Labor must rekindle the flames of idealism to connect to real people

The statistics tell their story. Only 61 per cent of workers have permanent full time jobs. Since 1984 the percentage of casuals in the workforce has increased from 16 per cent to 27 per cent. Roughly half have no sick leave and no paid holidays.

These workers suffer insecure employment, low hourly rates, inadequate training and hours that can almost destroy family life. Some told their stories recently at the Senate Poverty Inquiry. A common theme was bosses reducing working hours to counteract wage increases, while still expecting the same work to be done.

Outsourcing and Australia Workplace Agreements have created even more low-paid workers trapped in a cycle of faster work, longer hours and shrinking pay. Australia is gradually creating a working underclass. These workers are almost always overlooked in public debate. To the Howard Government they are merely an economic input, a cost to business. But for the Labor Party, protecting vulnerable workers is core business.

Labor should use the power of Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified by Australia in 1975, to legislate for leave entitlements for casuals, permanent employment options and better minimum rates of pay.

The award system can no longer carry the entire load of protecting vulnerable workers. Improving the living standards of low-paid workers will not harm our international competitiveness but it will strengthen social cohesion and opportunity.

Bringing Dental Services into Medicare

Labor is committed to defending Medicare. It should also aim to extend it.

After the Keating Government introduced the Commonwealth Dental Scheme in 1993, community health centres in my electorate told me they were seeing dental patients in their 50s who had never been to a dentist before. The Howard Government axed this program in 1996. It has done nothing since to deal with this gaping hole in our health system.

For many Australians, proper dental care is an unaffordable luxury. From 1989 to 1999 dental fees rose by 50 per cent while the overall cost of health services rose by only 22 per cent. Too many individuals and families suffer prolonged pain and misery because they cannot afford dentists' fees.

Labor is reviewing the future of the Howard Government’s wasteful and regressive private health insurance rebate. Basic dental services could be included in Medicare for little more than a third of the cost of the rebate. The Government already pays for at least $264 million in dental services - but only for those with private health insurance! Ensuring basic dental cover for all Australians would relieve the pressure on thousands of Australian families. Including dental care in Medicare should be the objective.

Putting Public Education First

Families these days are paying twice for education - once through their taxes and again through user pays arrangements. Two thirds of the Howard Government's school funding goes immediately to private schools and the Government spends more on private schools than it does on public universities! The families who benefit are mostly well off.

The Howard Government is now creating a two-tier education system: a private system overflowing with public funds, and a public system starved of adequate funding.

It is Labor's task to ensure that our children are not denied their right to life opportunities because of the gradual erosion of public education.