Latest News
- GILLARD NEEDS TO COME CLEAN ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
- Time to actively support Traditional Marriage
- Hip Pocket to take a hit under ALP
- The DLP an Independent Voice
- On Asylum Seekers
- Paid Parental Leave - creating second class parents
- Health - decentralization is the key
Gillard Needs To Come Clean On Same-Sex Marriage
MEDIA RELEASE
The Gillard Government has been attacked for sending mixed messages about its support for traditional marriage.
SA DLP Senate Candidate Paul Russell responded to comments by Labor heavyweight Graham Richardson, made on the ABC's Q & A program on Monday night.
"Ms Gillard has stated her personal opposition to same-sex marriage, but with the likelihood that the Greens will hold the balance of power in the Senate after August 21, the ALP leader needs to let all Australians know if she will hold her colleagues to the supposed party line," said Mr. Russell...
Time to actively support Traditional Marriage
I found myself somewhat in disbelief the other evening as I watched Greens Senate Leader, Bob Brown being interviewed on a late night TV program.
We all should know that the Greens actively support same-sex marriage. Indeed, Greens SA Senator Hanson-Young sponsored a same-sex marriage bill that failed in the last parliament.
What surprised me by Bob Brown's statement that night was his identification of same-sex marriage as one of the top policy priorities for his party under the hackneyed phraseology of 'ending discrimination in marriage' (or some such)...
Hip Pocket to take a hit under ALP
Sometimes I miss the little gems as I scan the daily paper. Often it's my wife, Anne, who picks up these gems in the smaller articles. Perhaps she reads at a more leisurely pace - or maybe she's a better reader generally, I'm not sure.
Page 11 of last Friday's Adelaide Advertiser held one such story. Under the headline: HEALTH INSURANCE voters could pay extra, the article described how, under a Green/ALP alliance, private health insurance would rise by $1500 per annum and university students would be slugged a $250-00 "levy" (when is a levy NOT a tax) to pay for campus childcare and sports services...
The DLP an Independent Voice
Not long after the 2004 Federal election, I was at a function addressed by the new Coalition Health Minister, Tony Abbott. It was essentially a gathering of the Liberal Party faithful.
You will recall on Election Day the elation in Coalition ranks when Senator Boswell phoned Prime Minister Howard with the news that Senator Elect, Barnaby Joyce, had effectively given control of the Senate to the Government benches.
Abbott, in his talk that day assured those present that the Liberal Coalition would not abuse this rare and welcome control of both houses.
On Asylum Seekers
Like most Australians, I held some hope that the coming Federal Election might have prompted both major parties to look seriously at the problem of asylum seekers and the stream of leaky boats that have been processing towards our northern waters for some time now.
Instead all we heard from both Gillard and Abbott were poll-driven non-solutions that were more about neutralizing the issue rather than solving it.
Gillard's East Timor Solution, as has been said, is nothing more than Howard's Pacific Solution moved a 1000 kilometres or so westward. Had Gillard talked it over beforehand with our northern neighbours or New Zealand? Apparently not. What an insult! Fancy dragging our nearest friends into a political storm - and without even asking them!
Paid Parental Leave - creating second class parents
You know, it's an unfortunate state of affairs in this country that the value of our wages has effectively halved in the last generation or so. When my wife and I bought our first home we were able, sometimes only just, to get by on one income. Try doing that now.
While we might lament the current high house prices that need both parents in the workforce to pay their bills and the fact that so many of our young children are cared for more and more away from their hard working mums and dads, this is the world that we find ourselves in. In that context, it's not unreasonable that our government should look to ease something of the extra burden that families face with the birth of a child and loss of one income for an extended period.
Health - decentralization is the key
None of us should be in any doubt that health and the growing national health bill will be significant issues for the foreseeable future. The solutions will not be easy, but there are principles which the DLP believes need to be adopted so that we've got the basic framework right for the future.
That principle is decentralization or, to use and old word, subsidiarity. This essentially means that decision making should occur at the lowest possible competent level. Put simply: local decisions for local needs.