The major political parties were given the opportunity to state their views on a number of significant issues by key organisations in the lead up to the 2001 Australian Federal Election . This special edition features the Parties' responses to surveys of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA); The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and the Australian Education Union (AEU).  Also included is a section about which issues the peak lobbying bodies are wanting the parties to address. An Electorate and Candidate profile is followed by a link to the Women's Electoral Lobby's analysis of the political parties and their policies.

Survey of Political Parties Position on Aid and Development for 2001 Election

A Survey of Political Parties Position on Aid and Development for 2001 Election was done by the Australian Council for Overseas Aid. ACFOA asked the major parties 20 questions to gauge their position on Australian Aid programs, Human Rights, Global Economics and building a more equal world and Reconciliation. 

To view, link to: http://www.acfoa.asn.au where the Survey is listed.

ACOSS COMPARISON OF PARTY POLICIES 

 "Responding to the challenge: The responses of the major political parties to the ACOSS Federal Election 2001 priorities" - go to http://www.acoss.org.au/info/2001/312.htm

The Australian Council of Social Service today released a summary of the policies of the major parties on Australia's key social priorities based on their responses to an ACOSS survey. ACOSS President Andrew McCallum said: "ACOSS sought responses from each of the major parties on how they intend to deal with 24 major social policy challenges facing Australia, however voters have been left in the dark on some major issues."

The Coalition - a response that relies heavily on the past record of the Government: 

* This is disappointing given key social indicators which show widening inequality. The failure of the Coalition to offer new polices beyond their commitments earlier this year in Australians Working Together that would substantially reduce unemployment is particularly worrying given that the number of Australians who have been in receipt of unemployment benefits long-term is higher now than five years ago." 

* The Coalition does, however, provide positive examples of its record in areas such as attempting to reduce the unmet need for community services for people with disabilities, making home care for older Australians a priority, and some progress is promised in these areas in their election platform."

The Labor Party - shows a willingness to address gaps in the provision of mainstream human services: * Labor's response to the ACOSS challenges includes proposals to strengthen our public health system, to find ways to make housing more affordable, to restructure social security payments, and to improve the relationship between the Government and the community welfare sector. Labor also advocates a substantial long-term strategy to boost education skills across the community. " 

* However these policy commitments are not matched by financial commitments. For example, a very small commitment is made to training for unemployed people, despite "jobs" being a centrepiece of their platform."

The Australian Democrats - overall, a positive response with strong policies: 

* In particular, the Democrats have very good policies to deal with reducing the number of people living in poverty. ACOSS welcomes the Democrats commitment to increase unemployment benefits and other social security allowance payments by around $20 a week and to resist any tax cuts for high income earners until all social security payments have been raised to at least the level of the Poverty Line."

The Australian Greens - a brief, but very positive response. On education, the Australian Greens are calling for a $4 billion boost to public education to bring total education spending in Australia up to the OECD average." 

"This ACOSS comparison of the major parties' policies is necessarily a qualified one as it is based on their responses to the ACOSS survey and information and policies released to date."

"In keeping with the non-partisan stance of ACOSS, we will not be scoring or ranking the parties. Nor will we comment further on the parties until after the election. The full response of the parties is available from the ACOSS website. It is up to the voters to decide."

Source: ACOSS 

Australian Political Party's Commitment to Women

The ALP, the Coalition, the Democrats and the Greens were each invited to provide a 500 word statement to the Australian Education Union (AEU) Federal Women's Conference outlining their commitments on issues of particular concern to women. 

Included in this segment are statements from the The Hon Dr Carmen Lawrence MP for the Australian Labor Party; Senator Amanda Vanstone for the National/Liberal Coalition; Senator Natasha Stott Despoja for the Australian Democrats and Senator Bob Brown for the Greens.

To view the speeches, click here: Australian Political Party's Commitment to Women

Peak Bodies Comment

Peak bodies around Australia have their say on the issues that party policy and campaigning should address.  The list of peak bodies include: 

• Aged and Community Services Australia 
• Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry
• Australian Consumers Association
• Australian Council of Trade Unions
• Australian Education Union
• National Farmers' Federation
• Tourism Taskforce
• Catholic Welfare Australia
• National Union of Students

To view this list by the ABC go to: http://abc.net.au/public/elections/2001fed/peakbodies/default.htm 

Surce: ABC

Candidates A-Z Index

Full list of the candidates standing in this election:

http://abc.net.au/public/elections/2001fed/electorates/candindex.htm 

Profiles, history, 1993 results, comments from Antony Green, ABC's election analyst:

http://abc.net.au/public/elections/2001fed/electorates/nameindex.htm 

Electoral Pendulum Table

A Table showing federal seats classified from safest to most marginal for both the government and the opposition.

http://abc.net.au/public/elections/2001fed/electorates/pendulum.htm 

Source:  ABC

Strategic Voting

Women's Electoral Lobby 2001 Federal Election Campaign

The Women's Electoral Lobby has been focusing on five areas: work and family, child-care, GST/superannuation, education and health. You may like to visit the WEL wesbite www.wel.org.au  to check out their political 'whether reports'.

The WEL website  also has information about how to use your vote to make a statement and the value of voting below the line in the Senate:  http://www.wel.org.au/election2001/vote/strat.shtml 

 Indigenous Election Issues and Candidates 

Leading up to the elections Speaking Out on ABC Local Radio Sunday nights 9-10pm has featured Indigenous issues and Indigenous candidates for the Federal Elections. If you are wondering what all the major parties platforms are on Indigenous issues that go to the Speaking Out Election Special: http://www.abc.net.au/message/speaking/articles/elections.htm