There are 3 key points of focus I have in this campaign that drive all my other policies: Nation Building, Civil Liberties and Reduce Bureaucracy.
To build our nation we need to support both the people and the infrastructure that supports those people. If we do not look after our population with appropriate health care and education then we can’t expect to be a prosperous nation. Similarly, if we have a healthy and well educated population, our prosperity will be greatly hampered if we do not provide sufficient infrastructure to support our people and their lives.
Civil liberties were something once fought for, but seem to be forgotten in the public eye since September 11th. I have seen civil liberties eroding and it deeply concerns me, from internet censorship to warrant-less searches during APEC, from anti-association laws to a lack of free speech protection, our elected officials at both a state and federal level have demonstrated a disturbing disregard for our liberties. To this end, we need to establish a bill of rights to provide a legislative framework to protect the civil liberties of all Australians.
All Australians can attest to the unbelievable levels of bureaucracy and government inefficiencies experienced by all Australians at one point or another. The simplest example of this is the effort one must go to when moving between states. Licences must be reapplied for, cars de-registered and re-registered, multiple conveyancers engaged for the sale of property in one state under a set of rules, and the purchase of another under a different set of rules. The rules must be the same for all Australians. This consistency would ensure that we can have a more efficient Australia. Moving legislative powers to a federal level, and centralising state government agencies would better serve our highly mobile population and reduce in unnecessary red-tape.