Bennelong by-election: Alexander and Keneally compared
SCHOOLS, transport, healthcare. After all their talk, where do Bennelong rivals John Alexander and Kristina Keneally really stand on the important issues for voters?
Northern District Times
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SCHOOLS, transport, healthcare. After all their talk, where do Bennelong rivals John Alexander and Kristina Keneally really stand on the important issues for voters?
The Liberal and Labor candidates will gladly tell you which issues they believe will determine Saturday’s by-election.
However it’s the voters who really decide what matters.
We have compiled the key issues for people in the electorate, and where the Liberal and Labor candidates stand.
SCHOOLS
Alexander
Mr Alexander recently attended the opening of a refurbished school hall at the Italian Bilingual School at Meadowbank to reinforce his message on school funding. He says every school in the electorate will receive a significant increase in funding over the next decade under the current government. The Turnbull Government is investing an additional $23.4 billion in Australia’s schools through the Gonski needs-based funding plan, according to Mr Alexander.
Keneally
Ms Keneally says the government’s funding for schools is around $17 billion less than it had promised under deals struck by the Gillard government in 2013. A Catholic, Ms Keneally has been particularly supportive of those schools. She has written to the Catholic diocese to reaffirm Labor’s promise to restore every dollar of the $17 billion she says the government has cut from schools.
OVER-DEVELOPMENT
Alexander
You don’t have to look far to find masses of units in Bennelong, but Mr Alexander says he has been working on the problem of congestion. In Canberra, he chaired an inquiry exploring high speed rail. This considered how fast trains could make it easier for people to live outside major cities like Sydney. The government has gone to market to make these initiatives happen, according to Mr Alexander. He has talked up the government’s $80 million Macquarie Park bus interchange pledge, which aims to help traffic flow, and says he has helped deliver $16 million in federal roads funding.
Keneally
Ms Keneally has cited the many unit projects in the area as proof the electorate has not been looked after. Labor has also pledged to fund the Macquarie Park bus interchange. Ms Keneally says it has taken a tight electoral contest for the Liberals to act on the mess they have created.
HEALTHCARE
Alexander
Good healthcare means a well-funded Medicare. Mr Alexander says 87.5 per cent of GP visits in Bennelong were bulk billed last year. He says spending on Medicare has increased each year. The Liberals have criticised Ms Keneally’s Medicare claims. They say Labor made the decision to close the Medicare Eastwood office in 2015, and waiting time data showed her claim she waited more than an hour at the Medicare Ryde office recently was misleading.
Keneally
Ms Keneally has Medicare at the forefront of her campaign. She has promised a Shorten government would reopen a Medicare office at Eastwood. Ms Keneally said a Liberal government was in power when the office closed. She has also told her story of waiting for more than an hour with her son at Medicare’s Ryde office recently. She said they were asked to come back another day due to lengthy queues. This approach kept waiting times low, she said.
TRANSPORT
Alexander
One of the big commitments to the electorate has been the Turnbull government’s $80 million pledge to fund most of the Macquarie Park bus interchange. The business district is a noted contributor to the national economy, and growing. The interchange would allow buses carrying workers to come and go more easily from the stops outside the Macquarie Centre shopping centre. Ryde Council had for years unsuccessfully appealed to the state government to fund the interchange.
Keneally
Labor also pledged to fund the Macquarie Park bus interchange. Meanwhile, Ms Keneally has picked up on Mr Alexander’s previous comments that Bennelong has four of the most congested roads in the state. This is a sign the electorate has not been looked after, according to the Labor candidate.
INTERNET ACCESS
Alexander
Mr Alexander says almost 18,000 Bennelong businesses and homes are ready for the National Broadband Network. That is about 19 per cent of the electorate. Mr Alexander said the government inherited the NBN, and the rollout had been hard going. He said the government had delivered the NBN to more homes than Labor did.
Keneally
Ms Keneally says a Labor government would provide the NBN using the fibre to the premises model. She says the electorate is receiving the “second rate” hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) model, which uses the pay TV network. She has also seized on NBN Co’s recent announcement of a nine month delay to its rollout. “People will have to wait even longer for a second rate service from this third rate government,” she said.