There are the trips to local shopping centres, the televised debates and the interviews. There are the billboards, the newspaper ads and all the pamphlets arguing for space in your letterbox. And then there is the policy battleground, on which each party pitches for your vote with their plans for the future of the nation. And it all coalesces in a single moment - you, a pencil, a polling booth, and a few slips of paper. Which candidate gets your vote? To help voters wade through the policy alternatives, here is your cut out and keep guide to what each party stands for on a range of key policy areas. Policy Comparison Part 1: Broadband, schools, forests
Is Federal Labor the Liberal Party by another name? Is Kevin Rudd actually John Howard? And come election day, will there be sufficient difference in the parties' policies to offer voters a choice? Here, Crikey compares the two parties on broadband, schools and forests. Click here for the details Crikey Policy Comparison Pt 2: Housing affordability With Rudd marching to the beat of the PM’s drum on Tasmanian forests, Dr Haneef, and Indigenous communities, how does the wanna-be government compare to the actual government on housing affordability? Click here for the details Crikey Policy Comparison Pt 3: Federal-State relations Should education, as the Coalition believes, be centralised, with a national curriculum set by Canberra? Should healthcare, as Tony Abbott and the PM now seem to believe, be managed by the Federal Government? Or should the states have the autonomy to administer systems nominally under their control? And where does Labor stand on the issue? Click here for the details Crikey Policy Comparison Pt 4: Indigenous affairs The government's 500 page bill on the Indigenous intervention raced through the lower house of federal parliament, and stopped to catch its breath -- albeit fleetingly -- in a senate committee before becoming law. So how do the two major parties differ on the issue? Click here for the details Crikey Policy Comparison Pt 5: Healthcare The PM's controversial push for a federal take-over of the ailing Mersey Hospital in the marginal seat of Braddon was labelled pork barrelling by the pundits and poor policy by politicos. But it was well received by the poorly. Here, Crikey takes a look at the health policies both parties have laid out on the operating table. Click here for the details Crikey Policy Comparison Part 6: Climate Change A Climate Institute survey reported that two thirds of voters surveyed in marginal seats say climate change will affect their vote. Labor is narrowly perceived as being the better party for managing the environment, but the Coalition is making a concerted effort to bridge the gap. Here's how they compare. Click here for the details Crikey Policy Comparison Part 7: Higher education Once the Liberal Party to answered the leadership question once and for all, the Prime Minister got back to outlining his vision for the nation, starting with nursing schools. Here is a policy comparison of the higher education policies of Coalition and the ALP. Click here for the details Crikey Policy Comparison part 8: Childcare As Howard and Rudd fight over who will give "working families" a better future after November 24, both of the leaders go around kissing babies and visiting schools. However, Crikey wonders how the politcal opponents would like it if a strange man kissed their baldspots? Click here for the details Crikey Policy Comparison Part 9: Aboriginal Reconciliation |