do we need to fond the policies that Australia has to have?  Well we are not afraid to ask. We believe - as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it - that Taxes are what we pay for a civilised society".  We know that the current surplus is built on the back of service cuts to the unemployed, the elderly and low income earners. These are the people who took the pain, for little or no gain and now deserve a restoration of some services through a social dividend.  Though we are hoping to win seats in the House of Representatives, the Democrats accept that we will not be in Government on Saturday week. But, if Australians reject One Nation, we will hold the balance of power - and our votes will decide this issue for either Government.  We believe that the current tax System is broken, and does need fixing.  However, the Costello plan is unfair, the Evans plans does nothing for jobs, and both plans are unfordable.  Other groups also believe this, and I would like to mention just three of the many public statements of support for our position.  Here is what ACOSS said about our Tax Response - 'By putting forward their proposed amendments the Democrats have brought a much needed element of common sense and compromise into the tax debate'.  The Australian Pensioners' and Superannuants Federation said of us; The Democrats challenge to the major parties to substantially amend their fax plans to make sure they are both fair and sustainable into the future is a breath of fresh air in a debate about tax that was getting s bit stale'.  Finally, the Australian Catholic Health Care Association said they were 'pleased to see the Democrats' recognition of the potential negative impacts on the charitable sector's services of both major parties' tax proposals. '  Today the Liberals and the Democrats are both launching our campaigns in Sydney, and we woke to see in the newspapers that Peter Costello is determined to force another election if we refuse to let him fax food.  Well, I think the voters want all parties to do what the Democrats are happy to do. Sit down together and talk, to get agreement on tax reform for this country which is fair, jobs friendly and affordable and get on with it. And the voters know that a tax on food and books is unfair.  If Peter Costollo is determined to ignore the voters, then he would do well to remember this; - the last Treasurer to force a double-dissolution election for the right to tax books, and many other things was John Howard in, 1983.  And he lost. All Democrat Senators and lead candidates have given an absolute guarantee that there will be no new taxes on food or boots, and that tax breaks which disproportionately reward the already well off are just not on.  There are also a range of other vitally important issues in both plans that we will push hard for at the negotiating table - and if they don't negotiate then we will simply vote their plans down.  We did not back down on Wik, we did not back down on Telstra, and we won't back down on Tax.  The Democrats have entered this campaign with a wide range of specific policy proposals. For instance:  • We propose the establishment of a Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme to reduce the risk premium on small business loans.  • We propose a reduction in payroll fax for employers prepared to create new, permanent jobs.  • We will work actively towards a referendum to include the concept of environment into the Australian Constitution.  • We will move to strengthen the Trades Practises Act to give the ACCC the power to order big corporations with excessive market power to divest parts of their business.  • We will move to bring politicians superannuation into line with general community standards.  • We reject the callous two-year waiting period for new migrants.  . We propose a three year strategy to provide basic dental health care to low income earners.  In the week ahead we will be releasing our key election policies - in 5 cities over 5 days including employment, education, privatisation and health. So stay tuned. This election is about choice.  On October 3rd, you will have to choose between candidates in both houses - the House of Representatives and the Senate.  For the first time, there are Democrat candidates in every seat in every state and territory - who you can support.  Neither the liberal or Labor Party can hope to control the Senate, so someone will hold the balance of power.  Only two parties can do this outright - the Democrats or One Nation. Here in New South Wales that means Aden Ridgeway or David Oldfield.  This is not just a choice between personalities, but also between policies and values.  It is a choice between tolerance and intolerance, between reconciliation and confrontation, between gun control and gun culture.  It is a battle which for Australia's sake, the Democrats cannot afford to lose. I urge you to vote Democrat in both houses to stop One Nation dividing Australia.  Soon, we will all leave here, and get onto buses and planes and go back to our daily lives. Before we do, I ask you - in this magnificent place - to reflect a little.  The Opera House and the Democrats are roughly the same age. The design and construction of both in the late seventies, was innovative and daring, and I know that Australia is much better off for having both.  It is hard to imagine Australia now without the Opera House. It is also hard to imagine Australia without the Democrats for we have crafted an unique, enduring, positive role in parliament.  So in this spot, on this day, and on the eve of a new Australian century - I ask voters to re-commit themselves to working together as a nation. To embrace a new spirit of community based on honesty, tolerance and compassion. To choose a future in which Australians can expect to feel safe, valued and have an equal chance to realise their dreams. This is the Australia we have to have.  And we can, if you vote for it. Policy Launch Statement A Stronger Australia 20 September 1998  THE CHOICE TO BE MADE  The 1998 Federal Election presents Australians with a clear and vital choice:  - it is a choice between competent economic management under the Coalition Government and a return to the days of Labor’s economic incompetence - the days of high debt, high deficits and high interest rates;  - it is a choice between building further on the foundation of  sound economic fundamentals under the Coalition Government, or frittering away once gain under Labor the advantages which Australia has gained from the restoration of those sound fundamentals over the past two and a half years;  - it is a choice between optimistic realism under a Coalition Government, or backward-looking inertia under Labor;  - it is a choice between the Coalition Government with a comprehensive plan to maximise Australia’s potential as a nation in the twenty first century and Labor’s head-in-the-sand approach which refuses to face up to the realities of Australia’s circumstances and which has no strategy for taking Australia forward in an increasingly competitive world;  - it is a choice between the Coalition Government’s plan to slash business costs by over $10b, thereby boosting jobs, growth and exports, and Labor’s refusal to develop any such plan which will only make it increasingly harder for our businesses to compete against the rest of the world and to employ more Australians;  - it is a choice between a Coalition Government with the courage to confront reality and spell out its future strategy to the Australian people, and a Labor Opposition which tries to pretend that nothing needs to be done beyond spending more money but which, if elected in 1998, will repeat what it did after the 1993 Election - namely, to renege on tax eut promises and increase tax rates;  - it is a choice between a Coalition Government which balances fairness and incentive and a Labor Opposition obsessed with the self-defeating politics of envy;  A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   - it is a choice between the Coalition Government’s initiatives to strengthen the capacity of Australian enterprises to compete in export markets by removing $4.5b of costs on Australian exports, and Labor’s policies which will force Australian enterprises to compete in export markets and against imports with one hand tied behind their backs;  - it is a choice between the Coalition Government’s plan to  provide the States and Territories with an adequate and secure revenue base to fund health, education, law and order and other essential government services in the future, and a Labor Opposition with no such plan and no provision for such services into the future;  - it is a choice between a reduction under a Coalition Government of $3.5b in the cost of fuel to ail businesses, with particular advantages for rural and regional Australia, and Labor which would provide no such reduction;  - it is a choice between the Coalition Government’s  comprehensive strategy to enhance the social and economic security of Australians, and a Labor Opposition which is ail talk and no substance on the issue;  - it is a choice between a future under a Coalition Government in which government does not get out of people’s lives but in which it gets off their backs, and a future under Labor in which suffocating centralised controls are restored, choice is diminished and incentive is stifled;  - it is a choice between a Coalition Government which believes strongly in the principle of mutual obligation in our society and the value of programmes such as Work for the Dole, and Labor which is committed to gutting such programmes; and  - it is a choice between a Coalition Government which has boosted Australia’s international influence through the strengthening of our domestic economy and through constructive and realistic engagement with the countries of our own region as well as those beyond it, and a retum to Labor’s arrogant hectoring system of diplomacy that fails to take proper account of Australia’s real interests and our capacity to achieve results.  Policy Launch Statement  These dimensions of the choice which Australians will make on 3 October point to the broader choice to be made between two fundamentally different views of Australia’s future.  Labor’s view of Australia’s future is a timid, introspective and backward-looking one.  Its guiding lights are centralised and ad hoc programmes of government and bureaucracy, a penalising of incentive and enterprise, and a fear of reform that will only entrench and worsen existing-unfairness and inefficiencies, disadvantage Australia in the global economy and condemn Australians to declining living standards.  In contrast to Labor, the Coalition’s view of Australia’s future is one built on optimism, realism and a clear sense of purpose:  - optimism about the capacity of Australian individuals and  enterprises to make the most of expanding global opportunities, and about our unique assets as a nation: our people, our natural resources and the intersection of our history, geography and diversity;  - realism about our circumstances as a nation and about the need for reform in specific areas if Australia is to maximise its potential into the twenty first century; and  - a clear sense of purpose built on an expansion of choice,  incentive and opportunity and reflected in a plan for the future that delivers lower and fairer taxes, boosts growth and jobs, and ensures a secure revenue base to fund essential government services into the future.  BELIEFS AND VALUES UNDERPINNING THE PRIORITIES OF A COALITION GOVERNMENT  During it’s first term, the Coalition Government’s priorities in public policy have been underpinned by a clear set of beliefs and values. These beliefs and values will remain stronger than ever in a second term. They include:  - our aim to liberale the capacities of private enterprise within the context of a strategic but limited role for government;  - our commitment to strategic objectives such as a more productive economy, more effective markets, greater competitiveness and fiscal responsibility not as ends in themselves but as means for achieving more job growth, rising  A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   living standards throughout the community and an effective social safety net;  - our focus on practical outcomes, rather than ideology, with a presumption in favour of the individual over the State;  - our commitment to the enhancement of diversity, choice and competition;  - our recognition of the limits of markets as well as the limits of government;  - our opposition to both laissez-faire economics on the one hand, and suffocating centralism by government and bureaucracy, on the other;  - our central belief in the importance of strong families, strong workpiaces and strong communities;  - our support for an important role of voluntary and community organisations, particularly in areas such as illicit drugs, suicide, youth alienation, homelessness, violence and family breakdown;  - our special sense of responsibility for safeguarding Australia’s unique and fragile environment; and  - our resolve to further enhance Australia’s record of  achievement as one of the most democratic, tolerant and fair-minded communities in the world by continuing to ensure that ail Australians have an equal right to self-dignity and self-fulfilment irrespective of their gender, colour, beliefs or country of origin.  COMPETENCE IN ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT  The issue of competence in economic management lies at the centre of the 1998 Election. Economic competence not only influences jobs, growth, interest rates, debt, investment, opportunities and living standards. It also affects the capacity for funding adequately the government services that Australians need.  THE MESS INHERITED FROM LABOR  In March 1996, the Coalition Government inherited from Labor a legacy of deficit and debt which, without determined corrective Policy Launch Statement action, would have been a continuing drain on Australia’s economy and society.  Labor’s record of economic mismanagement needs to be kept in clear perspective and in high profile:  - the UNEMPLOYMENT RATE peaked at 11.2 per cent in December 1992 and was 8.5 per cent in March 1996. Between March 1983 and March 1996, the unemployment rate averaged 8.7 per cent.  - The UNDERLYING BUDGET DEFICIT for 1995-96 was $10.3b. From 1983-84 to 1995-96, the Commonwealth budget averaged an underlying deficit of 1.6 per cent of GDP.  - COMMONWEALTH GENERAL GOVERNMENT NET DEBT increased from around $16b (4 per cent of GDP) in 1989-90 to around $96b (nearly 20 per cent of GDP) in 1995-96.  - Between March 1983 and March 1996, HEADLINE INFLATION averaged 5.2 per cent. UNDERLYING INFLATION average 5.1 per cent over the same period.  - INTEREST RATES hit record highs in the late 1980s and were still high in March 1996.  - Variable bank home loan interest rates peaked at 17 per cent in 1989 and were 10.5 per cent in March 1996. Between March 1983 and March 1996, they averaged 12.8 per cent.  - Variable bank business interest rates peaked at 20.5 per cent in 1989 and were 11.25 per cent in March 1996 for small business and 10.75 per cent for large firms. Between March 1983 and March 1996, they averaged 14.25 per cent for both small business and large firms.  - Australia’s high inflation rate and debt levels over the 1980s added a substantial RISK PREMIUM to our foreign borrowing, with a differential between domestic and US 10-year bond yields of more than 250 basis points in March 1996 and averaging 450 basis points over the second half of the 1980s.  - FOREIGN DEBT rose from around 15 per cent of GDP in 1983 to over 40 per cent by March 1996.  A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   THE RESTORATION 0F SOUND ECOIMOM1C FUNDAMENTALS  From March 1996, when the Coalition was informed of the true state of the Australian economy, we set about turning around the legacy of deficit, debt and mismanagement which we inherited. We did so because it is only on a foundation of sound economic fundamentals that sustainable long-term growth can be built.  Our record of achievement in fixing Labor’s economic mess has laid the foundations for solid Australian economic growth at a time of regional crisis and global instability:  - The UNDERLYING SURPLUS was $ 1.25b in 1997-98, a $ 11.5b  turnaround from the deficit of $10.3b in 1995-96 and achieved without any increase in income tax rates, the company tax rate, the wholesale sales tax or petrol excise.  - ECONOMIC ACTIVITY has grown by 3.9 per cent through the year to the June quarter 1998  - INTEREST RATES have fallen since March 1996  - Variable bank HOME LOAN INTEREST RATES have fallen by 3.8 percentage points since March 1996 and now average around 6.7 per cent - their lowest level since the early 1970s;  - SMALL BUSINESS INDICATOR BORROWING INTEREST RATES from major banks are around 7.7 per cent - down from 11.25 per cent in mid-1996.  - COMMONWEALTH NET DEBT to GDP remains on track to be  halved by the turn of the century compared to a ratio of around 20 per cent inherited in March 1996.  - PRODUCTIVITY rose by 3.8 per cent through the year to the June quarter 1998 (measured as (trend) non-farm market sector output per hour worked) - more than double the average of 1.7 per cent per annum between 1983 and 1995.  - EMPLOYMENT (as at August 1998) has risen by 222,400 since August 1997 and by 317,000 since March 1996.  Policy Launch Statement  - Real business investment was 13.4 per cent of GDP in the June quarter 1998 (after reaching a record 15.4 per cent in the March quarter) and bas averaged 13.4 per cent since the March quarter 1996, compared with an average of 10.5 per cent between the March quarter 1983 and the March quarter 1996.  - THE UNDERLYING CPI rose by 0.4 per cent in the June quarter 1998 and 1.6 per cent through the year - only slightly above the record low (of 1.4 per cent) in the December quarter 1997. Through-the-year underlying inflation bas now been below 2.5 per cent for the past two years.  - The INTEREST RATE PREMIUM Australians pay over US rates,  reflecting perceived risks, has fallen from over 250 basis points in March 1996 to an average of 29 basis points in August 1998.  A STRONGER AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY THROUGH COMPETENT ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT  On these sound macroeconomic foundations, the Coalition Government has built a stronger Australian economy and enhanced the prospects for future growth. We have done so through a wide range of policy initiatives.  - We have modernised Australia’s industrial relations System,  particularly through the 1996 Workplace Relations Act. In doing so, we are promoting innovation, choice and productive partnerships in individual workplaces to the common benefit of employers and employees in those enterprises.  S.  - Building on our reform of Australia’s financial System following the Wallis Financial System Inquiry, we are establishing a world-class framework for financial sector regulation that will enhance AUSTRALIA’S CREDENTIALS AS A FINANCIAL CENTRE.  - Our $1.26b Investing for Growth INDUSTRY POLICY STATEMENT m December 1997 provided specific incentives to encourage research and development, boost investment, help Australian business capture new export markets and harness the opportunities provided by the information economy.  A STRONGER AUSTRAHA • We are modernising Australia’s communications  INFRASTRUCTURE through expanding competition, broadening consumer choice and requiring specific performance benchmarks.  - SMALL BUSINESS DEREGULATION has eut red tape and reduced compliance burdens.  - Our commitment to MAKING AUSTRALIA ONE OF THE GREAT SHARE-OWNING DEMOCRACIES OF THE WORID has expanded community involvement in great Australian enterprises such as Telstra.  - MICROECONOMIC REFORMS, particularly in the transport sector, are creating new opportunities for Australian exporters and greater potential for growth.  - Sectoral policy measures, including POLIÇY PACKAGES IN THE AUTOMOTIVE, PHARMACEUTICALS AND TEXTILE, CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR INDUSTRIES, are encouraging renewed investment, greater competitiveness and continued reform.  - We have placed a special emphasis on national literacy and numeracy and revitalised apprenticeships and traineeships.  - Our $1.25b Natural Heritage Trust (which we recently boosted to $1.5b), the Regional Forest Agreements, the Supermarket to Asia initiative and the ‘Agriculture - Advancing Australia’ package have provided a much more productive framework for SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCE PROTECTION.  We have also taken specific initiatives to reduce the tax burden, strengthen compliance, reduce unfairness and encourage investment. Those measures include:  - the 1996 Family Tax Initiative;  - incentives to take out private health insurance;  - a tax rebate for low income aged persons to assist low income self-funded retirees;  - capital gains tax relief on the sale of small business assets;  Policy Launch Statement  Capital Gains Tax relief on the sale of a small business for retirement; and  a range of measures to address tax avoidance.  COMPREHENSIVE TAX REFORM  Comprehensive tax reform is an essential prerequisite for competent management of the Australian economy into the twenty first century. It is the single most important item of unfinished business in building an economic infrastructure that will enable Australia to compete and prosper in an increasingly competitive world economy.  Only the Coalition bas a plan for comprehensive tax reform - a plan to deliver lower and fairer taxes, boostjobs and growth, reduce business costs and increase exports.  THE Coalition’s Tax Reform Plan builds on, and complements, our economic achievements in other areas outlined above.  Labor’s head-in-the-sand approach to tax reform will have inevitable consequences:  - it will deliver higher tax rates as the base shrinks;  - it will lead to increasing reliance on income taxes and therefore an increasingly unfair burden being borne by wage and salary earners;  - it will increase the disadvantages of Australian businesses seeking to win export markets or compete against imports;  - it will discourage savings and penalise those who live off their savings;  - its growing complexity will add to compliance costs and encourage more avoidance and evasion by those who can do so; and  - it will make the revenue base of the States and Territories even more inadequate and inefficient for funding necessary community services into the future.  A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   11  COALITION PRIORITIES FOR A NEW AND BETTER TAX SYSTEM  Three overriding priorities underpin the comprehensive TAX Reform Plan which we have presented to the Australian people.  Our first priority is to reduce the tax burden on Australians. to boostjobs and to increase growth.  That is why we are slashing personal income tax by $13 b a year -resulting in over 80 per cent of taxpayers having a top tax rate of 30 per cent or less compared to around 30 per cent of taxpayers currently.  It is why we are reducing business costs by over $10 b a year and, in particular, cutting the costs facing Australian exporters by $4.5 b a year.  It is why we are reducing fuel excise by $3.5 b a year, with the particular benefits that will flow from that reduction to rural and regional Australia.  It is why we are reducing the cost of private investment goods by $7.5 b a year.  It is why we are abolishing the hidden wholesale sales tax and replacing it with a 10% Goods and Services Tax which is rebateable to businesses and which will generale cash flow benefits for most businesses.  It is why, working with the States and Territories, we will abolish nine other indirect taxes:  - Financial Institutions Duty;  - debits tax  - stamp duty on marketable securities;  - conveyancing duties on business property;  - stamp duties on credit arrangements, installment purchase arrangements and rental agreements;  Policy Launch Statement  12  stamp duties on leases;  - stamp duties on mortgages, bonds, debentures and other loan securities;  - stamp duties on cheques, bills of exchange and promissory notes; and  - ‘BED taxes”.  It is why we are abolishing provisional tax and the provisional tax uplift factor and replacing it by a new simpler Pay As You Go System.  It is why we are providing for more generous Capital Gains Tax rollover relief and retirement exemption to be extended to small business.  It is why we are simplifying tax administration for businesses.  And it is why we have established a mechanism for consulting with the business sector on reform of the business investment base and moving towards a 30 per cent company tax rate and a 30 per cent maximum Capital Gains Tax rate, subject to the need to maintain overall revenue neutrality.  OUR SECOND OVERRIDING PRIORITY IS TO MAKE THE TAX SYSTEM FAIRER, AND IN PARTICULAR MORE RESPONSIVE TO THE COSTS OFRAISING FAMILIES.  That is why we are boosting the Family Tax Initiative and significantly increasing family benefits in real tenus at a cost of over $2 b a year.  It is why we are providing a new 30 per cent tax rebate or benefit on private heaith insurance premiums  It is why we are improving work incentives for low and middle income families by significantly reducing effective marginal tax rates, by reducing the family benefits withdrawal rate and by increasing the income threshold for family payments.  It is why we are making tax cheats and tax avoiders pay their share of tax by reducing opportunities to operate in the cash economy.  It is why we are more than protecting social security recipients and lower income groups from the impact of tax reform on prices.  It is why we are providing special measures for older Australians to protect the value of their savings and retirement income.  It is why we are addressing particular anomalies in the tax treatment of trusts while also providing for the refunding of excess imputation credits and special grandfathering arrangements.  It is why we are making the Fringe Benefits Tax System fairer.  And it is why we have locked in the GST rate by stipulating that any request for a change would need to be made unanimously by ail State and Territory Governments, would need to be endorsed by the Commonwealth Government of the day, and would need to be approved by both Houses of Federal Parliament.  THE THIRD OVERRIDING PRIORITY IN OUR NEW TAX PLAN IS TO MODERNISE THE FINANCIAL BASIS OF THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL SYSTEM AS IT PREPARES TO ENTER ITS SECOND CENTURY.  That is why the Commonwealth will provide the States and Territories with a stable and growing source of revenue by giving them ail of the revenue from the GST conditional on their abolition of the inefficient taxes referred to earlier.  The budgetary position of the States and Territories will be significantly enhanced over time by this historic reform.  Commonwealth arrangements will ensure that in the transitionary period of implementation the States and Territories will be no worse off financially than they would be under current arrangements.  From 2003-4, the States will be better off financially, and increasingly so over time, because the GST revenue will grow at a rate significantly stronger than projected Commonwealth grants under the existing System and the State taxes being replaced,  In 2003-4, the States and Territories are projected to gain an additional $370 million; in 2004-5 an additional $1.25 b; in 2005-6 an additional $2.25b rising to an additional $7b in 2009-10.  In cumulative terms, over the first 10 years of our new tax plan the States and Territories are projected to be $25b better off.  This is the single most important change in Commonwealth-State financial relations for over half a century. It provides the States and Territories with a stable and growing revenue base to fund its provision of community services and other responsibilities into the future.   More fairness AND choice FOR families  A Coalition Government will continue to put the needs of families, and in particular a recognition of the costs of bring up children,, at the centre of national policy making. This focus is clearly evident in our  - $2b package of enhanced family measures in our Tax Reform Plan;  - a total of over $30b allocated for funding for public health care under the Australian Health Care Agreements and our new 30 per cent tax rebate/benefit for private health insurance premiums to be introduced from 1 January 1999;  - our increased assistance for carers (for specific detail see Our Families, Our Strength, Our Future policy document, as well as accompanying documentation on the additional initiative for carers announced today);  - our enhanced funding for rural and regional health (for specific detail see our Rural and Regional Health - The Best oF Health  policy document);  - our commitment, announced today, to boost education funding to raise educational standards, benefit disadvantaged schools, improve literacy, numeracy and language skills, and help in the education of isolated children (for specific detail on these initiatives see our Raising Standards policy document released today);  - our expansion, aiso announced today, of the New  Apprenticeship scheme (for specific detail see our Skilling Australia for Jobs policy document released today);  - our assistance to families seeking to balance work and the care of children through the greater flexibility in work arrangements flowing from our workplace reforms;  - our anti-drugs strategy (for specific detail, see our Tough on Drugs: Strengthening the Fight policy document);  - our commitments to boost funding to fight crime and violence in our society (for specific detail, see our Opportunity and   A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   Choice Women’s Policy document and our Crime - A Safer and Stronger Australia policy document);  - our provision of additional funding for family and relationship support and for youth suicide prevention (outlined in detail in the Our Families, Our Strength, Our Future policy document).  Further details of our record of commitment to Australian families is provided in our First Term Achievements document released today.  A FAIR GO FOR REGIONAL AND RURAL AUSTRALIA  Our commitment to rural and regional Australia is reflected in a wide range of initiatives. These include:  - the $3.5b initiative in our Tax Reform Plan to slash the cost of fuel, which will be of particular benefit to primary producers. This initiative includes the new diesel fuel credit scheme to effectively reduce diesel excise for ail off-road (including marine) users from 43 cents per litre to zero, and for larger transport users (including rail) from 43 cents per litre to 18 cents per litre. In addition, business users of petrol and diesel will save about 7 cents a litre relative to where they pay now through their access to a refund of the GST paid on fuel;  - our $1.5b Natural Heritage Trust to protect and restore Australia’s natural environment;  - our $70m Rural Transactions Centres initiative announced today (see separate accompanying documentation);  - our $250m Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund which is to be boosted by a further $70m;  - our recently announced investment of an addition $195 million improving Australia’s roads;  - a doubling of the size of the Medicare Easyclaim network;  - an additional $80m for the Blackspots road programme.  Further details of our record of commitment to rural and regional Australia is provided in our First Term Achievements document released today.  SECURITY FOR OLDER AUSTRALIANS  The Coalition Government is fully committed to protecting the interests of older Australians through a range of programmes aimed at retirement income security, enhanced quality of life and improved access to health and community services.  This commitment is reflected in  - the legislation we had passed for the first time to link pensions to 25 per cent of Male Total Average Weekly Eamings when Consumer Price Index increases fail to maintain that level;  - our introduction of a tax rebate for low income aged persons which has created the same effective tax free threshold for ail retirees on the same income, whether pensioner or self-funded  retiree;  - the abolition of provisional tax under our Tax Reform Plan;  - our extension of the Commonwealth Seniors’ Health Card from 1 January 1999 to over 220,000 additional retirees through an increase in the income limits;  - our extension of the Veterans Gold Card from 1 January 1999 to an additional 50,000 World War II veterans;  - the provision in our Tax Reform Plan for a 30 per cent tax rebate or cash benefit on the cost of private health insurance premiums;  - our $280m Staying at Home package in April this year which expanded assistance to carers, respite centres and Community Aged Care Packages;  - our increased spending (increased to around $3b this year) on residential aged care;  - the provision in our Tax Reform Plan for:  - a 4 per cent increase in age and other pensions;  - retention of the existing pensioner rebate scheme and an increase in the maximum rebate by $250 a year for single pensioners and $175 a year for each of a pensioner couple;  A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   - an increase in the income test for pension eligibility and a reduction in the pension income test withdrawai rate by 10 cents in the dollar;  - a special Aged Persons Savings Bonus and a Self-Funded Retirees Supplementary Bonus;  - income tax cuts worth over $ 13b;  - an increase in the tax free threshold to $6,000; and  - a refund of excess imputation credits.  Further details on our record of commitment to older Australians is provided in our First Term Achievements document released today and in our Tax Reform Plan document.  MUTUAL OBLIGATION  The Coalition Government is committed to ensuring an effective social security safety net for those in need or especially disadvantaged.  We also believe in the principle of mutual obligation - that it is fair and reasonable to require those in receipt of support to put something back into our community.  Today we are announcing a significant expansion of the Work for the Dole programme that we established in our first term. The details of the initiative are provided in our separate accompanying Working for the Dole policy document.  ADVANCING AUSTRALIA’S INTERESTS IN THE WORLD  A Coalition Government will build on its first term achievements in establishing clear foreign policy priorities that contribute in a confident and responsible way to addressing the challenges facing our own region and broader global problems. These priorities are spelt out in our Advancing Australia’s Interests foreign policy document. Policy Launch Statement A Stronger Australia 20 September 1998  THE CHOICE TO BE MADE  The 1998 Federal Election presents Australians with a clear and vital choice:  - it is a choice between competent economic management under the Coalition Government and a return to the days of Labor’s economic incompetence - the days of high debt, high deficits and high interest rates;  - it is a choice between building further on the foundation of  sound economic fundamentals under the Coalition Government, or frittering away once gain under Labor the advantages which Australia has gained from the restoration of those sound fundamentals over the past two and a half years;  - it is a choice between optimistic realism under a Coalition Government, or backward-looking inertia under Labor;  - it is a choice between the Coalition Government with a comprehensive plan to maximise Australia’s potential as a nation in the twenty first century and Labor’s head-in-the-sand approach which refuses to face up to the realities of Australia’s circumstances and which has no strategy for taking Australia forward in an increasingly competitive world;  - it is a choice between the Coalition Government’s plan to slash business costs by over $10b, thereby boosting jobs, growth and exports, and Labor’s refusal to develop any such plan which will only make it increasingly harder for our businesses to compete against the rest of the world and to employ more Australians;  - it is a choice between a Coalition Government with the courage to confront reality and spell out its future strategy to the Australian people, and a Labor Opposition which tries to pretend that nothing needs to be done beyond spending more money but which, if elected in 1998, will repeat what it did after the 1993 Election - namely, to renege on tax eut promises and increase tax rates;  - it is a choice between a Coalition Government which balances fairness and incentive and a Labor Opposition obsessed with the self-defeating politics of envy;  A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   - it is a choice between the Coalition Government’s initiatives to strengthen the capacity of Australian enterprises to compete in export markets by removing $4.5b of costs on Australian exports, and Labor’s policies which will force Australian enterprises to compete in export markets and against imports with one hand tied behind their backs;  - it is a choice between the Coalition Government’s plan to  provide the States and Territories with an adequate and secure revenue base to fund health, education, law and order and other essential government services in the future, and a Labor Opposition with no such plan and no provision for such services into the future;  - it is a choice between a reduction under a Coalition Government of $3.5b in the cost of fuel to ail businesses, with particular advantages for rural and regional Australia, and Labor which would provide no such reduction;  - it is a choice between the Coalition Government’s  comprehensive strategy to enhance the social and economic security of Australians, and a Labor Opposition which is ail talk and no substance on the issue;  - it is a choice between a future under a Coalition Government in which government does not get out of people’s lives but in which it gets off their backs, and a future under Labor in which suffocating centralised controls are restored, choice is diminished and incentive is stifled;  - it is a choice between a Coalition Government which believes strongly in the principle of mutual obligation in our society and the value of programmes such as Work for the Dole, and Labor which is committed to gutting such programmes; and  - it is a choice between a Coalition Government which has boosted Australia’s international influence through the strengthening of our domestic economy and through constructive and realistic engagement with the countries of our own region as well as those beyond it, and a retum to Labor’s arrogant hectoring system of diplomacy that fails to take proper account of Australia’s real interests and our capacity to achieve results.  Policy Launch Statement  These dimensions of the choice which Australians will make on 3 October point to the broader choice to be made between two fundamentally different views of Australia’s future.  Labor’s view of Australia’s future is a timid, introspective and backward-looking one.  Its guiding lights are centralised and ad hoc programmes of government and bureaucracy, a penalising of incentive and enterprise, and a fear of reform that will only entrench and worsen existing-unfairness and inefficiencies, disadvantage Australia in the global economy and condemn Australians to declining living standards.  In contrast to Labor, the Coalition’s view of Australia’s future is one built on optimism, realism and a clear sense of purpose:  - optimism about the capacity of Australian individuals and  enterprises to make the most of expanding global opportunities, and about our unique assets as a nation: our people, our natural resources and the intersection of our history, geography and diversity;  - realism about our circumstances as a nation and about the need for reform in specific areas if Australia is to maximise its potential into the twenty first century; and  - a clear sense of purpose built on an expansion of choice,  incentive and opportunity and reflected in a plan for the future that delivers lower and fairer taxes, boosts growth and jobs, and ensures a secure revenue base to fund essential government services into the future.  BELIEFS AND VALUES UNDERPINNING THE PRIORITIES OF A COALITION GOVERNMENT  During it’s first term, the Coalition Government’s priorities in public policy have been underpinned by a clear set of beliefs and values. These beliefs and values will remain stronger than ever in a second term. They include:  - our aim to liberale the capacities of private enterprise within the context of a strategic but limited role for government;  - our commitment to strategic objectives such as a more productive economy, more effective markets, greater competitiveness and fiscal responsibility not as ends in themselves but as means for achieving more job growth, rising  A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   living standards throughout the community and an effective social safety net;  - our focus on practical outcomes, rather than ideology, with a presumption in favour of the individual over the State;  - our commitment to the enhancement of diversity, choice and competition;  - our recognition of the limits of markets as well as the limits of government;  - our opposition to both laissez-faire economics on the one hand, and suffocating centralism by government and bureaucracy, on the other;  - our central belief in the importance of strong families, strong workpiaces and strong communities;  - our support for an important role of voluntary and community organisations, particularly in areas such as illicit drugs, suicide, youth alienation, homelessness, violence and family breakdown;  - our special sense of responsibility for safeguarding Australia’s unique and fragile environment; and  - our resolve to further enhance Australia’s record of  achievement as one of the most democratic, tolerant and fair-minded communities in the world by continuing to ensure that ail Australians have an equal right to self-dignity and self-fulfilment irrespective of their gender, colour, beliefs or country of origin.  COMPETENCE IN ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT  The issue of competence in economic management lies at the centre of the 1998 Election. Economic competence not only influences jobs, growth, interest rates, debt, investment, opportunities and living standards. It also affects the capacity for funding adequately the government services that Australians need.  THE MESS INHERITED FROM LABOR  In March 1996, the Coalition Government inherited from Labor a legacy of deficit and debt which, without determined corrective Policy Launch Statement action, would have been a continuing drain on Australia’s economy and society.  Labor’s record of economic mismanagement needs to be kept in clear perspective and in high profile:  - the UNEMPLOYMENT RATE peaked at 11.2 per cent in December 1992 and was 8.5 per cent in March 1996. Between March 1983 and March 1996, the unemployment rate averaged 8.7 per cent.  - The UNDERLYING BUDGET DEFICIT for 1995-96 was $10.3b. From 1983-84 to 1995-96, the Commonwealth budget averaged an underlying deficit of 1.6 per cent of GDP.  - COMMONWEALTH GENERAL GOVERNMENT NET DEBT increased from around $16b (4 per cent of GDP) in 1989-90 to around $96b (nearly 20 per cent of GDP) in 1995-96.  - Between March 1983 and March 1996, HEADLINE INFLATION averaged 5.2 per cent. UNDERLYING INFLATION average 5.1 per cent over the same period.  - INTEREST RATES hit record highs in the late 1980s and were still high in March 1996.  - Variable bank home loan interest rates peaked at 17 per cent in 1989 and were 10.5 per cent in March 1996. Between March 1983 and March 1996, they averaged 12.8 per cent.  - Variable bank business interest rates peaked at 20.5 per cent in 1989 and were 11.25 per cent in March 1996 for small business and 10.75 per cent for large firms. Between March 1983 and March 1996, they averaged 14.25 per cent for both small business and large firms.  - Australia’s high inflation rate and debt levels over the 1980s added a substantial RISK PREMIUM to our foreign borrowing, with a differential between domestic and US 10-year bond yields of more than 250 basis points in March 1996 and averaging 450 basis points over the second half of the 1980s.  - FOREIGN DEBT rose from around 15 per cent of GDP in 1983 to over 40 per cent by March 1996.  A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   THE RESTORATION 0F SOUND ECOIMOM1C FUNDAMENTALS  From March 1996, when the Coalition was informed of the true state of the Australian economy, we set about turning around the legacy of deficit, debt and mismanagement which we inherited. We did so because it is only on a foundation of sound economic fundamentals that sustainable long-term growth can be built.  Our record of achievement in fixing Labor’s economic mess has laid the foundations for solid Australian economic growth at a time of regional crisis and global instability:  - The UNDERLYING SURPLUS was $ 1.25b in 1997-98, a $ 11.5b  turnaround from the deficit of $10.3b in 1995-96 and achieved without any increase in income tax rates, the company tax rate, the wholesale sales tax or petrol excise.  - ECONOMIC ACTIVITY has grown by 3.9 per cent through the year to the June quarter 1998  - INTEREST RATES have fallen since March 1996  - Variable bank HOME LOAN INTEREST RATES have fallen by 3.8 percentage points since March 1996 and now average around 6.7 per cent - their lowest level since the early 1970s;  - SMALL BUSINESS INDICATOR BORROWING INTEREST RATES from major banks are around 7.7 per cent - down from 11.25 per cent in mid-1996.  - COMMONWEALTH NET DEBT to GDP remains on track to be  halved by the turn of the century compared to a ratio of around 20 per cent inherited in March 1996.  - PRODUCTIVITY rose by 3.8 per cent through the year to the June quarter 1998 (measured as (trend) non-farm market sector output per hour worked) - more than double the average of 1.7 per cent per annum between 1983 and 1995.  - EMPLOYMENT (as at August 1998) has risen by 222,400 since August 1997 and by 317,000 since March 1996.  Policy Launch Statement  - Real business investment was 13.4 per cent of GDP in the June quarter 1998 (after reaching a record 15.4 per cent in the March quarter) and bas averaged 13.4 per cent since the March quarter 1996, compared with an average of 10.5 per cent between the March quarter 1983 and the March quarter 1996.  - THE UNDERLYING CPI rose by 0.4 per cent in the June quarter 1998 and 1.6 per cent through the year - only slightly above the record low (of 1.4 per cent) in the December quarter 1997. Through-the-year underlying inflation bas now been below 2.5 per cent for the past two years.  - The INTEREST RATE PREMIUM Australians pay over US rates,  reflecting perceived risks, has fallen from over 250 basis points in March 1996 to an average of 29 basis points in August 1998.  A STRONGER AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY THROUGH COMPETENT ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT  On these sound macroeconomic foundations, the Coalition Government has built a stronger Australian economy and enhanced the prospects for future growth. We have done so through a wide range of policy initiatives.  - We have modernised Australia’s industrial relations System,  particularly through the 1996 Workplace Relations Act. In doing so, we are promoting innovation, choice and productive partnerships in individual workplaces to the common benefit of employers and employees in those enterprises.  S.  - Building on our reform of Australia’s financial System following the Wallis Financial System Inquiry, we are establishing a world-class framework for financial sector regulation that will enhance AUSTRALIA’S CREDENTIALS AS A FINANCIAL CENTRE.  - Our $1.26b Investing for Growth INDUSTRY POLICY STATEMENT m December 1997 provided specific incentives to encourage research and development, boost investment, help Australian business capture new export markets and harness the opportunities provided by the information economy.  A STRONGER AUSTRAHA • We are modernising Australia’s communications  INFRASTRUCTURE through expanding competition, broadening consumer choice and requiring specific performance benchmarks.  - SMALL BUSINESS DEREGULATION has eut red tape and reduced compliance burdens.  - Our commitment to MAKING AUSTRALIA ONE OF THE GREAT SHARE-OWNING DEMOCRACIES OF THE WORID has expanded community involvement in great Australian enterprises such as Telstra.  - MICROECONOMIC REFORMS, particularly in the transport sector, are creating new opportunities for Australian exporters and greater potential for growth.  - Sectoral policy measures, including POLIÇY PACKAGES IN THE AUTOMOTIVE, PHARMACEUTICALS AND TEXTILE, CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR INDUSTRIES, are encouraging renewed investment, greater competitiveness and continued reform.  - We have placed a special emphasis on national literacy and numeracy and revitalised apprenticeships and traineeships.  - Our $1.25b Natural Heritage Trust (which we recently boosted to $1.5b), the Regional Forest Agreements, the Supermarket to Asia initiative and the ‘Agriculture - Advancing Australia’ package have provided a much more productive framework for SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCE PROTECTION.  We have also taken specific initiatives to reduce the tax burden, strengthen compliance, reduce unfairness and encourage investment. Those measures include:  - the 1996 Family Tax Initiative;  - incentives to take out private health insurance;  - a tax rebate for low income aged persons to assist low income self-funded retirees;  - capital gains tax relief on the sale of small business assets;  Policy Launch Statement  Capital Gains Tax relief on the sale of a small business for retirement; and  a range of measures to address tax avoidance.  COMPREHENSIVE TAX REFORM  Comprehensive tax reform is an essential prerequisite for competent management of the Australian economy into the twenty first century. It is the single most important item of unfinished business in building an economic infrastructure that will enable Australia to compete and prosper in an increasingly competitive world economy.  Only the Coalition bas a plan for comprehensive tax reform - a plan to deliver lower and fairer taxes, boostjobs and growth, reduce business costs and increase exports.  THE Coalition’s Tax Reform Plan builds on, and complements, our economic achievements in other areas outlined above.  Labor’s head-in-the-sand approach to tax reform will have inevitable consequences:  - it will deliver higher tax rates as the base shrinks;  - it will lead to increasing reliance on income taxes and therefore an increasingly unfair burden being borne by wage and salary earners;  - it will increase the disadvantages of Australian businesses seeking to win export markets or compete against imports;  - it will discourage savings and penalise those who live off their savings;  - its growing complexity will add to compliance costs and encourage more avoidance and evasion by those who can do so; and  - it will make the revenue base of the States and Territories even more inadequate and inefficient for funding necessary community services into the future.  A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   11  COALITION PRIORITIES FOR A NEW AND BETTER TAX SYSTEM  Three overriding priorities underpin the comprehensive TAX Reform Plan which we have presented to the Australian people.  Our first priority is to reduce the tax burden on Australians. to boostjobs and to increase growth.  That is why we are slashing personal income tax by $13 b a year -resulting in over 80 per cent of taxpayers having a top tax rate of 30 per cent or less compared to around 30 per cent of taxpayers currently.  It is why we are reducing business costs by over $10 b a year and, in particular, cutting the costs facing Australian exporters by $4.5 b a year.  It is why we are reducing fuel excise by $3.5 b a year, with the particular benefits that will flow from that reduction to rural and regional Australia.  It is why we are reducing the cost of private investment goods by $7.5 b a year.  It is why we are abolishing the hidden wholesale sales tax and replacing it with a 10% Goods and Services Tax which is rebateable to businesses and which will generale cash flow benefits for most businesses.  It is why, working with the States and Territories, we will abolish nine other indirect taxes:  - Financial Institutions Duty;  - debits tax  - stamp duty on marketable securities;  - conveyancing duties on business property;  - stamp duties on credit arrangements, installment purchase arrangements and rental agreements;  Policy Launch Statement  12  stamp duties on leases;  - stamp duties on mortgages, bonds, debentures and other loan securities;  - stamp duties on cheques, bills of exchange and promissory notes; and  - ‘BED taxes”.  It is why we are abolishing provisional tax and the provisional tax uplift factor and replacing it by a new simpler Pay As You Go System.  It is why we are providing for more generous Capital Gains Tax rollover relief and retirement exemption to be extended to small business.  It is why we are simplifying tax administration for businesses.  And it is why we have established a mechanism for consulting with the business sector on reform of the business investment base and moving towards a 30 per cent company tax rate and a 30 per cent maximum Capital Gains Tax rate, subject to the need to maintain overall revenue neutrality.  OUR SECOND OVERRIDING PRIORITY IS TO MAKE THE TAX SYSTEM FAIRER, AND IN PARTICULAR MORE RESPONSIVE TO THE COSTS OFRAISING FAMILIES.  That is why we are boosting the Family Tax Initiative and significantly increasing family benefits in real tenus at a cost of over $2 b a year.  It is why we are providing a new 30 per cent tax rebate or benefit on private heaith insurance premiums  It is why we are improving work incentives for low and middle income families by significantly reducing effective marginal tax rates, by reducing the family benefits withdrawal rate and by increasing the income threshold for family payments.  It is why we are making tax cheats and tax avoiders pay their share of tax by reducing opportunities to operate in the cash economy.  It is why we are more than protecting social security recipients and lower income groups from the impact of tax reform on prices.  It is why we are providing special measures for older Australians to protect the value of their savings and retirement income.  It is why we are addressing particular anomalies in the tax treatment of trusts while also providing for the refunding of excess imputation credits and special grandfathering arrangements.  It is why we are making the Fringe Benefits Tax System fairer.  And it is why we have locked in the GST rate by stipulating that any request for a change would need to be made unanimously by ail State and Territory Governments, would need to be endorsed by the Commonwealth Government of the day, and would need to be approved by both Houses of Federal Parliament.  THE THIRD OVERRIDING PRIORITY IN OUR NEW TAX PLAN IS TO MODERNISE THE FINANCIAL BASIS OF THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL SYSTEM AS IT PREPARES TO ENTER ITS SECOND CENTURY.  That is why the Commonwealth will provide the States and Territories with a stable and growing source of revenue by giving them ail of the revenue from the GST conditional on their abolition of the inefficient taxes referred to earlier.  The budgetary position of the States and Territories will be significantly enhanced over time by this historic reform.  Commonwealth arrangements will ensure that in the transitionary period of implementation the States and Territories will be no worse off financially than they would be under current arrangements.  From 2003-4, the States will be better off financially, and increasingly so over time, because the GST revenue will grow at a rate significantly stronger than projected Commonwealth grants under the existing System and the State taxes being replaced,  In 2003-4, the States and Territories are projected to gain an additional $370 million; in 2004-5 an additional $1.25 b; in 2005-6 an additional $2.25b rising to an additional $7b in 2009-10.  In cumulative terms, over the first 10 years of our new tax plan the States and Territories are projected to be $25b better off.  This is the single most important change in Commonwealth-State financial relations for over half a century. It provides the States and Territories with a stable and growing revenue base to fund its provision of community services and other responsibilities into the future.   More fairness AND choice FOR families  A Coalition Government will continue to put the needs of families, and in particular a recognition of the costs of bring up children,, at the centre of national policy making. This focus is clearly evident in our  - $2b package of enhanced family measures in our Tax Reform Plan;  - a total of over $30b allocated for funding for public health care under the Australian Health Care Agreements and our new 30 per cent tax rebate/benefit for private health insurance premiums to be introduced from 1 January 1999;  - our increased assistance for carers (for specific detail see Our Families, Our Strength, Our Future policy document, as well as accompanying documentation on the additional initiative for carers announced today);  - our enhanced funding for rural and regional health (for specific detail see our Rural and Regional Health - The Best oF Health  policy document);  - our commitment, announced today, to boost education funding to raise educational standards, benefit disadvantaged schools, improve literacy, numeracy and language skills, and help in the education of isolated children (for specific detail on these initiatives see our Raising Standards policy document released today);  - our expansion, aiso announced today, of the New  Apprenticeship scheme (for specific detail see our Skilling Australia for Jobs policy document released today);  - our assistance to families seeking to balance work and the care of children through the greater flexibility in work arrangements flowing from our workplace reforms;  - our anti-drugs strategy (for specific detail, see our Tough on Drugs: Strengthening the Fight policy document);  - our commitments to boost funding to fight crime and violence in our society (for specific detail, see our Opportunity and   A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   Choice Women’s Policy document and our Crime - A Safer and Stronger Australia policy document);  - our provision of additional funding for family and relationship support and for youth suicide prevention (outlined in detail in the Our Families, Our Strength, Our Future policy document).  Further details of our record of commitment to Australian families is provided in our First Term Achievements document released today.  A FAIR GO FOR REGIONAL AND RURAL AUSTRALIA  Our commitment to rural and regional Australia is reflected in a wide range of initiatives. These include:  - the $3.5b initiative in our Tax Reform Plan to slash the cost of fuel, which will be of particular benefit to primary producers. This initiative includes the new diesel fuel credit scheme to effectively reduce diesel excise for ail off-road (including marine) users from 43 cents per litre to zero, and for larger transport users (including rail) from 43 cents per litre to 18 cents per litre. In addition, business users of petrol and diesel will save about 7 cents a litre relative to where they pay now through their access to a refund of the GST paid on fuel;  - our $1.5b Natural Heritage Trust to protect and restore Australia’s natural environment;  - our $70m Rural Transactions Centres initiative announced today (see separate accompanying documentation);  - our $250m Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund which is to be boosted by a further $70m;  - our recently announced investment of an addition $195 million improving Australia’s roads;  - a doubling of the size of the Medicare Easyclaim network;  - an additional $80m for the Blackspots road programme.  Further details of our record of commitment to rural and regional Australia is provided in our First Term Achievements document released today.  SECURITY FOR OLDER AUSTRALIANS  The Coalition Government is fully committed to protecting the interests of older Australians through a range of programmes aimed at retirement income security, enhanced quality of life and improved access to health and community services.  This commitment is reflected in  - the legislation we had passed for the first time to link pensions to 25 per cent of Male Total Average Weekly Eamings when Consumer Price Index increases fail to maintain that level;  - our introduction of a tax rebate for low income aged persons which has created the same effective tax free threshold for ail retirees on the same income, whether pensioner or self-funded  retiree;  - the abolition of provisional tax under our Tax Reform Plan;  - our extension of the Commonwealth Seniors’ Health Card from 1 January 1999 to over 220,000 additional retirees through an increase in the income limits;  - our extension of the Veterans Gold Card from 1 January 1999 to an additional 50,000 World War II veterans;  - the provision in our Tax Reform Plan for a 30 per cent tax rebate or cash benefit on the cost of private health insurance premiums;  - our $280m Staying at Home package in April this year which expanded assistance to carers, respite centres and Community Aged Care Packages;  - our increased spending (increased to around $3b this year) on residential aged care;  - the provision in our Tax Reform Plan for:  - a 4 per cent increase in age and other pensions;  - retention of the existing pensioner rebate scheme and an increase in the maximum rebate by $250 a year for single pensioners and $175 a year for each of a pensioner couple;  A STRONGER AUSTRALIA   - an increase in the income test for pension eligibility and a reduction in the pension income test withdrawai rate by 10 cents in the dollar;  - a special Aged Persons Savings Bonus and a Self-Funded Retirees Supplementary Bonus;  - income tax cuts worth over $ 13b;  - an increase in the tax free threshold to $6,000; and  - a refund of excess imputation credits.  Further details on our record of commitment to older Australians is provided in our First Term Achievements document released today and in our Tax Reform Plan document.  MUTUAL OBLIGATION  The Coalition Government is committed to ensuring an effective social security safety net for those in need or especially disadvantaged.  We also believe in the principle of mutual obligation - that it is fair and reasonable to require those in receipt of support to put something back into our community.  Today we are announcing a significant expansion of the Work for the Dole programme that we established in our first term. The details of the initiative are provided in our separate accompanying Working for the Dole policy document.  ADVANCING AUSTRALIA’S INTERESTS IN THE WORLD  A Coalition Government will build on its first term achievements in establishing clear foreign policy priorities that contribute in a confident and responsible way to addressing the challenges facing our own region and broader global problems. These priorities are spelt out in our Advancing Australia’s Interests foreign policy document.