Labor, LNP accuse each other of copycat policies
The official state election campaign is yet to launch, but already the major parties are accusing each other of coping policies.
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THE major parties have accused each other of copying policies ahead of the state election campaign, with the starter’s gun to sound in two days.
The LNP has compiled a list of policies it believes it announced ahead of Labor, including building the second M1 in November 2017 and airconditioning every state school classroom in June 2018.
It also called for a parliamentary inquiry into tolls in May 2018 and real-time fuel price monitoring in January 2018.
But the Palaszczuk government claims the LNP followed several of its policies, while some of Labor’s proposals went further.
An LNP spokesman said the party was the first to promise airconditioning in every state school classroom, with the government having ridiculed the plan for two years, saying it was too expensive.
The government announced its $477m commitment in February this year.
But a government spokesman said the LNP’s policy would not be completed until 2028, while Labor’s commitment will aircondition all classrooms, libraries and staffrooms by mid-2022.
The spokesman also said former LNP leader Tim Nichols had copied Labor in 2017 when he announced a Buy Local policy, and the LNP was wrong to suggest it was ahead of the curve when it announced it would roll out SMART drumlines to protect swimmers from sharks.
The LNP said it was the first to promise to build the second M1, claiming Labor hadn’t ruled out it being a toll road.
But the government said under the Newman LNP government, the second M1 was cut from long term-plans and the LNP’s $550 million funding commitment was a fraction of what was needed.