First, from Labor, a relatively pithy cardboard flier - about the size of a airline boarding pass - briefing me on the progress and benefits of the Disability Care Scheme. The piece is actually very understated. Four bullet-points on the back outlining how the scheme benefits families for whom the scheme is relevant. My local member is the Health Minister Tanya Plibersek and so this is relevant because as well as voting for my local seat of Sydney the decision has consequences for the Health portfolio. The flier tells me of the timeline to national roll-out - July 2019 - and that pilot sites are operational now. While obviously there's a partisan point being made, the flier is actually fairly to-the-point and fact-based.
Now it does need to be said that like most people I have a "no junk mail" sticker above my letterbox. While of course this request is broadly ignored, it does lead me to tend to foilter my mail in terms of those who have abused this and those that have not.
So, on the topic of abuse, lets turn to the Liberal Party collateral...
At the point of opening it, I didn't even know it was a Liberal Party mailer - a white envelope with "IMPORTANT ELECTORAL INFORMATION" emblazoned across it. With no logo or anything else, I assumed it was from the Australian Electoral Commission. Wrong. It was a letter from Tony Abbott. His pitch to me is - paraphrased - along these lines:
1. A stronger economy. No detail on how, I've to take his word for it. There is the promise of 2 million jobs but as yet, in nothing they've said, I cannot find any actual policy action that will create these jobs. One answer I've heard him say is that the number is "based on the record of the Howard Government".
2. Repeal the Carbon Tax. I'm still to actually feel the impact of this terrible scourge of our fiscal framework, and know that by July next year - the same timescale the Coalition plan to finish it - the ALP will commute it to a floating emission scheme. But, I must recognise, this is actually a concrete policy.
3. "Keep income tax cuts, pension and benefit increases". So this represents maintaining this government's compensation framework for a tax they plan to repeal. This is nonsensical and to me signifies a lack of political will to maintain the compensation for a tax that won't exist merely because they don't want to invite negative perception.
4. Build more roads. OK, this is a policy too. Way to go.
5. Yes, you guessed it - "stop the boats". I don't actually want them to do this, but lets not go there now.
But all that aside, the real outrage of the mailer is the fact that it actually invites the recipient to fill in what appears to be a postal vote application form. But is it the AEC's logo on the form? No, the Liberal Party's. Yes thats right, after inputting your details in their database, they will submit your details for the postal vote for you - because you haven't got the intelligence to do that for yourself?
Worse still is the illustrated instructions contained on the form to help you understand what to do:
1. Read the application form and fill in the details
2. Sign and date the application form
3. Put the form in the envelope
4. Yes, you guessed it...post it!
Really?
Being patronised and treated like an idiot doesn't win my heart, mind or vote Mr Abbott! This is all very reminiscent of the Howard years, which I had partly forgotten. It reminded me that the Liberal Party is essentially an elitist organisation.
Sketchy doesn't begin to describe the awfully long bows the Coalition draws in its policies. There really is too much of "we will improve productivity by repealing the Carbon Tax." "The Economy will improve because we will repeal the mining tax". It has the feel of someone doing their Economics homework at the last minute, with the strongest argument being "just because".
This gross insult to my intelligence that this consistent with the other event this week that sent my blood to boiling point. When asked what the Coalition's policies would cost the bottom line, Shadow Treasurer invited the electorate to figure out themselves, and "get out a calculator"!!!! (This blog post on this is well worth the read.)
So what conclusion do I draw. One party has policies that go the very heart of what government is about - improving the lot of those less fortunate. The other? I get a sense of entitlement. "Trust us, we've done it before. Don't trouble yourself with the complicated details, you're not clever enough to understand them." I don't want a government that
