The man who claims that the Howard Government is devoid of new ideas, Mark Latham, has himself dipped deep into the recycling bin and adopted the 30 year old "It's Time" slogan. Mr Latham's step back in time, revealed in Labor fundraising material, is a direct copy of Gough Whitlam's celebrated 1972 campaign.
But strangely enough I agree with Mr. Latham! It is time! Time for some policies Mark. Time to stop leaving the Australian public in the dark about what you actually propose to do should you win Government (apart from reading books to kids).
It's time to answer the following questions:
* When will you explain the Tax Package you promised in May?
* Will all workers earning under $52 000- those who got no relief from the Government's last budget- actually get a tax cut from Labor?
* If so, will higher income earners get their tax cuts clawed back?
* It is expensive to give tax cuts to lower income earners, so how would such a policy be funded?
* You have already outlined plans to spend more than $10 billion in your first four years in office and have stated that further savings would have to be found for tax cuts. Does this signal tax rises in other areas?
* You have promised an overhaul of the family tax benefits system, but have given no detail about what you will actually do.
* You have flagged an ambitious and expensive Child Care program (including pay rises for child care workers, creation of more child care places, and building more centres) but have given no detail on how much it will cost or where the money will come from
* You have said that every school will receive some federal funds, but why won't you give details of how much the schools will get; which will get more and which will get less?
These are significant questions. When will they be answered? What are you waiting for Mr. Latham? Why keep us in the dark?
Maybe he is waiting for the cover of Ian Thorpe's 200m Freestyle final at the Athens Olympic Games...
When I was walking down George street today I had my radio on and was thinking about exactly the same thing... how weird.
Posted by: Sam | Thursday, July 22, 2004 at 02:17 AM