Pauline Hanson (United Australia) & Bob Brown (Greens) have called for an increase in the aged pension. In a bidding war between the two similar parties, Brown called for a $30/week increase in the aged pension while Hanson wants the aged pension to increase by at least $50/fortnight. While the Liberty & Democracy Party (LDP) understands the pressures faced by some older Australians, we do not believe the answer lies in more government handouts.
Both Pauline Hanson and the Greens also agreed that the government needs to play a greater role in health and education. The LDP understands that health and education are important issues for most Australians and that is why the LDP wants to see more choice and more efficiency in these areas. However, in contrast to Pauline Hanson and the Greens, the LDP believes that the interests of Australians are best served by less government involvement.
Both Pauline Hanson and the Greens also oppose further privatisation of government assets. The LDP is Australia’s only truely free-market political party and we believe that private ownership is generally (though not always) preferable to government ownership.
October 22, 2007 at 1:48 pm |
I think that for this election it is fair to say that whilst the LDP supports hospital privatisation that does not necessarily mean an end to public funding of health services. The local GP is an existing private provider paid for predominantly with public funds (ie medicare).
October 22, 2007 at 2:46 pm |
Yeah, Terje- it’s similar to our education policy. You can have health and education run by a competitive, efficient private sector with funds still coming from the public coffers.
In terms of health and education I think it’d be fair to say we support decentralisation and less government bureaucracy even if public funding still provides a health and education safety net.
October 22, 2007 at 5:06 pm |
The important point with health and education isn’t who owns the infrastructure, but how the funding is managed. Fundamentally, the LDP believes in empowering the consumer, not in hading public money to producers. That is why we support vouchers and decentralisation.