ABORTION- Hard to say. I guess I am pro-choice, but mainly in certain situations. How old the baby is, and the circumstances under which it was concieved should be taken into consideration.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION- I\'m not sure what it\'s like in USA, but I know that around these parts that if two people go for a job (one white, the other of Aboriginal or Torres Straight Island decent) the white guy won\'t be getting it even if he is more qualified.
BUDGET & TAXES- Tax brackets to be extended, and the tax threshold raised. Increase tax for those in the upper brackets. Ideally. Increase taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM- Uhm... crazy America.
CRIME & DRUGS- Marijuana remains illegal. Penalties for drug users reduced (perhaps larger fines/community service), however dealers should be slammed. A controversial subject down here a few years back was when clinics were opened where people could do heroin annonymously with clean equipement. Personally, I think it\'s a good idea. As much as I\'m against the idea of hard drug use this will reduce the risk of spreading diseases and death due to the illness. And I\'m positive that at the clinics there is a lot of anti-drug material, and perhaps even methodone alternatives to encourage people to quit.
EDUCATION Greatly increase budgets for our badly underfunded public schools. Education should be our #1 priority and our current government almost seems to neglect it. Teachers must be paid more, and less government funding to Private schools. I know that as of today there is no
way in the world I would even consider sending my children to anything other than a Private school. And despite the fact that it would be to my advantage for the government to continue to fund private schools at a higher rate than public schools I know that it\'s simply not a logical choice and there are many families out there that will not be able to afford to go private.
ENVIRONMENT Heavier regulations on industrial pollution, and I think perhaps when a car is registered and given road-worthy, emissions should be tested and be quite stringent. We need more funding to preserve our native wild-life (flora and fauna).
EUTHANASIA ("Right-to-Die") It should be your choice. A moral decision to be made by ones self and any of his/her own organisations or religions, not the government.
FOREIGN RELATIONS First of all I would pull our forces out of Iraq. We recently put forth a trade agreement to USA (which the opposition enforced changes too, included regulations on what % of television on Australian TV would be Australian content, and also ensuring cheap pharmaceuticals to be available to all Australians). A strong relationship with the US is extremely desirable, but I don\'t believe going about it the way we are now is the right thing to do. Which is basically anything the USA thinks, we think too. This is something the Liberal/National government has been doing for some time to basically ensure the USA\'s backup if we were ever in military trouble. I believe an alternative approach would be better, and mine mirrors that of the opposition (Labor) and their leader (Mark Latham) is in favor for - strengthening our relationship with the islands and countries directly above us. If Australia were to be in military danger, it is most likely going to be a country such as Indonesia which will aid us more than the USA.
FIRST AMENDMENT, FREE SPEECH & THE INTERNET First Amendment? Whatever..
This is just a given.
GAY RIGHTS I really see no reason why we shouldn\'t just let gay couples marry. Though, I also don\'t see a reason why it\'s so important for gays to marry, but, whatever.
GUNS I am quite in favor of Australias current gun restrictions.
HEALTH CARE Australias Health Care is slowly getting better, more incentives for doctors to bulk bill (though, it\'s something Doctors will never fully go for), more incentives for people to join private health insurance to ease the load on the public health system. More doctors and nurses would be great, too.
IMMIGRATION If you\'re illegal, you shouldn\'t be here. Australia has a major problem with illegal asian immigrants. The fact that we are an island certainly makes our problems harder to manage. More coast security to stop boat loads of illegals entering the mainland would be great.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE Meh, I\'m not fully informed enough about this subject.
LABOR UNIONS, JOBS & BUSINESS Not sure what the issue is here.
MILITARY, NATIONAL DEFENSE & VETERANS Pull out of Iraq. Encourage New Zealand to actually, yunno.. GET and army. Improve relations with neighboring countries. We seem to be spending a lot of money buying outdated military vehicles, helicopters and jet fighters from other countries which I\'m not sure is necessary. We are phasing out our F1-11 fights for a jet which we aren\'t even sure will be superior! It will also leave a major gap in our air defence around 2010, I believe which needs to be filled. Funding and incentives to rural airports to increase security. What ever happened to that \'Star Wars\' defense program? That sounded pretty silly, but again, I\'m not fully informed.. It seemed more like our Prime Minister trying to get on USA\'s side.
SOCIAL SECURITY & SENIORS Not sure what the issue is here. I know there needs to be tighter regulations around retirement homes, and obviously more pension would be great as many elderly people here are struggling quite a bit.
WOMEN Uhh.. they... are sexy.. yum.. I... sorry, I couldn\'t think of a good joke.
