Fed: Howard unveils vision for Australia in 2020

AAP General News (Australia)
04-23-2007
Fed: Howard unveils vision for Australia in 2020

By Maria Hawthorne, Chief Political Correspondent

CANBERRA, April 23 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard has outlined his vision for Australia
in 2020, in a speech aimed at convincing voters he has not run out of ideas after 11 years
in office.

With opinion polls showing Labor 16 points clear of the government but lagging on economic
management, Mr Howard accused Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd of wanting to return to the
days of union control.

He ridiculed Mr Rudd's stoush with union leaders over his new industrial relations
policy, likening it to a pantomime performance or a rigged Russian election under the
communist regime.

And he reminded voters that the last Labor government under Paul Keating was "insufferably
politically correct" and obsessed with issues that did not affect people's daily lives.

"We've changed the country, we set out to," Mr Howard told the Queensland Media Club.

"The same thing would happen if there's a change of government (back to Labor)."

In a speech that was long on rhetoric but short on specifics, Mr Howard said he wanted
Australia in 2020 to still be the best country in the world to live, work, start a business
and raise a family.

"As a government, we've made decisions in the past 11 years that impact directly on
the lives of Australians. No doubt we've made our mistakes. All governments do," he said.

"But we have never lost sight of the big things that affect people's lives - their
jobs, the wellbeing of their families, decent health care, genuine choice in education
and a good social safety net.

"We've never lost sight of the human dividend of a strong, growing economy."

Mr Howard said the coalition aimed to build on what it had achieved over the past decade,
while Labor wanted to go back to "government by a few mates for a few mates".

"This idea that the strong economy we now have (will continue) and you just get some
slightly warmer and fuzzier version of Work Choices if Mr Rudd wins couldn't be further
from the truth," Mr Howard said.

"The reality is that Labor will do the unions' bidding on Work Choices. They will throw
the odd bone to the business community - secret ballots and a couple of other things -
but Australian Workplace Agreements will go, unfair dismissals are back."

But Mr Rudd said Mr Howard had thrown the fair go out the back door with his Work Choices laws.

"You know what Australians want out of a future industrial relations policy, they want
us to restore the balance on industrial relations because they know Mr Howard has gone
too far," Mr Rudd told reporters in Brisbane.

"That's what we intend to do. And that's what Mr Howard, I think, is very concerned we will do."

Both leaders were campaigning in Queensland today, where key marginal seats will prove
crucial in this year's election.

Union polling last week showed Labor well ahead in four key marginal seats.

Two separate polls in News Ltd and Fairfax newspapers today showed Labor with a 16-point
lead over the government, although the government had picked up some support.

Mr Rudd said he was not surprised by the increase in support for the government after
a fortnight in which he was bruised by the Sunrise dawn service fiasco.

"We have reached the halfway point and I have seen many, many people lose marathon
races in the second half, particularly when you are up against someone as clever as Mr
Howard," he said.

AAP mfh/ks/sp

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