Greens a risk, Julia Gillard tells Victorian voters

JULIA Gillard has implored Labor's voters not to flirt with the Greens and risk a repeat of the federal election result.

JULIA Gillard has implored Labor's voters not to flirt with the Greens and risk a repeat of the federal election result.

This comes as John Brumby revealed his inner bushman at the launch of Labor's Victorian campaign.

The Prime Minister yesterday joined the Premier at Labor's official election campaign launch, at which Mr Brumby announced a three-tiered education policy, with more than $420 million to be spent on kindergartens, apprenticeships and boosts for disengaged Year 9 students.

Mr Brumby, who received a standing ovation as he walked down the steps of the Capital Theatre, announced the centrepiece of the education plan was a $208m proposal to give a $2000 grant to every Year 9 government school student to go on a two-week camp and get life experience training for a term.

Following in the footsteps of many top private schools that send their Year 9 students away for a term, the Labor policy would see country students spend at least two weeks in the city and suburban students going to regional camps.

Labor's plan would give the Year 9 students a term of life-skills classes, which would include lessons on leadership training, budgeting and community service.

Mr Brumby was joined by his family and former Victorian premiers Steve Bracks, John Cain and Joan Kirner at the launch, which was held in one of the five regional seats that Labor needs to win to retain state government.

The low-key but intimate event focused on softening Mr Brumby's prickly image among voters by highlighting his country connections.

His Labor colleagues described the Premier as being as comfortable in the bush as in the "boardrooms on Collins Street".

The move was a reaction to the decreasing popularity of Mr Brumby, with Newspoll showing Victorian voters perceived him as arrogant, untrustworthy and someone who did not listen. The campaign launch even included an Australian Story-style video in which the Premier played netball, sheared sheep on his Bendigo farm and drank tea among fellow workers in the shearing shed.

It also featured Labor's green credentials, showing Mr Brumby walking around his farm with his wife, Rosemary, saying: "We love trees . . . we love regeneration."

Mr Brumby began his 20-minute speech by talking about Labor values of a "fair go" and a "helping hand" and the need for the party to evolve.

"Yes, we need to change with the times," he said, "but we will always stay true to our values."

The Premier said Labor was the only party that would address climate change - a theme notably absent in Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu's launch on Sunday - and said the key to prosperity of the state was the next generation.

"Today, young people are plugged into a world where everyone and everything is connected," Mr Brumby said. "But our children also face a much more complicated future: socially, economically and environmentally."

He said education was "Labor's No 1 priority" and this was proven in his funding announcements for more kindergartens, apprenticeships and what he called the "Year 9 experience".

"We will give every child in a government school an experience that the top private schools provide," he said. "This is about changing the curriculum and changing it profoundly so our Year 9s are properly equipped to meet the world that awaits them."

Ms Gillard told the crowd of Labor MPs, staffers and members of the party that every vote counted, given the federal election result in August that left both parties scrambling to win the support of the Greens and independents to form a minority government.

"I know as much as anyone does in modern politics, every vote counts," the Prime Minister said. "No matter where you live, no matter who the leading Labor candidate is, after all that's happened in 2010, no one can doubt it, if you want a Labor government, you have to vote Labor."

Ms Gillard said she was proud to support the Brumby government "whose best days were ahead of it" and considered the Premier a friend, despite his allegiance to the Collingwood Football Club.

"This election in Victoria matters," she said. "Friends, we have worked too hard for this . . . On the 27th of November, I believe Victorians will recognise Labor as the right choice for the future."

Ms Gillard went on to attack the Victorian opposition, saying the Coalition could not even be bothered getting costings on their proposed policies.

"I have seen this negativity from certain parties before. I see it every day, opposition for opposition's sake," she said. "No plans for the days to come . . . Victoria needs better than that. Victoria needs a strong Labor government. Your vote for Labor has never mattered more."