Howard legacy: narrower broadband!

The Howard Government's broadband plan offers sparse coverage and in some cases is less than half as good as the Government claims.

The Institute of Public Affairs says the Government's plan for rural Australia is likely to cover ten kilometres from a transmitter rather than their target of up to 20 kilometres.

The report states there is a need for a fibre-optic network as Labor proposes, but it criticises both parties for failing to adequately plan for the future.

Labor's communications spokesman Stephen Conroy says the Coalition's plan is a scandal.

"No matter how hard John Howard and Helen Coonan try to rewrite the laws of physics they just can't," he said.

"This is the second independent report that has stated that you can not transmit broadband to nearly half the places using the Government's wireless broadband that John Howard claims."

Mr Conroy says the objectivity of the report further proves the Coalition is promoting something it cannot deliver.

"This isn't a Labor Party think tank, this is the conservative Institute of Public Affairs who have supported the Howard Government through 11 long years," he said.

20 per cent renewable energy by 2020

Kevin Rudd has announced Labor's renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2020.

Green groups have welcomed the announcement and say Labor's target is better than the Coalition's, not only because it is 20 per cent not 15 per cent but also because it does not include clean coal.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) says the target will not cost jobs.

The CFMEU's Tony Maher says employers are relaxed about the Opposition's plan.

"That's what they tell us privately, they're relaxed about emissions trading. Really it's political scare campaigning by the Government," he said.

"You've got to bear in mind the energy growth between now and 2020 will be between 30 and 40 per cent so there's plenty of room for various energy sources."

Chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, Dominique La Fontaine, says there will be more industry development under Labor's target.

"It's 15,000 gigawatts more than Liberal Party policy, that's a significant difference and it's the kind of economy of scale that we need to develop the industry and to bring the cost down so that the technologies can compete. Good cheap clean power for Australia," she said.

Howard legacy: run down education

"The legacy of the Howard/Costello partnership is one of broken skills and wasted opportunities," said AMWU National President, Julius Roe.

"We trail the OECD on many key indicators relating to education and training. The last decade has been a decade of neglect.

"The proportion of Australian adults with at least upper secondary education is now below the OECD average;

• A very high proportion of the existing working age population (50.1%) have no post school qualifications and that proportion is higher than the most productive economies;
• Australia ranks near the bottom of the OECD in terms of the growth rate of science and engineering graduates;
• Our national investment in early childhood education is well below the OECD average.
• Despite the long economic boom, participation rates in Australia are far too low when compared to the most productive economies;
• There are still more than 11% of the workforce who are either unemployed or underemployed;
• The number of existing workers completing higher level VET qualifications has declined significantly in the recent years.
• Despite the millions of dollars that have been ploughed in to VET the qualification completion rate in the 15-24 cohort is estimated to be 23.7%;
• Completion rates for traineeships are very low and completion rates for apprenticeships in the key trades have declined significantly during the last decade;
• Levels of public investment in all levels of education and training are well below the leading economies and have been declining at the very time that other leading economies have dramatically increased their investment.

"We call on Mr Howard to put the interests of Australia first and to stop undermining state based public training institutions such as TAFE. He should be reversing the funding decline that he has been responsible for now that he is apparently awash with taxpayers money.

"An investment in TAFE education and training infrastructure would be less likely to put upward pressure on interest rates and would be a far more effective contribution to alleviating skills shortages than this drip feed of Technical Colleges and American style Military Academies." Mr Roe said

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Howard legacy: destruction of manufacturing

An official Federal Government briefing paper predicts that an extra 33,000 jobs will be shed from manufacturing over the next five years (source: Australian Jobs 2007, DEWR).

This is on top of the 108,000 jobs the sector has already lost under the Howard Government since 1996.

ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence will meet with workers at the Holden plant in Elizabeth, SA. He said:
“John Howard and Peter Costello have a terrible record of failing to support Australian manufacturing.

“More than a hundred thousands jobs have gone from the industry under their watch and 33,000 more are set to go in the next few years if the Liberals and Nationals are re-elected.

“South Australia alone has lost nearly 11,000 manufacturing jobs under the Howard Government.

“Instead of providing secure, well-paid jobs for Australians in a globally competitive manufacturing industry, the Howard Govt has focussed on slashing workers’ wages & conditions through Work Choices.

“John Howard and Peter Costello have stood by while local businesses have gone broke or have been forced to move offshore.

“If the Coalition is re-elected there is a real danger that Australia’s manufacturing industries including the all-important car and auto component sectors will lose critical mass and shrink to an unsustainable level.

“Communities that have relied on manufacturing to provide decent job opportunities for local families need to stand up in this election and vote to prevent the rising tide of job cuts and gradual loss of Australian businesses overseas.

“Labor leader Kevin Rudd’s unequivocal commitment to saving and extending our national manufacturing capacity, including a green car innovation strategy, is very welcome,” said Mr Lawrence.

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Howard not trusted on IR

John Howard cannot be trusted on industrial relations and there is no doubt the Liberals will take Work Choices further after the election, the ACTU said today.

Mr Howard’s statement today that the Govt has ‘completed the process’ of Work Choices is simply not believable.

A Government document prepared by the Department of Workplace Relations (DEWR) shows that a re-elected Howard-Costello Government would expand the Work Choices system to the entire workforce.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:
“John Howard didn’t tell the Australian public about Work Choices before the last election and he cannot be trusted on industrial relations in this one.

“Peter Costello is on the record as saying he wants to make further cuts to workers’ unfair dismissal protections — beyond the 4 million workers who have already lost protection under Work Choices.

“Major business groups, including the National Farmers Federation are also calling for the ‘fairness test’ to be scrapped after the election,” said Ms Burrow.