Economy
Both sides go into the election carrying almost$1 trillion in debt and which is unlikely to get back to surplus this decade.
The Coalition is promising to over the next four years through a reduction inpublic servant numbers and spending. Labor says it will over the same period,with more expenditure onchildcare andaged care.
The Coalition is promising to keeptax as a share of GDP below 23.9 per cent. While not formally adopting the Coalition’s targets for tax to GDP,Labor says its only tax increase will be on multinational businesses.
The Coalition’s only substantial revenue measure in the March 29 budget was to extend an ATO taskforce targeting high net income earners and multinational businesses.
Both have committed to areview of the Reserve Bank,which would be its first since the early 1980s.
Housing
With cost-of-living at the forefront of the election,the major parties made housing affordability the key focus of their campaign launches.
The Coalition unveiled its,which allows first home buyers to withdraw up to $50,000 from their superannuation for a deposit.
Under Labor’s,an Albanese government would subsidise up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of a new home and up to 30 per cent of the purchase price for an existing home.
Foreign affairs and defence
There is no substantive policy difference between the Coalition and Labor on any national security issue.
Experts have raised concerns the Coalition has been politicising foreign affairs after Prime Minister Scott Morrison accused Labor leader Anthony Albanese of being the “Chinese government’s pick at this election”. The opposition has accused the government of a substantial national security failure after Solomon Islands with China.
The Coalition has made several commitments toboost defence including,$58 million to expand defence manufacturing in Queensland,and $24 million to upgrade the Navy’s Marine Precinct in Cairns. It has also promised more than $180 million to facilitate pathways into the defence industry.
Labor has promised to establish a new $1.2 billion defence research agency to back cutting-edge projects and technologies. It has also pledged for the Pacific.
Health
The major parties have chosen to make targeted health announcements focused on specific problems while to raiseGP Medicare rebates and the Commonwealth’s share ofrising hospital costs.
Both parties have committed to cheaperprescription medicines,expected to benefit 19 million Australians.
Labor has for GPs to set up anew model of care where patients enrol with a single practice,and grants to train staff,buy equipment and improve ventilation.
Its other pledges include a promise toprioritise Australian-made medical supplies in government tenders and develop a national investment plan for health care essentials. And it has committed $135 million to trialurgent care clinics to relieve pressure on hospital emergency departments.
The Coalition has pledged $827 million to establish a National ComprehensiveCancer Network with “world-leading” treatment centres in Brisbane,Perth and Adelaide,modelled on Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. It’s also committed an extra $273.1 million to provide free continuous glucose monitoring devices to those with type 1 diabetes.
Morrison says his government has achieved “record levels of Medicare bulk-billing” and points to the growing health budget,but the number of Australians accessing bulk-billed GP services is falling.
Federal integrity commission
Both parties have proposed different models for a federal integrity commission.
The Coalition’s commonwealth integrity commission proposal was released in 2021 and met withwidespread criticism due to its inability to hold public hearings,launch investigations,act on anonymous tips,or issue public findings.
The draft legislation has not been brought to the parliament yet,but the he is not interested in amending the model.
Labor has national anti-corruption commission “with teeth” by the end of 2022,which it expects will examine alleged misconduct from as far back as 15 years. This model can hold public hearings and publicly issue findings.
Education
Labor’s education policy centres on a $1.1 billion pledge to and fund an extra 20,000university places. It has also promised to spend $440 million on for students and during the campaign pledged $146.5 million to fixteacher shortages and lift standards.
The Coalition announced a $2.4 billion plan to overhaul the apprenticeship training scheme in the budget. For universities,it has pledged $2.2 billion to ramp upresearchcommercialisation,but the vast bulk of this funding will be spread over 10 years.
Childcare
The government scrapped the annual $10,500 cap on subsidies that previously applied to families earning more than about $190,000 a year in its 2021 budget. It also increased the subsidy level for younger siblings when a family has two or more kids aged under five in care at once – a move expected tobenefit 250,000 families.
is to lift the subsidy level for everyone using care and increase the means test so more families are eligible. Lowest-income families would receive a90 per cent subsidy on fees. The subsidy level tapers down evenly to nothing for families earning more than $530,000.
Climate change
Both parties’ climate commitments of what’s needed to meet Australia’s commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement.
They each head to the polls with a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050but there are two significant differences between their policies.
First,the government has an interim target of reducing emissions by at least26 per cent by 2030while Labor has a more ambitious43 per cent goal over the same period.
The second is the mechanism to cut emissions. The government isfunding R&D to lower the cost of clean energy by pledging to invest $20 billion over decades in technology like hydrogen hubs,while the opposition promises to placecaps on Australia’s biggest industrial polluters.
Industrial relations
Albanese has said he wants thenational minimum wage to rise to meet the 5.1 per cent headline inflation rate. Labor will make a submission to the Fair Work Commission if it wins government,warning against real wages going backwards.
The Coalition has criticised Albanese’s stance and says low unemployment will lead to wage growth. The prime minister has committed to reviving its shelved industrial relations omnibus bill,which includescriminalising wage theft.
Labor supports this measure but opposes other proposed reforms it warns will erode pay and working conditions under the guise of flexibility.
Labor would alsoabolish two federal watchdogs,the Registered Organisations Commission and the Australian Building and Construction Commission,with the Coalition warning such a decision would lead to lawlessness and economic loss.
Infrastructure
Labor has pledged to develop ahigh-speed rail line between Sydney and the Hunter,committed $2.2 billion for asuburban rail loop in Victoria,and promised $125 million to manufactureelectric buses in Western Australia.
In the March budget,the Coalition also made some public transport promises including afast rail from Sydney to Newcastle,but most of its election pledges involve upgrades for roads and highways in places like Nowra,Old Gympie Road and Epping.
Aged care
Labor pledged an extra $2.5 billion over four years to improve regulation andmandate 24/7 registered nurses by July 2024,a year earlier than recommended by the royal commission,dependent on staff availability.
The Coalition is committed to the first stage of the recommended minimum staffing levels – mandating anurse on-site for 16 hours a day and an average 200 minutes of direct care a day per resident,including 40 minutes with an RN – from October 2023.
Both parties will look to migration to fill shifts.
Both parties wouldfund higher wages,but only Labor has committed to lodging an application supporting the Health Services Union’s case before the Fair Work Commission. Neither has saidhow they will pay for it after ruling out a new taxpayer levy,with some estimating the HSU’s bid for a 25 per cent rise could cost$4 billion a year.
The Coalition has committed an extra $1.1 billion over the forward estimates to its aged care response,announced in last year’s budget with $17.7 billion.
Cut through the noise of the federal election campaign with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley.