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Before you vote in Orange check out our easy-to-read form guide for Saturday's election


Five of the six candidates at The Orange News Examiner's Politics in the Pub on May 10 at Hotel Orange. (L-R): Adam Jannis, Kate Hook, Sarah Elliott, Kay Nankervis, Andrew Gee. Missing: One Nation's Stacey Whittaker. Copyright: Orange News Examiner.

May 17, 2022


By Peter Holmes


I've waded through the policies of each of the six candidates standing in Calare at Saturday's federal election.


They are far too long to publish in full, but here are some of the key policies for your consideration. Parties in alphabetical order.


Australian Labor Party

Candidate: Sarah Elliott


  • Deliver at least 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.

  • Change the rules to allow regional and outer metro communities to recruit more doctors of their choosing – both locals and overseas trained GPs.

  • Expand the newborn screening program, increasing the number of screened conditions from around 25 to 80.

  • Cut the cost of medications by reducing the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) co-payment from the current maximum of $42.50 per script, to a maximum of $30 per script.

  • 465,000 fee-free TAFE places for Australian students studying in industries with a skills shortage, including 45,000 new places.

  • Enshrine secure work as an objective of the Fair Work Act.

  • Make wage theft a crime at a national level.

  • Lift the maximum child care subsidy rate to 90 per cent for families for the first child in care;

  • Increase child care subsidy rates for every family with one child in care earning less than $530,000 in household income;

  • Up to $15 billion of capital to invest in job-creating projects through loans, equity and guarantees in resources, agriculture, transport, medical science, defence capability, enabling capabilities and renewables and low emissions technologies.

  • 90 per cent of Australians — over 10 million premises — will have access to world-class gigabit speeds by 2025.

  • ensure 1 in 10 workers on major government projects is an apprentice, trainee or cadet.

  • Help to Buy scheme means eligible home buyers will need a minimum deposit of 2 percent, with an equity contribution from the federal government of up to a maximum of 40 percent of the purchase price of a new home and up to a maximum of 30 percent of the purchase price for an existing home.

  • Upgrade the electricity grid to fix energy transmission and drive down power prices.

  • Make electric vehicles cheaper with an electric car discount and Australia’s first National Electric Vehicle Strategy.

  • Develop new industries in Regional Australia through a new Powering the Regions Fund.

  • Every aged care facility will be required to have a registered, qualified nurse on site, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

  • Develop and implement mandatory nutrition standards for aged care homes.

For more detail on ALP policy see here.




The Greens

Candidate: Kay Nankervis


  • Treaty or Treaties with First Nations people.

  • Make big corporations and billionaires pay more tax to clean up “the mess they’re making”, fund the transition to 100 percent renewables and kick off a full-scale renewable export industry.

  • Rapid transition to 100% renewables.

  • Dental and mental health included in Medicare.

  • Free education for all.

  • Restore public ownership of essential services.

  • Close the gender pay gap, and make sure workplaces are fair, respectful and safe.

  • Regulate, tax and legalise cannabis


You can read more about Greens policies here.





Independent

Kate Hook


  • Take urgent action on climate change, prioritising water security.

  • Optimise jobs from the renewable energy transformation.

  • Prepare for more extreme weather disasters.

  • Deliver a federal anti-corruption body with teeth.

  • Put regional health ahead of urban commuter car parks and gas projects.

  • Ensure Calare gets investment for affordable housing for young families and for those who need assistance.

  • Drive investment for homes and shelters for victims of domestic violence, their children, and projects that care for the vulnerable.

  • Full implementation of the recommendations of the aged and disability care royal commissions.

  • Provide adequately trained staff and security of jobs for aged care workers.

  • More Indigenous rangers to look after the environment.

  • Treat refugees in accordance with our international obligations.

You can read more about Kate Hook’s policies here.




National Party

Candidate: Andrew Gee


  • Strengthen the economy to deliver more jobs, more apprentices

  • Work towards unemployment below four per cent.

  • Tackle cost of living pressures through a reduction in fuel costs, increasing housing affordability and reducing tax for regional workers and their families.

  • Greater investment in regional infrastructure to create long-term opportunities and growth to underpin regional prosperity.

  • Build a better health system that will provide more GPs and health specialists in our regions and towns where they are needed.

  • Bring back manufacturing to Australia that will reduce Australia’s reliance on others while creating local jobs in regional communities.

  • Legislate new anti-trolling laws.

  • Maintain Operation Sovereign Borders.

  • Invest $17.8 million to provide mental health support to multicultural communities across Australia.

  • Invest $2.5 billion in the first five years of the next National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children.

  • Expand Defence Industry Pathways Program for school leavers to develop a nationwide pipeline of work-ready trainees.

  • A new Commonwealth Regional Scholarship Program with a $10.9 million investment to help students and their families from low-SES regional and remote communities to afford boarding school fees.

You can read more on the Nationals’ policies here.





One Nation

Candidate: Stacey Whittaker


  • Build new water infrastructure projects, including dams and increase the supply to Australian farmers.

  • Legislate the full disclosure of water ownership and ban the sale of water to foreign investors.

  • Withdrawal of Australia from the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention.

  • Increase national apprenticeship scheme whereby first-year apprentices receive a 75 percent wage subsidy, followed by 50 percent the second year, and 25 percent in their third year.

  • Continue to question climate science.

  • Re-implement Foreign Investment Review Board applications on all Agricultural Land from expiring Free Trade Agreements.

  • Establish a Federal Police Drug Bus in each state that will provide an educational roadshow for parents and students.

  • Reduce the gestational limit for abortions.

Read more about One Nation policies here.




United Australia Party

Candidate: Adam Jannis


  • Introduce a maximum interest rate for all home loans of 3 percent per annum for the next five years

  • Introduce a 15 percent export licence on the export of all Australian iron ore.

  • More stages of the mining process on Australian soil.

  • Inject an extra $20 billion into the education system over three years.

  • Stop the advance payment of provisional tax.

  • Reduce the taxation rate on a person’s second job by up to 50 percent.

  • Abolish the Fringe Benefits Tax.

  • A 20 percent tax concession incentive to people living more than 200kms from a capital city.

  • End lockdowns forever.

  • No domestic vaccine passports.

  • Alternative treatments to Covid (including anti-virals) included in the treatment options and available for all Australians.

  • Lobbyists excluded from holding official positions in political parties

  • Increase age pension by $180 a fortnight


You can read more about UAP policies here.


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