Federal Labor appreciates the important contribution small businesses make to national prosperity and to supporting jobs. That’s why, when the Global Financial Crisis hit, Federal Labor stepped in with practical measures to help small businesses and support the economy, including:

    * The $42 billion Nation Building – Economic Stimulus Plan.
    * Extra tax breaks for small business.
    * Small Business Advisory Services.
    * Small Business Support Line.
    * Tax Office advice and assistance.
    * Cash flow assistance with Pay-As-You-Go tax instalment reductions.
    * Apprenticeship completion payments.
    * On-time payment guarantee for small businesses.

http://alp.org.au/agenda/more---policies/labor%E2%80%99s-plan-for-all-small-businesses/

The Australian Democrats recognise small business as the engine room of the economy. Small business employs a vast number of Australians, yet the government programs are always about big business.

When elected, I will argue in the Senate for a reduction of red tape for small business, such as streamlining BAS statements. I will support efforts to subsidise the costs of taking on and training new employees, as part of reducing unemployment and assisting young people to start their careers.

Small business is an essential part of Australia's economy, I believe that it needs equal opportunity to be able to compete against large often multinational corporations.

Housing affordability is a critical issue for many young familes. Despite uttering the words 'housing affordability' over and over again, the Rudd-Gillard Government has done nothing to address this issue. Even the most recent Budget brought down by the Rudd-Gillard Government outlines that mortgage interest rates will be higher over the coming year. The first and most important thing an elected Coalition Government will do is reduce the wasteful spending off the Labor Party that is putting upward pressure on interest rates and making mortgages even more expensive for Australian families.

The Australian Democrats know this is a major issue for people trying to get into their first home.

It is a problem impacted by multiple factors, income, housing supply, types of housing, bank lending, income and employment. 

Income is a big issue for many first home buyers, as house prices continue to grow.

The Australian Democrats policy is to index tax rates, so that income earners are not disadvantaged by inflation. As a guideline, when the tax rates were last indexed in the '80s, the threshold was $4000, in todays value that would be $25000. Setting this as the threshold and simplifying the tax system would allow first home buyers more disposable income to save for housing. Adjusting the higher tax rates would keep this revenue neutral.

Many young people have a HECS debt, this takes money from your pay before you even see it. The Australian Democrats policy is to cancel HECS, this would free up more income for purposes such as housing. The Commonwealth provided fully funded university degrees when a  lot of todays politicians were at university, why shouldnt todays students have the same benefit ?

Housing supply is currently restricted through corporations land banking, waiting for the value to increase whilst allowing a small trickle onto the market at high prices.

This can be freed up and released more quickly by government taking action. Currently under utilised properties can be redeveloped through sustainable planning to generate more housing.

Agreements at COAG can better invest in low cost housing suitable for people's first home investments.

The Australian Democrats support immediate action to make housing more affordable.

The Coalition opposes Labor's proposed internet filter. Labor's proposal for an ISP based filter is flawed. Not only will it not be effective at protecting people from ilegal content, as you point out, this massive gap will give a false sense of security to Australian families about such content. Labor abolished the previous Coalition Government's program that provided free PC-based filter software to Australians, making the internet a less safe place. An elected Coalition Government will reinstate this program to ensure filter protection is available to those who desire it, but we will not proceed with a compulsory ISP-level filter. We will also extend and expand the successful Cyber-Safety Outreach Program and introduce a new national education campaign to combat cyber bullying.

The Government is going to review the RC classification. To allow this to occur there will be a delay in the government's filter legislation and the Minister indicated this could take 12 months.

The Australian Democrats are against the internet filter. We have been at the forefront of campaigning against it.

We know it is impossible to implement and simply works against the honest internet user.

Parents and concerned internet users should implement a home based filter.

The government has wasted a lot of money on censorship, the Australian Democrats have been outspoken against censorship since the days Don Chipp was first elected as a Democrat Senator.

Roger Howe - Australian Democrats Senate Candidate

The Greens are opposed to mandatory ISP filtering. It won't work for either parents or police, costs a lot of money and raises some serious free speech issues with its secret blacklist. The Greens cyber-safety policy is focused on educating parents and facilitating the availability of PC-based filters so that families have the freedom to choose the system that is right for them.

We are opposed to internet censorship. How can condemn other countries for having internet censorship if we do the same thing ourselves?

The Rudd-Gillard Government has comprehensively failed to protect the integrity of Australia's immigration system. Since Labor watered-down the laws regarding unlawful arrivals, the number of boats and people unlawfully arriving on Australian shores has skyrocketed. In the last few years of the previous Coalition Government the number of boats fell to 3 per year, since Labor watered down the laws it has increased to 3 per week. In a desperate political ploy Julia Gillard tried to deflect the issue by floating the idea of a processing centre in East Timor. She did this without speaking to the Government of East Timor, and twice since the East Timorese Parliament has voted against the idea. In contrast, the Coalition will work with the Government of Nauru to reopen the processing centre built by Australian taxpayers and closed by the Rudd-Gillard Government, and the Government of Nauru has indicated it is happy to reopen this facility. You are correct to highlight the example of the Fraser Government, as most of the refugees who were granted asylum and resettled in Australian during that period were processed offshore.

 

Hi Jen

Thanks for your question. Here are some links to Labor's environment policies: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35875307/A-Healthy-Environment.

You are correct in observing that we are not out of the woods yet. Australia has performed relatively well because we wnet into the world downturn in one of the best economic situations in the world - no debt and a budget surplus. This combined with our export trade made a significant difference. What is worrying now is the huge deficit that Labor has created, and the debt. Even when the Budget is brought back into surplus, there is still the debt to pay. Only careful and competent economic management will work. We must stop the wasteful expenditure of Labor, otherwise we will be in an exposed position should a further downturn occur.

Global warming is a real problem and Australia has a responsibility to take some action on it. As the world's biggest exporter of coal Australia needs to have some policy to address the contribution of coal to production of carbon dioxide and therefore global warming. We propose that there be an additional levy on coal exports.

As the world takes action over global warming and putting a price on carbon, Australia is being left behind economically.

The Australian Democrats know that Global Warming is real, as supported by the majority of scientists, so taking real immediate action is important and urgent.

Immediate action such as a cap on pollution which reduces over time and a price which allows renewable energy to compete, along with price protection for the vulnerable. 

As the rest of the world is taking action, we are caught up economically, so we will be penalised economically if we don't keep up with the rest of the world.

Professor Tim Flannery on 774 radio this morning stated that China is allocating billions of dollars to renewable energy. He also acknowledged that China was opening new efficient coal fired power stations and shutting down old inefficient ones.

Victoria has a proposal to start shutting down Hazelwood as the most polluting coal fired power station, we believe that this is achievable as we bring on line, new renewable energy power stations.

Immediate action is important

 

All migrants to Australia agree to respect Australian values as defined in the Australian Values Statement in the Visa application form. The Secular party believes that more emphasis should be placed on immigrants actually respecting these values to ensure greater integration into Australian society.

Danielle, The Coalition introduced the Citizenship Test to ensure that immigrants understand the history, culture and shared values of Australians. This is one way of assisting newcomers to integrate. We also funded education programs, including in English language.

The Australian Democrats' border protection position is about keeping out foreign attacking forces.

Asylum seekers, are approx 3% of our yearly immigration and boat arrivals have been proven to be 97% asylum seekers, we deport those who are not.

The Australian Democrats policy is to reduce immigration from the peak of almost 300,000, to a more sustainable amount. Within this limit we will raise the number of humanitarian immigrants. We envisage that a proactive humanitarian intake direct from those most in need, will prevent those people's deperate attempts to reach Australia by boat. 

Australian Civics should be an integral part of the National Curriculum, after all the people of Australia decide through elections who should make the laws, and in the Sernate who should review them. An understanding of how this works is essential to a better gorverned Australia.

The Australian Democrats propose support services including English classes be made available to assist new immigrants to be able to assimilate.  

The Coalition is committed to taking real action to address emissions. Our Direct Action Plan on Climate Change is a comprehensive package that will directly fund the reduction of emissions, the connection of renewable energy to the electricity grid and the installation of renewable energy generation across the community, including on homes and schools. Unlike Labor and the Greens, we will not hamstring the Australian economy by introducing a carbon tax that will simply increase the cost of electricity and export jobs and emissions overseas. The Coalition is committed to the 5% emissions reduction by 2020 target and will direct funding to the lowest cost and most effective sources of emissions cuts.

Gail, we have made an unequivocal promise not to change the legislation during the next Parliament. We cannot be more clear about this. The Labor Party and the Unions are simply running a scare campaign.

Managing a budget is central to good and accountable government. Labor is committed to restoring the surplus three years ahead of schedule. In the climate of a global financial crisis, it was the responsible thing to invest in economic stimulus and this helped Australian ward off a recession, saved hundreds of thousands of jobs and means we are in a strong position to grow the economy in the future. Your sentiment captures the responsibility the government has to manage the budget in the interests of the country and its citizens, and this is exactly what Labor has done.

Robert, The government is the trustee of the money of Australians. Governments in a democracy govern with the consent of the people. All government's spend money, but they should do so responsibly. Labor not only spent the money that had been saved, but has now borrowed billions more, all of which will have to be repaid. In the meantime, taxes are going just to pay the interest bill. If government's cannot be trusted to honour their promises, how can they be trusted to govern?

The Greens are the only major political party to support a Bill of Rights for Australia. It's critical that Australians' rights and liberties are protected and we are the only major party in the Parliament that will campaign for that. 

Australia needs a Bill of Rights. We are one of the few developed countries that does guarantee basic rights to our citizens. The Bill of Rights will just incorporate into domestic law the rights that we have already signed up internationally by ratifying United Nations treaties such as the Univeral Declaration of Human Rights.

Here is the statement from the Labor's Attorney-General, Robert McClelland which outlines the framework and key measures to further protect and promote human rights in Australia.

The Framework acts on the key recommendations of the National Human Rights Consultation Committee and complements a number of actions the Government is already taking to encourage greater inclusion and participation in our community.

The Framework is based on five key principles and focuses on:

•    reaffirming a commitment to our human rights obligations;
•    the importance of human rights education;
•    enhancing our domestic and international engagement on human rights issues;
•    improving human rights protections, including greater parliamentary scrutiny; and
•    achieving greater respect for human rights principles within the community.

Specifically, the Framework demonstrates the Government’s commitment to positive and practical action in relation to human rights through a number of key commitments, including:

•    investing over $12 million in a comprehensive suite of education initiatives to promote a greater understanding of human rights across the community;
•    establishing a new Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights to provide greater scrutiny of legislation for compliance with our international human rights obligations;
•    requiring that each new Bill introduced into Parliament is accompanied by a statement of compatibility with our international human rights obligations;
•    combining federal anti-discrimination laws into a single Act to remove unnecessary regulatory overlap and make the system more user-friendly; and
•    creating an annual NGO Human Rights Forum to enable comprehensive engagement with non-government organisations on human rights matters.

These changes are designed to have broad effect and will enhance the understanding of, and respect for, human rights across the Australian community.

The Human Rights Framework is attached and available at www.ag.gov.au/humanrightsframework

Matt, The question about a Bill of Rights is whether it will actually protect rights or not. The Coalition is opposed to a Bill of Rights, not because we are against rights, but because we are concerned that the Bill of Rights is not the best way. Rights are protected in Australia. The courts, for example, have already protected rights. The problem with a Bill of Rights is that it hands over to an unelected judiciary the decisions that should be taken by an elected Parliament.

We know that Tony Abbott plans to cut the After hours GP hotline. The will cut the GP super clinics. They will cut the e-health initiative. And becasue they will not be supporting the National Broadband Network,they will cut online consultations and videoconferencing across a range of specialties.

Here is a a bit of background in this initiative: A key barrier to good health and successful treatment of illness in regional and rural areas is the tyranny of distance, which inhibits people’s ability to see the doctor or specialist they need. One of the best ways to tackle this problem is to utilise the best of our modern technology, like the internet and later, the national Broadband Network as it rolled out, to connect people in rural and outer metro areas to health services. This will connect people up with health services they might otherwise not be able to access, and we will provide Medicare rebates for online consultations and videoconferencing across a range of specialties.

Anthony and Jack: No - The Coalition has a $5.4 billion plan for health, including 2000 new hospital beds, a 'nursing development fund' additional funding for medical reserch, a diabetes clinical trial network, boosting GP services and expanding some Medicare rebates, and better referral to MRI services. We will also provide significant funding for mental health, including 20 Early Psychosis Intervention Centres, 800 beds for Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centres and an additiional 60 Headspace sites. There is also extra funds for regional health. This are very significant measures.

I am proud of what I do and media scrutiny is part of the job. I also have thick skin :-)

If they're comical, I laugh. If they're not, I ignore them. The key to it all is to focus on the big picture and not let it get to you.

 

In a nutshell, I left school when I was quite young and became a builder's labourer. My job was removing asbestos and I was concerned about occupational health and safety, as you would expect. I became active in my union and then in labor politics as I wanted to improve the occupational health and safety laws.

My background is in health, working as a doctor and public health specialist. Working in indigenous health and HIV prevention in India, it became increasingly clear to me a lot of the problems I was facing were not health issues, but matters of public policy. Education, housing, and employment were things I had very little control over as a doctor. I came to realise the role that good public policy makes a real difference in people's lives. That's why I joined The Greens and started advocating for better policy through politics. Politics matters.

The Secular party believes in a secular education system. We don't think that it is the role of government to be promoting religion in schools. At present any sect, cult or religion can receive government funding for their  schools. We don't think that this is the best way to generate future harmony in Australian society. We think that it would be better if all religions could come together rather than being in separate schools.

Labor has invested in unprecented levels of funding in school infrastructure into Australian schools. The Building the Education Revolution has transformed many schools and provided many new facilities. In addition, I am reallly proud of our investment in computers in schools. I visited a school this morning (Daramalan College here in Canberra) where every Year 9 student had received their new laptop under labor's program. This is a program that the Liberal party has said they would scrap. I am also very pleased with Labor's investment and work on a national curriculum. This is still ongoing and consultations are continuing. There are many more policies and I suggest you check out the web site at www.alp.org.au and search on education.

Trong and Liam: The Coalition will increase the education rebate for both primary and secondary students and significantly expand the types of expenses that can be claimed. This will help many parents to educate their children. We also have a plan to recognise and reward the best teachers, provide new technology for schools and create a $1 billion for for regional education.  In addition, we will introduce an education card for children with disabilities, and establish up to 30 new technical colleges.

Tony Abbott has declared WorkChoices to be 'dead, buried, cremated.' Any suggestion otherwise is a smokescreen by Labor to avoid discussion of their own failures in Government, the waste of billions of dollars and the accrual of an unprecedented level fo debt in only 3 years.

This is untrue. Funding for hospitals increased significantly under the previous Coalition goverment. According to the independent Australian Institute for Health and Welfare, expenditure on public hospitals increased from approximately $5.2 billion in 1995-96 to over $11 billion in 2006-07.

Anyone can become a politician. All you need is to care about issues strongly enough to join a party and stand for election. You need to learn as much as you can about all the details that effect your issues of concern.

We need politicians from all backgrounds and walks of life. I would hope that you study what interests you most, while taking an active interest in what is going on in our country and around the world. Get involved!

There are no particular qualifications to become a member of Parliament, apart from being an Australian citizen. MPs come from all walks of life, with varied backgrounds and experiences>

The Secular party believes in separation of church and state and so would not support the public funding of an anglican chaplain in parliament.

Unfortunately the health debate has been about hospital finance reform rather than genuine health reform. The Greens support a much broader preventative health agenda, more funding for mental health, and a universal dental care scheme. As a doctor, I got into politics because I was frustrated with the state of the current health system. There are few things more important in life than people's health, but it continues to get short shrift from the old parties. My aim is to change that.

 

The Coalition has made record commitments to improving our health system, both last time we were in office as well as in our commitments should we be elected this weekend.

Only the Coalition supports the existing private health insurance rebate that makes it affordable for Australians to invest in their own healthcare. Despite Labor's written promise not to reduce or restrict this during the 2007 election, Labor has twice tried to break this promise, prevented by the Coalition in the Senate.

The Coalition has also made a record $1.5 billion commitment to addressing Australians' mental health needs. The Rudd-Gillard Government has comprehensively failed on mental health, with the head of their own advisory committee, John Mendoza, quitting in disgust at Labor's lack of commitment to the area.

We are committed to public hospitals through the addition of 2000 public hospital beds andto ensuring local communities control their own hospitals, as opposed to the state government bureaucracies, through genuine local hospital boards. We have committed to increased funding to GP services through Medicare, covering longer consultations, expansion of GP clinics and after hours services. 

Ultimately, your preferences go where you put them. Even though all parties give out how-to-vote cards, you don't need to follow them, and can decide the order in which to preference all parties. 

The Greens is the fastest growing political party in Australia, and are already accepted as the third force in Australian politics. The Greens have solid policies in all policy areas, which you can browse on the The Greens website at http://greens.org.au. You'll see from that that we are a very different political party.

 

There were many good recommendations in the Henry Review but unfortunately the document was shelved for political purposes. I would be keen to revisit many of them in the next Parliament. 

Good question Christie. The Labor powerbrokers usurped the right of the Australian people to make their judgement about Kevin Rudd. Who knows what they will do in the future if their polling falls.

Great question Wax! Its one of the major policies of our party that the anomalies about the tax status of religious enterprises should be fixed. Many religious organisations pay no tax whether they are charitable or not. Our policy is to introduce a Charities Commission to regulate all not-for-profit organisations. Currently 'advancing religion' is automatically deemed as charitable in Australian law. This legal quirk derives from the time of Elizabeth 1 in England believe it or not!

Federal Labor’s $19.6 million expansion of the Kidsmatter program will provide a further 1700 primary schools with funding to tackle issues like bullying through helping children develop social and emotional skills, and to create a supportive school environment.
This funding will be supported by $24 million in additional services and training front line health and community workers to better identify and support children with serious mental health, developmental and behavioural issues.

It will also be supported by $22.3 million in online mental health and counselling services, which will help young people who are reluctant or unable to access face-to-face services.
http://www.alp.org.au/blogs/alp-blog/july-2010/promoting-good-mental-health-for-young-australians/

The NBN implementation study shows that the public investment is likely to be around $26 billion. The NBN is critical economic and social infrastructure of the future and the type of network, an open access, wholesale only fibre to the premises network is considered around the world to be the best model and most futureproof technology. It will provide speeds of 100mbps (and even more) to 93% of the population,  with remote communities getting a minimum of 12mbps, so no-one misses out. This network will be the basis for new business opportunities, delivery of health and education services and telecommuting to lower our carbon footprint, just to name a few benefits.

Wireless technologies are asynchronous for a start, meaning that upload speeds are slower than download speeds, rendering them ineffective for the sort of service delivery labor has envisaged for health consulations. In addition, the spectrum is finite and the more people that use that bandwidth, there is a negative impact on speed. Check out Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution

Fibre easily delivers a guaranteed 100Mbps, up and down, and we’ve seen in recent days a commitment to 1000Mbps. Fibre gives us high speeds, low latency, and the physical capacity to deliver higher speeds well into the future to Australian homes and businesses. The entire ICT industry is behind the NBN and understand the value of a fibre network to the premises, so perhaps we should listen to the experts :-)

The Greens do not believe that nuclear power is the right solution for Australia's energy needs. It creates more problems than it solves with the disposal of radioactive waste and the risks of nuclear proliferation. This is especially true in Australia where kick-starting a nuclear industry would require many years and the wholesale importation of expertise from overseas. We would rather see Australia invest heavily in renewables - we are well placed to become a global leader in this area. 

Sixty-seven countries throughout the world have nuclear power stations including small countries like Azerbaijan. Australia is a major exporter of uranium for nuclear power. We are aware of the dangers of nuclear waste however we think the world's need for energy and the problems of global warming mean that nuclear power should be considered for Australia. If it is good enough for so many other countries, why not us?

The Australian Democrats reject nuclear power as too costly and too slow and because it generates radioactive waste for which there is no known long term safe storage solution • We reject emphatically the enrichment of uranium in Australia • we will prohibit the sale of Australian uranium to any country that has not ratified both the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (i.e. US, China, Israel, India, Pakistan & North Korea) Our policy is to • Close and rehabilitate all of Australia’s uranium mines • Oppose the national radioactive waste dump proposed in outback NT and instead provide highest standard, above ground facilities in the states where warranted, located as close as possible to the site of generation • Reject any plan for Australia to accept overseas nuclear waste or spent Australian uranium • Protect the integrity of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act's prohibition of nuclear reactors or enrichment.

The scope for fiscal expansion may be more limited than it was, bute we expect the resource boom to continue, so this will offer a buffer againts the worst aspects of a renewed global recession. The mining tax should proceed. The Secular Party sees a case for an additional levy on coal exports to address global warming. A price on carbon is needed. Declining global reserves of fossil fuels means that this willbe be a low risk policy for resource rich countries.

The Coalition strongly believes that choosing the right school for their child is the right of every parent. The Coalition has a proud history of supporting this choice through funding non-government schools. Parents should be free to choose the school that reflects their own values as well as their aspirations for their child. The Government should not be restricting this choice through being hostile to religion in schools where that is the result of parental choice. The Coalition also believes in a strong public education system that should be secular in nature. It is through this diversity that parents and children are free to make their own choices about education. The Coalition strongly opposes the Greens' policy is to reduce funding to non-government schools and the Labor Party's refusal to commit to 'no school being worse off' when the current funding agreement expires.

As to the point you raise about constitutional issues, there is no constitutional issue at all with the government funding non-government schools. Education in Australia has always been both a private and public matter, and various churches have managed and run schools for over 150 years.

This is the major issue that the Secular Party is concerned about. If young kids are indoctrinated into extreme sects, cults or religions at school, what will our future society be like? It will cause divisions and disharmony, and the government should not be supporting it. Our Constitution says government should not establish any religion, yet this is being violated. Now we are having even more Christian Chaplains. We need to go back to an old fashioned idea, but one that works: secularism. Freedom of religion also means freedom to choose any religion. How can children have a free choice if they are being indoctrinated, at taxpayer expense? We would like to encourrage debate on these issues.

Australia has under-invested in the training of its health workforce. The Greens have a comprehensive plan to increase the training of health professionals and to improve primary care services within the community. 

Here is a summary of how Labor is adressing the shortage in GPs, which as you point out, make it hard to get an appointment sometimes:

# Training for 6,000 more doctors, including doubling the number of GPs trained every year;
# Better support for nurses working in GP and primary care, aged care and mental health;
# A national after hours GP service – with a 24 hour hotline that provides GP advice and can arrange a follow-up visit in your local community;
# Support to upgrade around 425 GP practices and health clinics across the country – so that GPs can expand their facilities and locate more services in a single community location.

Accessing a GP is critical to delivering quality healthcare. The Coalition is firmly committed to retaining the GP as the focus of primary healthcare. When last in office the Coalition increased the number of medical student places and created new medical schools. An elected Coalition Government will invest $165 million to increase after-hours Medicare rebates and invest $350 million to provide for longer consultations for GPs. The Coalition will also provide $200 million to invest in existing GP practices to develop infrastructure, accommodate additional doctors and extend after hours opening times.

Don't believe Labor's promises about GP superclinics - despite promising 36, they have so far delievered only 3.

Hi Julie, The Australian Democrats' action plan for Inclusion for the Disabled can be found at : http://www.democrats.org.au/policies/Action2010/Disabled_AP.pdf Here is an excerpt: Establish a national disability insurance scheme • Substantially increase funding to in supported accommodation, respite and personal attendant services, using a population-based benchmark approach • Expand the COAG Young People In Nursing Homes program to provide people with a choice about where they live and how they are supported • Strengthen the CSTDA and reframe it based on human rights with improved transparency and accountability, • A National Equipment Strategy to ensure people with disabilities can afford and access disability aids and equipment • Ratify and incorporate into law the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities • Finalise and adopt the access to premises standard • Fund annual comprehensive health checks for all Australians with a long term disability and encourage greater expertise in the medical profession in dealing with people with disabilities • Fund a national community awareness campaign and significantly increase support for individual and systemic disability advocacy and support services • Restore the Disability Support Pension eligibility to pre-2006 criteria and remove the harsh penalties and assessment and participation requirements, which do not take into account health needs, from the Welfare to Work Act • Increase the number of places in the Disability Employment Network for people on the Disability Support Pension who do not have mutual obligation requirements • Increase investment in programs that support employers to take on people with disabilities and reduce workplace barriers and encourage flexible working arrangements that can accommodate the needs of people with disabilities • Introduce strong incentives to take up full and part time work by reforming the tax system, judicious use of direct cash incentives etc that will give people more financial reward for their efforts.

The housing market is overvalued compared with most developed countries. More affordable housing may be a good thing. All home buyer schemes have done is increase prices to the benefit of sellers. Provided immigration continues, demand for housing will remain strong.

The Greens differ from the Democrats in that we are a grassroots political party with a strong philosophy, not a Parliamentary party whose mission is to act as a broker between the two other political parties. Our track record for sticking up for our beliefs is a good one. A good example is on the Government's ETS, where The Greens took a principled stand despite copping considerable political flak for doing so. Compromise is part of politics and all political parties will face challenges of this sort, but I am confident The Greens will pass those challenges. Our integrity is our greatest asset. 

The Greens vote as increased over every federal election since 1996 precisely because we have stuck to our guns and not moved to the middle ground.

As for blocking supply, we've committed to not doing that.

Hi Chris, The Australian Democrats have not died ! (Contrary to popular belief !) We believe in progressive politics, we compromise to achieve some gains instead of none and we are pragmatic we never compromise our core beliefs. We have ideals and fight for them, not fold on them for the sake of retaining power. The Australian Democrats have been the Senate negotiators for 30 years, and we intend to return to the Senate to continue that role.

The Greens have made a number of arts announcements during the campaign. A review of copyright law for artists, reviewing the superannuation legislation as it relates to the investment in artwork, and providing access to government benefits for artists. Also check out our "Empty Spaces" initiative, to provide facilities for artists and designers which would also revitalise vacant buildings and districts.

As someone who has worked in indigenous health, it's something I feel passionately about. The Greens have released a policy on indigenous issues that includes an end the NT intervention and more funding for health, education and employment services. Our country can't claim to fulfilled its potential until our indigenous brothers and sisters enjoy the same quality of life as the rest of the community. 

The Secular party believes that giving a lot of money to different religions is not the best way to get future harmony in Australian society. We think that supporting arts communities is a better way to bring people together. Reducing the tax concessions and subsidies to religious groups will save a lot of money that can then be used to support arts groups.

The Greens support an R-18+ rating for computer and video games. We also support a review of the classification system and more transparency at the classification board. 

Our policy is to support R18+ ratings for games.This will give  more information to consumers and give less scope for the promotion of undesirable games.

The proposal of an R18+ classification for games is one that needs consensus across every attorney general department, state as well as federal. It was taken to the last meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys General and more information was requested by participants and it will be under consideration at the next meeting. This is an important issue for a lot of people and hopefully it will be resolved soon.

Great question Hannah! This is exactly the type of question that our party was formed to address. We have this concern about these issues. We believe that the government should be neutral about religion and not promote any particular religion. The principles of compassion, freedom, honesty and justice are a much better guide to decision making than relying on any kind of religious belief. So it is our mission to try to promote secular ideals in government.

You can read more about our policies here: http://secular.org.au/mnu-individual-freedom-and-choices/mnu-policiy-details

People are entitled to hold and express any religious view they care to, but The Greens are strongly committed to separation of church and state. The Greens call to an end to Christian prayer at the opening of Parliament, and would replace the school chaplains program with a school community fund that would give principals the discretion to hire counsellors, welfare officers or other assistance for their students (including school chaplains).

The Greens have released a number of policies calling for increased funding for childcare places. We also support funding 2 years of pre-school up to 15 hours per week for all Australian children aged 3-4 and 4-5 years.

The Coalition is committed to affordable and accessible childcare. We will reintroduce indexation of the child care rebate and seek to have it paid weekly and directly to providers. We will also review the National Quality agenda proposed by Labor that will dramatically force up costs to parents. Finally, we will also re-establish the Federal Planning and Advisory Committee to assist with the provision of future services.

We support Australia becoming a republic. All this means is that our Head of State should be Australian and be appointed or elected by parliament. We wonder why in the 21st century the idea of hereditary rule is still relevant.

The Australian Democrats support Australia becoming a Republic, we can stand on our own feet. I believe the coalition proposed the wrong referendum question, it was loaded to elicit a No repsonse. Lets have real action now, and get the ball rolling !

Hi Ryan. No, it's not In fact, money was taken away from renewable energy programs to fund this policy. The Government could have at least tied the money to cars that meet more aggressive fuel efficiency standards. As it is, this is a very weak policy.

The Greens do not support expanding Australia's uranium exports, and we don't support exporting uranium to countries such as India that have nuclear weapons programs. In fact, The Greens policy it to gradually phase out uranium mining. 

We support uranium sales provided that the disposal of nuclear waste is controlled and accounted for. Nuclear energy can make a contribution to the world's energy needs but unfortunately not enough to anywhere near solve our energy problems. The world is running out of fossil fuels and this is another reason apart from global warming that we need to be massively investing in alternative energy.

We think that with the major global problems of population resource depletion, global warming and increasingly persistent economic recessions the world is going to become a more difficult place. Added to this we have the problem of global religious conflicts. In this situation, we will need to make Australia stronger and more self-reliant in defence matters.

Hi Robert. The Greens do not support investment in new coal-fired power plants or in new coal mines. It is urgent that Australia begin the transition to renewable energy sources. That's why it's important that Australia put a price on carbon as soon as possible, so that renewable energies become competitive with coal-fired power.

The Liberal party is the master of scare campaigns. This is another example. If the Australian economy is worth $360Billion per year, then this is $100Million per day! This does not mean that the government is spending this money! The Australian government did a good job keeping Australia out of recession. Our debt is comparatively minor and is no great problem. If the Liberals had been in power unemployment now would be much worse. So much for being economic managers!

Thanks for the question Emma. The truth is that Labor are spending a lot more than $100 million a day, that figure you refer to is what Labor are borrowing every day. Each and every day the Gillard Government is adding $100 million to Government debt. This is debt that every Australian has to pay interest on and eventually repay out of higher taxes and/or fewer Government services. Since Labor has come to office the interest payments on the debt Labor has run up is now running at $6 billion a year. That is more than $100 million a week in interest payments that could otherwise be directed to better government services.

Hi Christian. Firstly, you have be prepared to travel, because your electorate is an entire state! One of your key tasks is to review and amend legislation. This requires good negotiation skills, developing a deep understanding of your portfolio areas, and the ability to work across party lines.  

What attracted me to the Secular party was really my concern about the role of religion in the world especially after September 11. It seems that religious conflicts are getting worse and could even lead to global destruction. So that is what motivated me to look again at the Australian constitution which says that the government should be neutral towards religion and that this policy was not really being followed. So I joined up with this new party to try to promote thinking about all these issues.

The Australian constitution says that laws in Australia should neither establish or prohibit any religion. We have freedom of religion but what does this mean? We think that people are entitled to their beleifs but they should not impose them on others. This means not just freedom OF religion but also freedom FROM religion. What does this mean for children? We think that young children should be free to choose between any religion or none. So we are opposed to religious indoctrination in schools. This is our major policy.

Many people say that Australia was founded on christian values. This is not true. Democracy and freedom are not christian concepts, they are secular concepts! We think that ethics should be based on universal principals such as compassion, honesty, freedom and justice and that these are a better basis for values than those that come from religious doctrines.

Chris, the Labor Party changed the rules to allow non-resident foreigners purchase residential property in Australia. This led to an influx of overseas buyers, contributing to an increase in housing prices. The Coaliiton protested about these changes, forcing the government to reverse them. We believe that foreign investment should be in the productive capacity of the nation, not residential housing.

The Coalition will foster a national discussion of the Henry report, starting with the release of the moddelling which Labor has refused to make public.Labor sat on the report for months before releasing it, and then only picked a couple of the proposals, ignoring the vast majority. 

Tony Abbott is blitzing marginal seats around Australia, we have amped up our expenditure on advertising and focussed exclusively on the Gillard government's key weaknesses - massive debt, reckless spending and new taxes. Tony Abbott's energy and enthusiasm will see him push hard all the way to polling day.

Apart from our core secular issues, maybe the most important thing is to put a price on carbon.

A price on carbon pollution has to be near the top of the list.

Hi Rory, which policies do you mean in particular? Certainly, The Greens are committed to putting a price on carbon pollution as soon as possible and moving Australia to a renewable energy economy. Petrol is going to get more expensive around the world in the coming years, but that's a consequence of peak oil (the fact that oil supplies are running out), rather than Greens' policies.

JEREMY, WHEN WE WERE IN GOVERNMENT, WE HAD VERY GOOD RELATIONS WITH INDONESIA. OUR FOREIGN MINISTERS MET REGULARLY, AS DID THE HEADS OF STATE. AS IMMIGRATION MINISTER, I VISITED INDONESIA AND HAD VERY GOOD RELATIONS. WE ALSO WORKED VERY CLOSELY WITH THE INDONESIANS OVER THE REFUGEE ISSUE. WE FUNDED PROGRAMS IN INDONESIA. IT IS LABOR WHICH HAS WORSENED THE RELATIONS OVER THE ISSUE.

The Liberal Party always tries to get votes from scare campaigns. The Labor Party tries to counter this by saying "me too". We need parties that have more principle than this. We can continue with immigration provided we invest in the necessary infrastructure. A larger population will make our country stronger.

Carers provide an enormous service to the country but are often forgotten by political parties. The Greens want an increase in the carer's allowance, more funding for respite care and the introduction of a National Disability Insurance Scheme.

No. This is a lie being told by the Labor Party. We don't agree with the bureaucratic reforms that Labor is proposing, so we will be scrapping Labor's reforms and replacing them with prorpsals that aim to provide 3,000 new hospital beds, more dicotrs, more trained nurses and a range of other assistance to hospitals. the spending will be of a similar size to Labor, furthermore we are providing $1.5 billion for mental health compared to Labor's commitment of around $300 million. Labor's health scheme involves 1,500 more bureaucrats in canberra whereas our scheme is focussed on providing much greater control to the local community hospitals, with a lot more power given to their governing boards.

Tess - No we don't plan to cut hospital funds. Our plan is to increase hospital beds by 2000. See my response to an earlier question.

We don't object in any way, as long as it's voluntary. Our objection is to compulsory union dues. Our view is if the money is being well spent, then students will be prepared to contribute. We believe freedom of assocation is a very important principle in a free and democratic country.

Our party is really the only party that is trying to support public schools rather than private religious schools. We don't support government money going to religious schools if they are biassed in favour of just one religion.

The Coalition supports international efforts over whaling. Labor promised to take the issue to the International Court, but have not done so.

The Greens are the only major party committed to ending this discrimination and realising full equality in marriage. We have introduced a private members' bill in the past to do this, and will continue to do everything possible to advance the cause.

We support same sex marriage. People should be treated equally, without discrimination. The ban on same sex marriage is to appease religious voters. One reason we started the Secular Party is to provide an alternative voice on these issues.

The Greens wholeheartedly support a National Disability Insurance Scheme

Japan 1 - Whales 0

The mining and resources sector is of critical importance to the livelihoods of millions of Australians. One of the major reasons why we came through the recent Global Financial Crisis so well was because of the strength of our mining sector. Putting a great big new tax on our mining sector will just mean that mines in other countries will be developed and not in Australia, consequently tens-of-thousands of Australian jobs would be exported. because mining and resources has been a great strength of Australia for 150 years we are better placed than most countries to do the research and development to make the use of our natural resources in the cleanest way possible. If we keep our mining companies competitive they can afford to do this important research.

What opponents of the mining tax don't don't seem to understand is that as the world runs out of resources, this will send prices higher and higher, far above mining production costs. This already happening. Hence we need a tax on this industry to equitably distribute the revenues.

Good on you - you're not. Sounds like you've decided that Australia can't wait to take action on climate change, that we need a more humane approach to asylum seekers, and that it's time for marriage equality. The Greens alone stand for action on these important causes. Voting Green is the best way to show your support for these issues. 

The Labor Government is using the convention in another attempt to avoid accountability for their failed border security policies. The facilities on Nauru were built with Australian funds and this was part of the suite of policies that saw the number of boats fall to three per year during the previous Coalition Government. The Coalition is committed to speaking to the Government of Nauru to again use these facilities as part of an offshore processing regime to ensure both fairness of treatment of those seeking asylum as well as those who are already seeking resettlement but who are unable to come to Australia using people smugglers. The challenge of the global refugee situation cannot solely be addressed by Australia, we must ensure both secure borders as well as continued support for our highly successful refugee resettlement program.

Contrary to the misleading presentation of the Coalition's comprehensive broadband policy, our proposal involves laying a core fibre backbone to all the far corners of Australia in exactly the same way that Labor's NBN Co will provide such a backbone. This backbone has the capacity to deliver the identical speed to the 93 per cent of Australians as Labor's proposal. The key difference is we will not be mandating the connection of fibre from this backbone to every Australian household whether they want it or not. We will be encouraging households and providers to have the choice of any one of four or five technologies, including fibre to the home, upgraded ADSL2, high speed wireless etc. As a result, tens-of-billions-of-dollars will be invested under either scheme, the difference will be with NBN Co $4--50 billion of taxpayers' money will be put at risk and it assumes that fibre will be the technology of choice well into the future of all Australians. Whereas our scheme puts at risk the investment funds of shareholders in telco companies and allows choice and a more dynamic environment where unforseen developments in various technologies can be taken. As well, we are spending billions of dollars rectifying blackspots in rural and regional areas where it is not commercial for the private sector to do so.