Federal Election ’07: The seat of Sydney

Jenny Leong (Greens )

Jenny Leong has just completed her term as President of the University of Sydney’s Postgraduate Program and understandably tertiary education is one of her key election platforms. Leong says the Greens propose to “repeal HECS and forgive all HECS debts.”

“The Greens estimate that the abolition of HECS would cost $2.5 billion per year. To put that figure in perspective, the Government has earmarked $70 billion over the next four years in tax cuts.”

The second of Leong’s platforms is the Work Choices legislation.

Leong said that the Greens are the only party that will rip up Work Choices. “Beazley and Gillard said they would tear up Work Choices but now we have Forward with Fairness.

The Labor Party has sold out on a massive union campaign on workers rights. Labor is moving away from its support base of unionists and now they are getting involved in the Greens. People don’t want a light version of Howard – they want a complete change in direction.”

The third key election issue for Leong is climate change. “While Plibersek is a member of the Left she still has to vote with Labor.

The Greens policy is to phase out polluting industries and retrain workers in sustainable industries such as solar and wind power. If this transition is not made, then jobs in the tourism industry, such as at the Great Barrier Reef, will be lost.”

Tanya Plibersek (Labor )

Tanya Plibersek is the incumbent member for Sydney. Plibersek’s three main campaign issues are the housing affordability crisis, education from early childhood to university, and indigenous issues.

Plibersek says, “There are three issues in terms of what’s happening locally in the housing affordability crisis – the private rental market, home ownership and public housing.

There is also the related issue of homelessness. Around 100,000 people in Australia sleep without a roof over their heads every night: half of them are under the age of 24 and 10,000 are children.” Plibersek says that in the past ten years the Government has reduced the public housing budget by $3 billion. In contrast, a Rudd Labor Government will increase emergency and public housing for people in need. In response to the Greens policy on repealing HECS, Plibersek says that the money would be better spent increasing housing affordability.

“There are issues in education from early childhood to university. There are people who can’t work or study because of lack of childcare facilities. There is going to be a 240,000 person skills shortage in trades over the next few years and yet TAFE has turned away over 300,000 people from courses over the term of the Howard Government.

It is best to invest in TAFE now to avoid the skills shortage.

The third key campaign issue for Plibersek is indigenous affairs. “There is a significant indigenous population in this electorate who have benefited from housing programs and yet funding has been withdrawn.” Plibersek says vital programs such as the Redfern Community Development Employment Program also had their funding withdrawn. While a national approach to indigenous affairs is needed, Plibersek contends that the confrontational approach of the Howard government is not the solution.

Georgina Anderson (Liberal)

Mortgage broker and actor Georgina Anderson is the recently announced Liberal Party candidate for Sydney. Historically Sydney has voted to the Left, but Anderson is confident she can secure an increase in the Liberal vote.

Anderson’s key campaign message is the solid economic management under the Howard Government and promises that if returned that economic prosperity will continue.

As a mortgage broker, Anderson is acutely aware of the effect of interest rates on people’s lives.

While interest rates have risen in recent times, Anderson proposes that interest rates are historically low and lower than what their rate would be under Labor. “Interest rates were an average of 7.2% over the last 11 years, whereas interest rates were 12.75% over the course of the last Labor government. By keeping interest rates low, the Liberal government is creating more affordable housing,” Anderson claims.

Anderson fixes on Australia’s improved financial situation in the last 11 years of the Liberal government. “The top tax rate is now $180,000 rather than Labor’s $50,000. Real wages (accounting for inflation) have increased dramatically by almost 20% during the Liberal Government, whereas under the Labor government real wages decreased by 1.8%. The number of long term unemployed was 197,800 at the end of Labor, whereas now the number of long term unemployed is 76,000.”

Regarding the unpopular Work Choices legislation Anderson said nineteen out of twenty businesses in a Sensis survey believe the changes are positive.

Source: South Sydney Herald October 2007