Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister inform the House of progress in implementing the government’s commitments given to the Australian people before the 24 November election?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. In the light of our democracy it is important to be up-front and direct with the Australian people about what you commit to prior to an election and what you then implement subsequent to an election. Honouring commitments to the Australian people, not consigning them to boxes called ‘core promises’ and ‘non-core promises’, is in fact the lifeblood of an effectively operating democracy. We ask ourselves why cynicism emerges in the Australian community about the operation of this place. It goes to the practices that we have seen so often in the past whereby things were consigned to the dustbin of history once governments got past the day of the election itself. That period of core and non-core promises sits squarely in the mind and the recollection of the Australian people.

On education, we said before the election that we would establish a National Curriculum Board to deliver for the first time in Australia’s history a national education curriculum for schools. We have implemented that; we have appointed the board. That is the No. 1 first achievement and the first time that a government of Australia has actually taken steps to bring about a national curriculum in this country through the agency of a national board.

Secondly, on the question of infrastructure, we committed to the Australian people to establish Infrastructure Australia. In the first or second cabinet meeting of this government we took a decision to proceed with that and, as the minister for infrastructure just said, that legislation will be introduced in a matter of days or weeks. We will for the first time in the history of the Commonwealth have the national government taking national leadership in the provision and planning of infrastructure across this country. That is the second commitment honoured.

Thirdly, on the question of broadband, as a result of regulatory advice from the ACCC and decisions taken based on that on the part of the minister for communications, we have the ADSL2+ rollout by Telstra, which brings higher speed broadband to up to 2.4 million extra Australians—one instalment in terms of the much larger program of reform we have in mind when it comes to the overall rollout of fibre optic to the node broadband services across Australia.

On health we committed to the Australian people before the election that for the first time the national government would provide incentive payments to the states to do something about elective surgery waiting lists—a matter of deep concern to working families across Australia. In the past the response has been to blame the states. Labor have taken the attitude: what do we do to fix it? Therefore, we took a decision to provide incentive payments up-front. The sum of $150 million has been committed and that money is beginning to flow. That is the fourth commitment honoured. Then we go to the whole question of what we do more broadly with the states and territories. We said that we wanted to get—

Opposition Member:

Opposition member interjecting—

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hear the interjection opposite that we should get rid of the states and territories. Would the member who made that interjection like to put their hand up so that we see what strong federalists we have on the part of the conservative parties of Australia. When it comes to making the federation work, it is along these lines: either you can cooperate or you can simply engage in the blame game. What did we do? Within three weeks of taking office, Labor convened a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments and established seven groups to deliver real outcomes in health, education and in other areas, such as business deregulation, by year’s end, with a strict program of COAG meetings to be done throughout this year.

On top of that, we turned to our place in the world on Iraq. Prior to the election we committed that when it came to the completion of the rotation of our combat forces in Iraq we would bring our combat forces home. That commitment is being honoured. Together with the Minister for Defence I travelled to Baghdad and spoke to our Iraqi counterparts, as we have spoken to our American counterparts, to negotiate that withdrawal of Australian combat forces—a withdrawal which has come far too late in the piece, given the overall appalling history of the conduct of that war by those who preceded us in this place.

On the question of our international environmental policy, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts has indicated the actions we have taken on whaling. Prior to the election we committed to the Australian people that we would dispatch Australian national assets to the Southern Ocean to monitor and collect evidence for possible international legal action against Japan with the object of bringing to an end commercial whaling. We have honoured that commitment. The Oceanic Viking has been sent to the South Pacific and it has undertaken the photographic reconnaissance of the type that we promised would occur, and its mission is continuing.

Labor said prior to the election that we would bring an end to the Pacific solution. Negotiations have now occurred with relevant ministers of the government both in Papua New Guinea and Nauru to bring the Pacific solution to an end. Those persons who have been incarcerated in those facilities are now no longer there.

On the question of the apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples, we said prior to the election that if we were elected as the next government of Australia we would make an apology early in the history of this parliament. We have honoured that commitment to the Australian people.

This government has been in office for 72 days. It does not matter whether it is on questions of enhancing the independence of the Reserve Bank, on education, health, climate change and current attempts to bring a cessation to commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean or whether it is on infrastructure, broadband and our place in the world or a decision on the future disposition of our combat forces in Iraq, in 72 days we have implemented each of these commitments to the Australian people. We took those commitments seriously, we have honoured our word to the Australian people and we are proud of having done so.

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.