Abbott a threat both to fairness and prosperity

Perhaps the best response would be for Labor to announce a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Such a scheme would need to be implemented in a fashion which valued and promoted the human worth and social participation of recipients. And in freeing up crucial additional funds, further action would become possible: reform of pensions and disability services, as well as commitments to mental health and aged care.

Conclusion

There are many reasons to vote against Abbott in the coming election, and not only those already alluded to in this essay.

Abbott has no credibility on the environment, having famously proclaimed that “climate change is crap”. And despite the conservatives’ emphasis on internal ALP division, the Liberal Party itself remains divided - as Malcolm Turnbull and others remain philosophically committed to a price on carbon.

Further, Abbott remains committed to the spirit of WorkChoices, despite proclaiming the policy “dead”. As Abbott himself stated “the word WorkChoices is dead”. But even if a Liberal government did not change the existing legislation, it could legislate outside that framework, effectively circumventing it regardless.

Crucially, Abbott is “running scared” from a debate with Julia Gillard on the economy. Wanting to rely on pre-existing prejudices in the electorate, the last thing he wants is to provide Labor a platform from which to spruik the “good news”: a recession avoided as a consequence of Labor stimulus; interest rates low; and investment in education in infrastructure essential to the future of our economy. And then there’s Labor’s National Broadband Network (NBN), and its crucial role in paving the way for the future knowledge economy.

Abbott’s claim to greater “competency” in managing the economy doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Politics concerns values: matters such as distributive justice and compassion for the poor and oppressed run deeper than “technocratic management”.

Finally, Abbott is attempting to deceive us with a “sleight of hand” on austerity. He wants us to focus on conservative initiatives on mental health and aged care, but in doing so he wants to distract us from savage austerity elsewhere - health, education, infrastructure, welfare - cuts that could spiral into the tens of billions.

Labor is not yet committed to tax and social wage reform of the scale that I am fighting for. But the difference between Labor and the Conservatives is tens of billions in austerity, the abandonment of crucial infrastructure such as the NBN, an uncertain future with industrial relations, and an outdated neo-liberal economic outlook that would have seen Australia into recession if Abbott had had his way.

Vote 1 for Labor, or the Greens: but for Australia’s sake put the Liberals and Nationals last.