An agenda for Labor

Any development of a proactive industry policy also holds the prospect of co-opting those sections of the business community who are likely to benefit For example, the provision of research and development credits, and targeted tax breaks for export and import-replacement industries which promise to create high wage local jobs. This way Labor can gain vital economic credibility in pursuit of its broader agenda.

Health and education are always strong areas for Labor but if Labor combines fiscal conservatism with an agenda of personal and corporate tax cuts, what room is there for Labor to live up to this reputation? Ideally, Labor ought to aim to provide additional grants to the states with the purpose of lowering student to teacher ratios and providing for the development of new infrastructure in our schools and hospitals, while expanding federal funding to provide for a more equitable regime of fees and charges at our universities.

Such an agenda of expanded public expenditure necessarily involves a re-ordering of priorities: where the Private Health Insurance Rebate is means tested, tax cuts are put on hold, and potentially where new revenue measures are considered to fund social wage expansion, industry assistance and essential infrastructure.

Labor should be considering the progressive expansion of its revenue base, rather than succumbing to the “razor gang” mentality regardless of the worth of public programs and industry policy. Potential revenue measures could include wealth or inheritance taxes, a carbon tax, an increase in and progressive restructuring of the Medicare Levy, and the abolition or halving of dividend imputation.

Labor could seek to harmonise a carbon tax with similar levies in other countries, while diverting any revenue thus generated into research into, and investment in, renewable energy. Such an agenda could be sweetened by an adjustment of the PAYG tax-free threshold, combined with full indexation of the bottom three income tax brackets.

Preventing bracket creep at the lower end of the tax scale would also sit admirably with Labor’s commitment to social justice and equality.

Finally, as an alternative to raising the tax-free threshold, Labor ought to also consider the introduction of income tax credits as an alternative to tax cuts for low-income Australians.

In the field of education, the ALP needs to be cautious about demands for a national curriculum. Over decades, a progressive educational culture has evolved around outcomes-based education: which sees the process of learning, and the aptitudes gained from the learning process as being of more value than learning by rote.

Any development of a national curriculum ought to occur as a consequence of interstate co-operation rather than through the establishment of a new federal body that reflects the prejudices of the current government.

In the field of higher education, meanwhile, Labor must promise the abolition of full fee places for domestic students, combined with standardisation of HECS rates, an increase in the HECS repayment income threshold, and possibly the introduction of a bracketed HECS repayment scheme. Such a scheme could adjust the proportion of debt due to be repaid in total: where such an amount is indexed according to income. Furthermore, Federal grants for independent research in our universities must be expanded to overcome dependence on corporate funding.

In health, a commitment of $5 billion for additional hospital beds and for the education of extra medical professionals would do much to solve the waiting lists crisis: the situation has long been beyond modest half-measures, and requires robust action now.

Additional funds ought to also be provided to expand the scope of Medicare into dental care and other areas of essential service. Beyond this, the ALP ought to be aiming to lower Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) co-payments - especially for pensioners - and expand the scope of the program.