Sound of silence on key election issues is deafening

There are some vitally important issues that Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten have either ignored or barely touched during this election campaign. But voters deserve answers and plans. And soon, writes Dennis Atkins.

It’s been fascinating to watch this election unfold not for what we have heard from the two major parties but for what we have not heard on truly important issues, with some significant exceptions.

Australia in 2019 is at the end of a decade of very poor government led by both Labor and the Coalition.

Labor squibbed it on climate change, an act which did more than anything else to entrench 10 years of virtual inaction on a vital and increasingly urgent problem.

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It is on this issue that Bill Shorten and Labor can claim deserved credit.

Instead of continuing the half-hearted approach of Labor since Kevin Rudd’s cowardice on “the great moral issue of our time”, Shorten has been bold, declaring an emissions reduction target based on sourcing 50 per cent of Australia’s electricity from renewables by 2030 and a range of plans supporting that plan.

One week out from the election, there’s still much we’ve not heard about. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

Labor’s climate plan is bold, but it does not go as far as is really needed.

The gold standard for climate action has been drawn up by senior Democratic Party congressional figures — supported by major activist groups such as the Sierra Club.

The Green New Deal is a mix of market mechanisms on emissions reduction — a price on carbon or a carbon tax — and widespread job-creating programs based on renewables and stimulus measures rooted in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1930s original New Deal.

Labor is going to act on climate change but the question is whether they will go far enough.

Another significant challenge any incoming government will face after May 18 will be making the national disability insurance scheme function in a way that’s fit for purpose and is sustainable.

The idea of the NDIS is supported by Labor and the Coalition but significant further investment is going to be needed to ensure it meets the needs for which it was proposed.

Labor’s climate plan is bold, but does not go as far enough. Picture: Liam Kidston/Getty

We cannot have a scheme that leaves some people with disabilities behind. Also, the packages have to be generous enough to make sure both those with disabilities and carers can live rewarding and purposeful lives.

Any incoming government will also have to tackle what is a mounting crisis in aged care — and these are problems which will need to be addressed before the interim report due in October this year and the final set of findings which is due this time next year.

The aged care royal commission has already heard enough evidence to suggest systemic problems across the sector, many of which can only be addressed with additional funding.

The next, hopefully final, steps on the road to reconciliation with Australia’s first nations must be undertaken when the new government is sworn in.

It has been three decades since Bob Hawke announced but then failed to deliver a treaty with Aboriginal and Islander peoples — a time in which every possible path forward has been discussed.

The Uluru Statement From the Heart came from 250 delegates working together, shaping an idea to give the First Nations people a voice that advises the parliament.

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It has been backed by businesses, community groups as well as state and local government — the only hold out has been a unified commitment from the political parties in Canberra.

This is the great piece of unfinished business in our national affairs and must be addressed as a first order of business following the election.

Both sides of politics have agreed to give priority to mental health in the new parliament but one thing missing from the Coalition’s plan is any new spending to counter homelessness, a scourge which is for many an insurmountable barrier to getting back into the community.

If re-elected, Scott Morrison must prioritise actioning the Uluru Statement From the Heart. Picture: Liam Kidston/Getty

Labor does have a social housing plan but anyone who has walked the streets of inner-city suburbs of any metropolitan area or looked beyond the otherwise neat and manicured communities elsewhere in Australia knows there is an out and out crisis crying out for action and remedy.

These are only some of the big issues that have either been ignored or just barely touched on in this election campaign.

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Our relations with Asia is another as is the need to face up to artificial intelligence and its impact on employment trends.

Economic inequality will hover over everything a new government sets out to achieve and policies which can help address gender inequality will also be demanded by women in Australia.

If we are going to become the kind of Australia everyone wants, there are challenges that might appear daunting but must be addressed.

Dennis Atkins is The Courier-Mail’s national affairs editor and co-host of the Two Grumpy Hacks podcast.

@dwabriz

Originally published as Sound of silence on key election issues is deafening