Cartoons of the Week

John Shakespeare

Bypass the Murdoch press and read Labor's policy costings for yourself

Going on the behaviour of Murdoch's News Corp mastheads during the 2019 federal election campaign to date, by 6am the headlines will be misleading at best.

Scott Morrison & Co have already begun their scare campaign in response to the policy costings Labor released yesterday.

Therefore I invite readers to bypass political posturing by both the Coalition and a large section of the media and look at the policy document for yourselves.

It is your judgement that counts because the responsibility to elect the next Australian Government rests with you, not with an elderly U.S. billionaire who rarely visits this country.

2019 Labor Fiscal Plan by clarencegirl on Scribd

https://www.scribd.com/document/409452342/2019-Labor-Fiscal-Plan

Why has Australian Treasurer & Liberal MP for Kooyong Josh Frydenberg morphed into a frenzied Trump?

“Ultimately, a dollar of tax avoided by high income Australians is an extra dollar of tax paid by all other Australians.” [Australian Labor Party (ALP) policy document Positive plan to help housing affordability]

The Australian Labor Party has put forward a number of policies which limit the degree to which affluent groups in our society can manipulate the tax system.

These tax reform policies will:

* limit negative gearing to investment properties already negatively geared and newly built residential housing. However net income losses on existing negatively geared properties will not be able to be used to offset salary & wage income;

* cease cash refunds for excess dividend imputation credits on which the investor personally paid no tax originally and who has no current tax liability to offset with these credits;

* reduce the discount on capital gains tax from 50 per cent to 25 per cent after the deduction for any capital losses. Some assets and events are exempt from capital gains tax. These include selling your principle home, personal car, personal use assets or selling an asset acquired before capital gains tax was introduced on 20 September 1985. 
According to the Australian Taxation Office if you are an individual rather than a corporation then the Capital Gains Tax Rate is the same as your Income Tax Rate in the applicable year.

These same policies have caused former Deutsche Bank director, current Australian Treasurer and Liberal MP for Kooyong Josh Frydenberg (left) to morph into a frenzied Trump. Pumping out slogans, misrepresentations and sometimes downright political lies on every media platform he can access.

The Australian, 5 December 2018, p.2:

Josh Frydenberg has launched a pre-election assault on Labor’s plan to halve the capital gains tax discount, warning that hundreds of thousands of Australians will be taxed at the “highest rates” in the Western world.

Shifting his focus from Bill Shorten’s proposal to limit negative gearing to new dwellings and the “retiree tax”, the Treasurer yesterday cited government analysis that showed Australians would be taxed up to 36.75 per cent on their capital gains under Labor’s policy, up from 23.5 per cent now….¹

Labor’s 50% increase to capital gains tax will cost jobs, punish those who work hard and save, and give Australia a CGT rate much higher than other advanced economies. pic.twitter.com/W4c3pgcgCt

— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) January 4, 2019

.@JoshFrydenberg on Labor’s negative gearing: Everybody who owns equity in their home will be worse off under Labor’s policy.

This is a major tax grab by the Labor Party.

MORE: https://t.co/9fyClHfMTo #FirstEdition pic.twitter.com/H0H0WTtFV5

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 6, 2018

So why is Frydenberg screaming misrepresentations at the top of his lungs, urged on by the Housing Industry Association?²

Could it be because 56.2 per cent of the tax benefits from Negative Gearing go to individuals whose incomes are in the top 20 per cent of Australian incomes and only 5.2 per cent of the tax benefits go to individuals in the lowest 20 per cent of incomes?

Or because est. 75 per cent of tax savings from Capital GainsTax discounts go to the top 10 per cent of high income families?

Perhaps it’s because Self-Managed Super Funds are a major beneficiary of cash refunds for excess dividend imputation credits, with 50 per cent of the benefit to SMSFs accruing to the top 10 per cent of SMSF balances and some funds receiving cash refunds of more than $2.5 million a year?

Likely he’s screaming because all three instances represent how successfully the affluent have gamed the tax system to date and he like most right-wing politicians see such tax manipulation as a right belonging to them and their mates and, therefore have no interest in supporting a fairer distribution of the tax burden.

He also appears to be ignoring the fact that Treasury modelling of these Labor policies shows an increase in federal government revenue by $2 billion over time and, that these same policies have the potential to put downward pressure on property prices in the short-term so that genuine first home buyers might get a foot in the door with more affordable residential housing.

Bottom line is that Labor’s tax reform policies are primarily targeted at investors with a marginal tax rate (including Medicare Levy) of over 45 per cent - which roughly equates with the top 20 per cent of Australian residents with private wealth.

That is, the 'professional' investors/tax avoiders amongst the 1.16 million Australians who according to Credit Suisse in 2017 are millionaires, some many, many times over.

Footnotes

1. KPMG, Demark- Taxation of investment income and capital gains: “Interest and rental income are taxable as investment (or capital) income with a marginal tax of 42 percent (2018).” Denmark's Capital Gains Tax Rate is higher than the worse case scenario of up to 36.75 per cent under Labor which Frydenberg postulates in Para 5 of this post. Therefore Labor would not be imposing "the highest" rates in the Western world'.

2. Australian Government, Treasury, Tax- Negative Gearing/Capital Gains, FOI, 5 January 2018.

    Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen, A FAIRER TAX SYSTEM: DIVIDEND IMPUTATION REFORM, 13        

                      March 2018.

    Australian Taxation Office,  Individual Income Tax Rates 2018-2019 and CGT assets and exemptions
    National Australia Bank, Calculating and Paying Capital Gains Tax, 
     Domain.com.au, The ‘little known’ tax strategy some millennials use to amass large property portfolios,           23 May 2016.

* Photograph of Josh Frydenberg from msn.com

Calling all Newtown, Erkinville, Redfern, Stanmore girls wherever you may now live - it's time to make history!

New South Wales goes to the polls on 23 March 2019 to elect a state government. It's everyone's chance to make a difference.

You may not know me, but people call me Aunty Norma. I'm a proud Wiradjuri woman and I've lived in the electorate of Newtown almost all my life. I grew up in Redfern. Things were very different back then. Growing up was tough but we got by. My mother looked after us and because I was the baby, she took me everywhere with her. I went to my local public school in Erskineville and Stanmore. As the only Indigenous kid in my class I remember sitting up the back and hoping no-one would notice me because I was so shy, but I knew all the answers and I always loved school. My passion for education came from my mother. She taught me that education opens doors and that education is powerful. After school, my love of education took me to Teacher's College and it was activists like Charles Perkins and Gary Foley who inspired me to make the journey to Harvard. As the very first Aboriginal person to go to Harvard, I could not fail. I had to achieve. With support from the Black Womens Action Group I got into Harvard. There were no scholarships back then. I did everything I could to survive and in 1985 I made history and graduated from Harvard with a Masters of Education. This to me was such a proud achievement. These experiences made me the community activist I am today. I fought to open the National Aboriginal College and started the Lions Club in Redfern. I also started Murawina, the first fully run Aboriginal full day care early childcare program in Redfern. I feel like I've come so far from the little girl who sat at the back of the classroom, but every day things get harder for people like me. Rent goes up, bills get more expensive, Uni and TAFE get more out of reach and our income stays the same. That's why I'm asking for your help to make history. I need your help to become the first Indigenous member for Newtown. I really can't do this alone and I need everyone's support. If you can donate a couple of dollars, get involved in my campaign or tell your friends and family about my story, it all makes a huge impact. Looking back, the shy kid at the back of the classroom would never have dreamed about running for Parliament. This is our chance to make history. Chip in today! Aunty Norma Labor Candidate for Newtown P.S. If you would like to contribute, click here! Keep up to date with NSW Labor on Twitter and Facebook. To make a donation to NSW Labor, click here.  This email was authorised by Kaila Murnain level 9, 377 Sussex Street, Sydney.

Mediscare, shmediscare

Essential Report, 5 June 2016

The baying and bleating coming from the designated Liberal-Nationals corner of the schoolyard over the so-called Mediscare is odd to say the least.

Take this text message that allegedly turned up on an unknown number of mobile phones:

http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/a82b86fbd310be241540ea8e331171a0

That particular Queensland Labor text has been referred to the Australian Federal Police by someone within Coalition ranks.

This mob point the finger at one example of a text message sent on the last day of the federal election campaign while bellowing We wuz robbed!

Never mind that est. 69% of people who voted Labor had made their minds up about their first preference vote from two weeks to over a month ago and, est. 75% of Liberal-Nationals voters had done the same.

Ignore the fact that almost 3 million voters had pre-polled by 30 June 2016 and it was impossible for the last day of the election campaign to affect them.

Pretend that it is beyond a reasonable person's understanding to realize this means that over 8.11 million voters would probably not have been influenced by that tweet even if they had received it.

No,no. There was a !!Mediscare!! which lied about the best friends that Medicare ever had and lost the Coalition votes and seats.

All those attempts to whittle away at universal heath care that the Liberals and Nationals have  tried over the years and of which the general public were well aware? Phfft! Means nothing says Turnbull & Co.

BRIEF BACKGROUND

The Age, 15 April 2005:

Prime Minister John Howard has refused to rule out further cuts to the Medicare safety net, following yesterday's announcement that  low-income earners face a 75 per cent rise in out-of-pocket medical expenses.

Subsidies for 400,000 Australians with big medical bills will be axed under the clawback of the Medicare safety net, announced yesterday.

In his second broken election promise in six months, Prime Minister John Howard yesterday announced that the poor will now have to spend $500 - up from $306 - before the Government picks up most of their health costs.

Others will have to pay $1000, compared with $716 under the existing system.
"This is not a popular decision, I understand that," Mr Howard told ABC radio this morning. ``People will be disappointed, people will be critical, I accept that.

"I don't like having to make this announcement, but I had a choice between maintaining something, the cost of which was ratcheting up, or alternatively taking some unpopular decisions now so that in the long term we can keep the safety net."

He said while a safety net would remain under the Coalition, he refused to promise that there would be no more changes.

"We don't have any (changes) in mind, but I am not going to give an iron-clad guarantee in relation to that," he said. 

Under the changes, foreshadowed in The Age last month, the number of families and individuals qualifying for help is projected to drop from 1.9 million last year to about 1.5 million in 2006, according to Government figures.

The backflip is a public humiliation for Health Minister Tony Abbott, who last year gave an "absolutely rock-solid, ironclad commitment" that the safety net would remain unchanged.

ABC Radio The World Today, 27 April 2005:

ELEANOR HALL: Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott's comments on the possible budget cutback to Medicare-funded IVF treatments have prompted a leading IVF specialist to speak out.
Dr David Molloy says he's stunned by the minister's assertion there has to be "some limit" on the funds the Government is prepared to spend on elective and non-essential procedures like IVF.
And he warns that Mr Abbott has just opened up a whole new argument on the future of Medicare and the procedures it will fund. 

The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 February 2014:

Health Minister Peter Dutton has also signalled that Medicare could be means-tested with access to bulk-billing and medical tests such as X-rays, blood tests limited to those on lower incomes, in a News Corp report.

Mr Dutton questioned why those on higher incomes should be able to go to the doctor ''for free'' and said it was ''one of the discussions . . . we have to have''.

Australian Parliamentary Library, Budget Review 2014–15 Index:

Patient co-payment

A $7 patient co-payment on bulk-billed general practice (GP) visits, and out-of-hospital pathology and diagnostic imaging services, will apply from 1 July 2015. In addition, the MBS rebate for these services will be cut by $5, regardless of whether they are bulk billed.[1] For concession card holders and children under 16, the rebate reduction will only apply for the first 10 visits a year, after which the full MBS rebate will apply.[2] Certain MBS services, such as Health Assessments and Chronic Disease Management items will be quarantined from the co-payment. Savings of $3.5 billion over five years will be used to fund a new Medical Research Future Fund.

The imposition of the co-payment is to ensure all patients contribute to the cost of their health care.

Under current Medicare arrangements doctors are free set their own fees, but those who choose to bulk bill accept the MBS rebate as full payment for the service and cannot charge a co-payment. The rebate for out-of-hospital services is 85 per cent of the Medicare Schedule Fee, but GP services attract a 100 per cent rebate.[3] Under this measure, doctors will have the discretion to charge a co-payment of $7 for bulk billed and other services, but their Medicare rebate will also be reduced by $5. This means they will be worse off each time they bulk bill unless they impose the co-payment…..

Other savings

Savings of $99.2 million over the forward estimates will also be achieved by lowering the MBS rebate for optometry services (from 85 to 80 per cent of the Schedule fee), and removing a charging cap. The time period for Medicare rebatable eye examinations will also be extended from two to three years for asymptomatic people under 65, and reduced from two to one year for those over 65.

National Rural Health Alliance Briefing Paper, The future of Medicare, February 2015:

Overview

Under the original version of the Abbott Government's proposed co-payment, patients would have been charged a co-payment of $7 per visit to the GP, and for each episode of pathology testing and diagnostic imaging. The co-payment was to be waived for concession card holders after 10 visits, offering them some protection against high out of pocket costs.

In the next iteration of the proposal, the Government made the co-payment optional (the decision being left to the GP) but also proposed to reduce the Medicare rebate by $5 for short consultations. It expected some GPs to 'choose to recoup the $5 rebate reduction through an optional co-payment'. In order to protect vulnerable people, the Government proposed to keep in place incentives that encourage GPs to bulk-bill concession card holders and children under 16.

Subsequently, the Government proposed changes to the funding rules for GP consultations along with substantial rebate reductions for short (Level A) consultations; the changes were meant to discourage 'six-minute medicine'. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) complained that the changes would disadvantage experienced and efficient GPs, and would exacerbate problems with timely access to care. It also pointed out that the costs (of the rebate reduction) would likely be passed on to patients. Because of the outcry from health, community service and rights-based interest groups (including the medical profession) over these proposed changes, the Government is now consulting with the sector. However it appears to be committed to bulk-billing only for 'vulnerable' and concessional patients.

The Government's intention to move away from pursuing high bulk-billing rates is an important change in policy direction and its implications for Medicare, and the principles it was founded on, need to be closely examined. In our view, restricting bulk-billing only to vulnerable patients would be a retrograde step. It is vital that the cost of care does not prevent people from using primary care services. However there is evidence that this is already happening….

The importance of keeping Medicare universal

Medicare was designed to provide Australians with universal access to high-quality health care regardless of where they live, or their ability to pay. It was not designed to be a safetynet scheme for those without the means to pay for private insurance, nor was it meant to compete in the market alongside private health insurers. When past governments have experimented with reforms to health insurance along these lines, they found that the results were disappointing. Rather than helping to constrain expenditure on health, opt-out versions of Medicare made it more difficult to contain health care costs because the anticipated benefits of competition - lower prices - did not materialise in the insurance or medical markets.

Because it is financed through taxation, Medicare provides an equitable means of paying for health care. Those with greater means contribute more through our progressive taxation system and help cover the health care costs of those with less. The facility to leverage larger contributions towards the cost of health care from those on higher incomes already exists under Medicare. As a result, less equitable policies, such as compulsory co-payments, are unnecessary in the Australian context.

We believe that the universal nature of Medicare embodies the Australian spirit of 'a fair go for all'. Not only does the principle of universality reflect our past and our values, it also provides an efficient and equitable means of funding access to health care. For these reasons, we oppose any reforms that undermine the universal nature of Medicare and seek to transform it into a safety net scheme for the poor. Instead, we urge the Government to look for alternative means of protecting the sustainability of Medicare: changes that will preserve both equity and efficiency.

SBS News, 28 December 2015:

Australian Medical Association president Brian Owler says the removal of items from the Medicare Benefits Schedule could lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for patients.

Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley announced on Monday 23 tests and procedures, including ear, nose and throat surgeries and diagnostic imaging, have been recommended for removal as part of a major shake up of Medicare.

Ms Ley said in a statement the 23 items, which also include gastroenterology, obstetrics and thoratic medicine services, cost $6.8 million in the past year and were used 52,500 times….

He said some patients would be left out-of-pocket as some of the items recommended for removal were part of other procedures or were used for very specific circumstances.

The West Australian, 9 February 2016:

Medicare, pharmaceutical and aged-care benefits would be delivered by the private sector under an extraordinary transformation of health services being secretly considered by the Federal Government.

The West Australian has learnt that planning for the ambitious but politically risky outsourcing of government payments is well-advanced, with a view to making it a key feature of Treasurer Scott Morrison’s first Budget in May.

To be put to the market a few weeks later, the $50 billion-plus outsourcing would be the first time the private sector has delivered a national service subsidised by the government.

It would replace back-office operations done by bureaucrats.

They would administer claims and payments while overseeing eligibility criteria, meaning they would require access to people’s sensitive private information.

Doctors would also have to open their books to the provider, , which would be subject to regulatory oversight.

The payment system task force run by bureaucrat John Cahill is believed to have proposed a “proof of concept” trial next year. It would require companies being selected this year.

Australia Post, eftpos providers, Telstra and the big banks are showing interest given they have online payment and supply structures.

Foreign multinationals may also bid including Serco, Fuji-Xerox and Accenture. When former treasurer Joe Hockey flagged outsourcing Medicare payments in 2014, the Community and Public Sector Union warned of thousands of job losses. The Australian Medical Association has also spoken against the privatisation of Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Within a fortnight, accountants Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, McKinsey, Deloitte and Boston Consulting and will lodge bids to design the business case for the potential privatisation.

Though it would come with a short-term cost — possibly billions of dollars — to rebuild data and payment systems, the Government believes it would recoup much more later….

Labor Herald, 29 April 2016:

More than half a million Australians have signed a petition opposing the Turnbull government’s $650m cuts to Medicare, sending a clear warning to Malcolm Turnbull: hands off our Medicare.

ABC News, 3 May 2016:

Health experts say many of the budget measures will mean patients are worse-off.

Consumers Health Forum chief executive Leanne Wells said the Government's move to freeze Medicare rebates over the next three years could potentially increase the pressure on GPs to drop bulk billing and charge additional fees.

"The vote of a future Senate could also mean a range of fresh out-of-pocket costs, including a $5 rise in the co-payment for prescribed medicines and cutting of the $630 million in bulk-billing incentives to pathologists and radiologists," Ms Wells said.

"These measures will discourage the sort of reform we need to support a primary health care system that would improve care for those with chronic and complex illness."

The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 July 2016:

Within weeks of its election in 2013 the Coalition entertained a proposal from a former advisor to Tony Abbott as health minister to end free visits to the doctor by requiring a mandatory co-payment of $6. Anyone who didn't like it would be invited to take out private health gap insurance.

Its Commission of Audit recommended a co-payment of $15 per visit and $5 per concession card holder, and then its first budget announced that "previously bulk-billed patients can expect to contribute $7 towards to cost of standard consultations." Medicare Rebates would be cut by $5 and bulk billing incentives would "only be paid to providers when they collect the $7 patient contribution". It encouraged public hospitals to charge public patients who walked in off the street in order to stem the leakage from doctors.

Seven months later Abbott dumped the $7 co-payment and replaced it with a $5 co-payment, all of which was to come from doctors, also abandoning that a few months later. Then he announced plans to slash the Medicare Rebate for short visits from $37.05 to $16.95, also abandoning that a few weeks later.

In his second budget he extended an existing one-year freeze on the Medicare Rebates by a further five years to 2020. By then doctors incomes would have fallen 15 per cent relative to other incomes unless they abandoned bulk billing.

And he booked a budget saving of $57 billion over 10 years by lifting grants to states for running hospitals by much less than the cost of running them, a good deal of which is still baked in to the Turnbull government's budget numbers.

Within a year of taking office he called for expressions of interest from the private sector in running the $29 billion Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme claims system. Among the Australian firms that are believed to have responded are Eftpos, Australia Post and Telstra offshoot Stellar. Among the foreign companies are British services giant Serco, which provides immigration detention centre services, Japanese-US technology giant Fuji-Xerox, German software house SAP and US professional services firm Accenture.

Malcolm Turnbull went into the election campaign continuing to defend the outsourcing option, only to abandon it on Q&A after it came to be conflated with privatisation.

The scare campaign worked because Medicare's supporters were already scared.

@otiose94, 5 July 2016

UPDATE

A little more history on the subject……

The Conversation, 5 July 2016

The Whitlam government’s Medibank program, the predecessor of Medicare, faced furious opposition from the Liberals and (then) Country Party. Allied with the Australian Medical Association, the conservative opposition fought the introduction of universal health insurance, blocking it in the Senate.

The Medibank legislation was forced through parliament in 1974 after a double dissolution election and the only joint sitting of both houses of Parliament. Even then, a rearguard High Court action invalidated crucial funding legislation. As a result of this resistance, Medibank was introduced in July 1975, only four months before the dismissal of the Whitlam government.

The Fraser Coalition government initially kept its promise to preserve Medibank. But through a series of complicated “reforms”, Fraser kept the name, but gradually turned the remnants into a means tested “welfare” system. In 1981 Medibank was abolished completely and Australia returned to the patchy and chaotic coverage of subsidised private health insurance.

This pattern of hostility was replicated against the Hawke government’s Medicare, which was introduced in 1984. For the next decade, Coalition politicians promised to set Australians free from the shackles of compulsory national health insurance.

The electorate was unimpressed. The low point of these attempts to replace universal coverage came with Peter Shack, the Liberal shadow health minister, admitting he had no workable policy going into the 1990 election:

“I want to say with all the frankness I can muster, the Liberal and National Parties do not have a particularly good track record in health, and you don’t need me to remind you of our last period in government.”

Coalition hostility to Medicare played a big part in Labor’s very successful scare campaign in the 1993 “GST” election. The John Hewson-led opposition promised to end bulk billing and restore the supremacy of private insurance. Analysts have determined the Medicare issue as more important than the GST in Keating’s triumph.

This sorry tale appeared to end in 1996. John Howard, heading for a Coalition landslide, reassured voters that not only would his government be “relaxed and comfortable”, but he recognised the error of attacking Medicare. He declared Australians “want Medicare kept” and pledged that “Medicare will remain totally in place under a Coalition government”…..

Howard froze the level of GP rebates (fees) in the 1996 budget. This slowly squeezed GP incomes, forcing many to abandon bulk billing and charge upfront fees. Whether intentional or not, the decline of bulk billing revived old fears of Coalition intentions towards Medicare.

By 2003 the issue was hurting the government so badly, a new health minister, Tony Abbott, came in with an open cheque book to end the crisis. Even then, new bulk billing incentives were aimed selectively at children and pensioners. Howard argued:

“it was never the design [of Medicare] … to guarantee bulk billing for every citizen.”

An extension of this “safety net” argument was a commitment to private health insurance. Both the Fraser and Howard governments tried to force higher-income earners into private insurance. The Howard government subsidised private insurance – but kept it largely to coverage of hospital and specialist services, maintaining Medicare’s monopoly over GP services.

The Abbott government’s Commission of Audit ended this truce. It argued that:

“Expanded private health insurance coverage should be introduced for basic health services currently covered by Medicare. Higher-income earners should be required to insure for basic health services in place of Medicare.”

Political commentator Nikki Savva has argued the Commission’s position shocked Abbott and he ignored most of its recommendations. However, it is not surprising that when his government attempted to bring in new GP co-payments (a Commission recommendation), these were read as part of a fundamental assault on Medicare principles of bulk billing and universality.

Australian Federal Election 2016: 666 apprenticeships gone under Nationals in Page

Labor Candidate for Page Janelle Saffin, media release, 30 June 2016:

666 Apprenticeships gone in Page under the Nationals

New figures released by the Department of Education show that apprenticeship numbers in Page have fallen by 31.5 per cent in two years, with a loss of 666 apprenticeships in the Page electorate.

Janelle Saffin, Federal Labor Candidate for Page said disappointingly Mr Hogan and the rest of the Nationals have allowed this to happen, with these figures replicated across Australia, with 130,000 apprenticeships gone nationally.

The number of apprenticeships in Page dropped from 2,117 at 31 December 2013, to just 1,451 at 31 December 2015.

“The retreat from supporting apprentices and the vocational education and training sector started with Mr Abbott and Mr Truss, and it continues with Mr Turnbull and Mr Joyce,” Ms Saffin said.

“I am serious about investing in apprentices, skills and training in Page.

“The Nationals have cut $2.75 billion from the skills portfolio, including $1 billion in cuts to apprentices by scrapping the Tools for Your Trade program and access and mentoring programs.

“How can they talk ‘jobs and growth’ and then decimate apprenticeships and the VET sector?

“It’s vital that we train and retrain our workforce to improve participation, productivity, and innovation. This is what will drive growth in our region.

“Kevin Hogan and the Nationals have been missing in action on apprenticeships and jobs.”

Ms Saffin said Labor had a comprehensive set of policies to help apprentices, skills and training, including among other policy measures:

• A TAFE Funding Guarantee.

• $8,000 cap on VET FEE-HELP loans per year and a VET sector ombudsman.

• A sector-wide national review to ensure vocational education is able to meet the

training needs of the nation.

• Establishing Commonwealth Institutes of Higher Education to deliver new technical

and education opportunities to areas where access remains difficult and participation is too low.

• Boosting apprenticeships across the country by:

- creating new apprenticeship opportunities through setting a quota of

apprentices on major federally-funded projects.

- reintroducing the Tools for Your Trade program at $3,000 per apprentice to

support them from commencement to completion.

- restoring support for Group Training organisations.

- creating pathways into apprenticeships for 10,000 young people unemployed

people through the Apprentice Ready program.

- piloting a National Skills Recognition Entitlement program with 5,000 places to

help mature-aged, retrenched workers turn their extensive work experience into

formal qualifications.

- connecting potential apprentices with jobs and training through an

Apprenticeships Connect search portal.

- appointing a dedicated Apprentice Advocate.

“Only a Shorten Labor Government will deliver the support for apprentices and TAFE that local residents expect and a vocational education system that delivers a skilled workforce for the future,” Ms Saffin said.

What Labor's Janelle Saffin promises to deliver and fight for when it comes to local community & telecommunication infrastructure in Page

Labor Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, media release, 18 June 2016:

SAFFIN ANNOUNCES COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM FOR PAGE

Janelle Saffin, Labor candidate for Page, today announced a Labor Government would provide a $2.9 million Community Infrastructure Program to build and upgrade sport and recreational facilities for local families on the North Coast and Northern Rivers.

Ms Saffin said the program was designed to allow more people to enjoy healthy, active lifestyles, and to build more connected communities.

“Modern technology means that people are spending more time on computers and electronic devices – and less time being physically or socially active – than ever before.

“This is having a pronounced impact on the way our communities function – with fewer people getting involved in local organisations such as sporting clubs or community groups.

“It’s also having an impact on our health, with the alarming rise of chronic conditions such as diabetes.

“That’s why it’s so important that we invest in facilities that encourage people to get out of their lounge rooms, being active and social, and participating in community life.

“The Community Infrastructure Program will not only improve regional sporting facilities, it will ensure local families have access to playgrounds, parks and trails.”

Page Community Infrastructure Program

o   Woolgoolga Surf Life Saving Club - $1.2 million

o   Rushworth Park soccer complex upgrade - $1 million

o   Broadwater Skate Park - $210,000

o   Casino to Lismore Rail Trail feasibility study – $65,000

o   Woodburn Riverside Adventure Playground - $250,00

o   Casino Showgrounds Canteen Facility - $180,000

o   Woodburn Riverside Pontoon - $110,000

o   Colley Park Sports Centre - $150,000

Ms Saffin said a Labor Government would continue investing in local infrastructure as a priority.

“Unlike the Nationals, Labor believes that investing in local communities is more important that giving tax cuts to multinationals.

“I will always advocate for our local needs, because modest investments can make a major difference to community life.

“Labor is delivering on health, education, skills, training, and jobs. Labor has announced important programs like Work Futures to tackle youth unemployment, and renewable energy hubs that will have a significant impact on our local economy.”

Ms Saffin said she would also fight to deliver funding support for a range of other important local projects, including:

o Alstonville Swimming Pool upgrade - $4m
o Albert Park Baseball Complex upgrade - $4m
o Oakes Oval upgrade (1.4m)
o Replacing wooden bridges in Kyogle - $5m
o Woolgoolga Multi-Purpose Centre - $2.5m
o Sustainable Economy Jobs Officers - to be employed within local councils $3m
o Small Towns & Villages scheme to upgrade local community facilities and encourage       use of solar energy - $3m
o Grafton Men’s shed - $350,000

Shadow Minister for Regional Communications Stephen Jones and Labor Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, joint media release, 28 June 2016:

Shadow Minister for Regional Communications, Stephen Jones, and Labor candidate for Page, Janelle Saffin, today announced that a Shorten Labor Government will provide funding to fix mobile blackspots in the Northern Rivers and North Coast region of NSW.

Fixing mobile black spots by building critical infrastructure will save lives and improve mobile communications for residents and businesses in regional NSW.

Stephen Jones said that only Labor was committed to improving the administration of the Mobile Black Spot program across Australia.

“Labor will not only match the Turnbull Government’s promises on mobile black spot funding, we will actually improve the administration of the Mobile Black Spot program and give priority to regional areas of Northern NSW prone to natural disasters, like bushfires and floods,” Mr Jones said.

“Mr Turnbull’s Mobile Black Spot program just isn’t up to scratch. There are some locations, such as Maclean, Wooli, Summerland Way and Woodenbong, that should have been funded but were not.

“We must do more to help regional communities when it comes to mobile black spots. This is vital infrastructure that people rely on,” Mr Jones said.

Labor candidate for Page, Janelle Saffin, said local communities have waited too long to have better or any mobile phone coverage.

“Mobile phone coverage saves lives in an emergency and is central to the daily life of our region,” Ms Saffin said.

“Many parts of our region are vulnerable to flood and bushfire, so these services are very important to the community.

“The lack of coverage is particularly problematic for the elderly members of our community who rely on these connections to stay in touch with family and friends.

“Of the 499 mobile towers funded in Round One of the Mobile Black Spot program, as of 4 May 2016 only 21 had been switched on.

“A Shorten Labor Government will ensure that the roll out continues and is focused on the getting better coverage for Northern NSW," Ms Saffin said.