30 October 2007

Humphries and Nairn Playing Politics with Water – again

Senator Kate Lundy, Member for Fraser, Bob McMullan and Member for Canberra, Annette Ellis today said after 11 long years in power the Federal Government was still playing politics with local water supplies.

Today’s announcement to transfer Googong Dam to the ACT Government 25 days out from an election follows years of obfuscation and political games on water security in this region from the Howard Government.

It is yet another example of the haphazard approach the Howard Government has taken to providing local infrastructure and securing our water supply.

“Mike Kelly is right to be demanding that Gary Nairn explain the precise details of their policy and exactly how the announcement will impact on Queanbeyan’s water supply", Bob McMullan said.

“Just before a Federal Election, this announcement has all the hallmarks of desperation by the Liberals who have a reputation for playing politics with our regions water supplies”, Annette Ellis said.  

“Federal Labor’s approach is to work co-operatively across the border and with all three spheres of government to guarantee secure water supplies for the Canberra and Queanbeyan regions”, Senator Lundy said.

“This is in stark contrast to the Howard Government’s party political, blame game approach to our regions water security”, Senator Lundy concluded.  

Contact: Rachel Allen - 0418 488 295 (Lundy) Patrick Myrtle – 6247 4396 (McMullan) or Ash Musgrove - 0419 020 419 (Ellis)

29 October 2007

Labor’s 1 Billion National Urban Water and Desalination Plan

Senator Kate Lundy today meet with representatives from the National Parkes Association ACT to discuss Federal Labor’s comprehensive plan to protect our natural environment and combat climate change.

Senator Lundy also discussed with the representatives Kevin Rudd’s announcement proposing a $1 billion National Urban Water and Desalination Plan to help secure the water supplies of Australia’s major cities.

Canberra, like many Australian cities, is already experiencing water shortages with storage levels falling to less than 42 per cent of capacity in October.

In recognising the continued drought conditions in the ACT, the ACT Government has shown incredible initiative and forward thinking on the issue of securing Canberra’s future water supplies.

One current ACT Government project that may be benefited by Federal Labor’s announcement is the proposed design and construction of a demonstration water purification plant based at the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre.  As the first plant of its kind in inland Australia, the purpose of the plant would be to optimize and prove the proposed Water Purification Scheme and also comprise a visitors/education. 

Federal Labor’s $1 billion National Urban Water and Desalination Plan will help fund the construction of major desalination, water recycling, and storm water capture projects across Australia.

Contact: Rachel Allen - 6230 0411 or 0418 488 295

26 October 2007

Federal Labor's Plan for High Quality, Affordable Child Care in Canberra:

Giving Parents Peace of Mind

Kate Lundy today visited a local child care centre, Alkira Community Child Care Centre, Charnwood, to talk to staff and parents about Labor’s plans to improve the quality and affordability of child care in the ACT.

Earlier this year the Productivity Commission released figures that revealed that Canberra is amongst the most expensive in the country for child care, paying on average $265 a week for long day care. That is $30 more a week than the national average,

Labor understands the increasing financial pressures on working families. That is why Federal Labor has a comprehensive plan to improve the affordability of child care including:

In addition, Federal Labor has announced it will introduce tough new national quality standards for child care centres to give parents peace of mind - investing $77 million – over the next four years.

A Rudd Labor Government will also boost the quality of training and educational financial support for child care workers.

Federal Labor’s $77 million Plan for High Quality Child Care has three key elements:

When it comes to child care, Federal Labor has a comprehensive plan to make high quality child care more affordable for parents.

Contact: Rachel Allen - 0418 488 295

24 October 2007

Humphries plays the ‘blame game’ card with Canberra’s water

ACT Liberal Senator, Gary Humphries, is getting more desperate as today saw him unreasonably criticise the ACT Government’s water plan without having lifted a finger himself when he had the opportunity as Chief Minister of the ACT.

As Senator Humphries knows very well that while he was a member of the ACT Liberal Government and Chief Minister, he did not invest ACTEW dividends in water infrastructure and failed to plan for Canberra’s water supplies into the future.

The ACT Government has been recognised as “forward thinking” in its approach to water conservation by Di Jay, CEO of the Planning Institute Australia, while Humphries stands back and criticises without demonstrating any forward thinking of his own.

Senator Humphries swipe at the ACT Government is typical of the Howard Government’s ‘just blame the states and territories strategy to everything.

A Federal Labor Government will end the blame game and work with our states and territories to plan for Australia’s future.

Humphries is also displaying an increasingly shrill tendency to beat up his misleading fear campaign about Canberra’s future when on morning radio today.

This from a Senator who sat back and watched impassively as Canberra’s economy was gutted by the newly elected Howard Government in 1996 and 1997. Even his predecessor Margaret Reid had the good sense to distance herself.

Humphries is more interested in playing Howard’s ‘blame game’ and beating up his own scare campaign than standing up for Canberra and planning for Australia’s future.

Contact: Rachel Allen - 6230 0411 or 0418 488 295

22 October 2007

ACT expensive for child care – but only Labor has a plan

Working families are under pressure like never before, working longer just to make ends meet. On top of high petrol prices, mortgage repayments and the cost of groceries, the cost of child care has spiralled, adding to the financial pressure families are under.

Child care costs in Australia have doubled in the last 11 years, increasing by more than 12% a year for the last five years.

In January this year, figures issued by the Productivity Commission revealed that the ACT was ranked among the most expensive places in Australia for child care. The average cost for full-time long day care in Canberra is $233 per week, that is $32 more expensive than the national average.

And Mr Howard’s response is that Australians have never been better off!

Federal Labor understands that one of the best things you can do to help working families is to address the real costs of child care. That’s why Labor has a plan to invest $1.5 billion make child care more affordable.

Labor’s Affordable Child Care Plan will increase the Child Care Tax Rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent, meaning that half of a family’s total out of pocket child care costs will be met every year. The rebate will also be paid every three months, instead of once a year, helping working families to keep on top of cost of living expenses.

“Labor’s Affordable Child Care Plan will make child care more affordable for working families - slashing costs with a 50% tax rebate”, Senator Lundy said today.

“In my Canberra Community Survey conducted in July this year, I received feedback from some residents saying that they spend up to a third of their household incomes on child care costs”, Senator Lundy continued.

“Federal Labor’s Affordable Child Care Plan offers a real solution for local families battling with increasing financial pressures. This plan will work with Labor's other child care policies to improve the system and slash costs”, Senator Lundy concluded.

Federal Labor offers a clear choice on child care. Labor’s plan is to make affordable child care a national priority for the future. John Howard has had 11 years fix the child care crisis and has failed.

Contact: Rachel Allen – 6230 0411 or 0418 488 295

16 October 2007

Does Humphries support Howard’s $121 million advertising campaign?

The Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) released by the Howard Government confirmed what every television viewer had suspected: that Mr Howard had wasted taxpayers’ money at record speed in an attempt to sell his unfair Work Choices laws.

Senator Humphries supported the unfair changes to the Workplace Relations Act in the Senate and unashamedly supported the legislation at every opportunity.

Does Senator Humphries also support the Governments multi-million dollar tax payer funded advertising blitz?

The appendix of MYEFO details that $66 million has been spent on the second wave of Work Choices advertising since earlier this year.

This second wave was an extravagant attempt to repair Mr Howard’s image after the first $55 million Work Choices campaign only served to remind Australians how unfair his laws were.

In effect, Mr Howard wasted $55 million to launch Work Choices and another $66 million to bury it – a total of $121 million down the drain.

Here in the ACT, we know first hand that the ads have been a sham. While the ads gave the impression that justice would be swift, a local Canberra casual employee was left waiting over 9 months for her claim to be acted on by the Workplace Ombudsman.

It is disappointing that while the Government has been sinking millions of taxpayer dollars into an advertising campaign, some local employees have not had their complaints dealt with in a timely manner by the Workplace Ombudsman.

I challenge Senator Humphries to come clean and tell ACT residents if he supports the Howard Government’s $121 million advertising campaign.

Contact: Rachel Allen – 6230 0411 or 0418 488 295

15 October 2007

Don’t miss out: Tuesday cut off for changing your electoral roll details

Senator Kate Lundy today reminded Canberrans to make sure they are correctly enrolled on the ACT electoral roll before it closes for the 2007 Federal Election.

Under the Howard Governments new electoral laws, potential voters now must be enrolled to vote the same day that the writs are issued.

This means if you are not already on the electoral roll, you have until 8pm on Wednesday 17th October.

Voters needing to change their details or address have until 8pm on Tuesday 23rd October.

Senator Lundy said that since the beginning of October 2006 she and her ACT Labor colleagues, Annette Ellis and Bob McMullan, have been holding a series of enrolment stalls across the ACT to encourage Canberrans not to miss out on the new electoral roll closing dates.

“It is critical that all Canberrans have the opportunity to have their say in Australia’s future direction by voting in the 2007 Federal Election”, Senator Lundy said.

To help people enrol to vote local ALP representatives will be holding enrolment stalls in Civic near the merry-go-round at the bottom of Petrie Plaza. Stalls will be held on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th from 12pm – 2pm.

Contact: Rachel Allen – 6230 0411 or 0418 488 295

13 October 2007

ACT Federal Labor Representatives Support Local Sudanese Community

In Canberra, our local Sudanese community has made many important contributions to our community, and have many significant achievements in their own right.

It is extraordinary to have a Minister for Immigration who has nothing positive to say about the vast majority of Australian families of African background who are hard working, law abiding and make a valuable contribution to Australian society.

There is a vibrant and engaged Sudanese community here in the ACT that, in the context of Minister Andrew's recent offensive comments, must be recognised for its contributions to Canberra and our community.

We have been fortunate to have had the opportunity over the past several years to meet with local Sudanese community members and hear about their achievements, as well as what still needs to be done to assist refugees who come to live in Canberra.

Many Sudanese refugees have come to Canberra to settle with their families, work, complete university studies, participate in community events - like Multicultural Week - and volunteer in community organisations.

Labor recognises that there are millions of refugees in camps in Africa and has always offered bipartisan support to Australia’s humanitarian assistance to this region.

Labor has also committed an additional $49.2 million to provide programs to give people additional support and opportunity to learn English and to find their first job. 

Contact: Rachel Allen – 0418 488 295 (Lundy), Alys Graham - 0438 379 977 (Ellis), Margaret Watt - 0438 271 749 (McMullan)

8 October 2007

Cooking up a Solution to our Skills Crisis

Over a morning tea prepared by accelerated apprentice chef Joseph Hansby, Senator Lundy and Mike Kelly heard first hand about the challenges our skills crisis posses for local businesses today.

“Without skilled staff, our local businesses can’t realise their full potential. While the employer we met today is committed to training up young staff to work in the hospitality industry, the Federal Government must take responsibility for addressing our skils crisis” Senator Lundy said.

The fact is that many local businesses face the same problem. By the Government’s own estimates, Australia faces a shortage of more than 200,000 skilled workers over the next five years.

The Howard Government’s response to this crisis, is simply to build Australian Technical Colleges (ATC’s). However these will only produce their first qualified tradesperson in another three years, and even then will only produce approximately 10,000 students by 2010.

“The ATC Queanbeyan, along with the other 90 per cent of ATC’s planned for marginal electorates, represents a cynical political response by the Howard Government which shows again it has lost touch and has no plan for the future,” Mike Kelly said.

“The Howard Government’s ATCs are simply too little, too late after a decade of under-investment which has resulted in the current skills crisis. A Labor Government will invest in an education revolution that will benefit businesses and young people in Eden-Monaro”, Mike Kelly continued.

That is why Labor has already announced a $2.5 billion Trades Training Centres plan aimed at the 1 million students in Years 9, 10, 11 and 12 in Australia’s 2,650 secondary schools.

The plan will provide secondary schools with between $500,000 and up to $1.5 million to build, upgrade or enhance VET facilities in order to keep kids in school, enhance the profile and quality of VET in schools and provide real career paths to trades and apprenticeships for students.

By making VET a viable option for all our secondary students, Labor’s plan will make a real and significant dent in the current skills shortage.

Contact: Mike Kelly on 0438 400 549 or Rachel Allen on 0418 488 295 (Lundy)

3 October 2007

Federal Labor to assist local businesses to access government contracts

Innovative small businesses in Canberra deserve a fair go in competing for government contracts, Senator Lundy said today following an Innovation and Procurement Forum organised in Canberra by the Churchill Club.

Federal Labor’s New Directions in Innovation, Competitiveness and Productivity includes a 10-point framework to guide Federal Labor’s approach to building a more innovative, more productive Australia.

One of Labor’s key points is to use government procurement to support innovative Australian firms.  In the ACT alone, business has the opportunity to tender for hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars worth of federal government contracts.

Of the 150,000 contracts let each year by the Howard Government, only about one quarter went to small and medium sized business.

Labor believes small business should be encouraged to gain a greater share of the total $26 billion government contracts.

Federal Labor is committed to making sure that the barriers to small and medium sized businesses (SME's) tendering competitively for this work are removed.

When well executed, government contracts provide an excellent reference site and can help our growing local businesses to open up new markets here and overseas.  This is good for small business and good for the Australian economy.

In addition, Federal Labor will reduce the red tape involved by creating contracts that are simpler and easier to comply with. For example, the effect of government contracts using unlimited liability clauses and other onerous terms is that SME’s will not bid for low value tenders.  Such ‘one size fits all’ terms are meant for high value, high risk contracts and are often used inappropriately for smaller value contracts.

Today’s Forum on innovation and procurement was a timely reminder of the economic benefits SME access to government contracts provides and how their research, development an innovation can drive growth. 

There are important lessons for Australia as countries like the UK, inspired by the US program Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), leap ahead with programs designed to maximise innovation through government contracts.

For further information on the Forum held today in Canberra, http://www.churchillclub.org.au/23.asp?eventId=153

Contact: Rachel Allen - 0418 488 295

2 October 2007

Australian Chapter of 'Collateral Damage'

Senator Kate Lundy was host to the Canberra launch of the Australian chapter of 'Collateral Damage: The Impact of Anti-Trafficking Measures on Human Rights around the World'.

The report, commissioned by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), highlights the issues of trafficking in Australia, including aspects of Australia's visa system that expose some migrant workers to exploitation.

"Collateral Damage highlights how much work we still have to do to effectively respond to the problems of trafficking and slavery. The round table that was held today is one step toward towards achieving better results for victims and the community", Senator Lundy said.

"This report is a timely reminder of the issues we have faced in the ACT with respect to Filipino workers in the hospitality industry. In the ACT the exploited workers on 457 visas were successful in their Federal Court cases regarding underpayment by local employers."

"Labor supports a system of temporary work visas, especially in the context of the current skills shortage. However, Labor does not support the Howard Government's use of temporary work visas to drive down wages and attack workplace conditions."

"A Labor Government would require temporary work visa holders to be paid the going market rates of pay to help prevent the exploitation of migrant workers."  

 Contact: Rachel Allen 0418 488 295