The Budget laid out by Prime Minister Turnbull’s Liberal Party-led government was vehemently opposed by the Labour Party. It is now the world’s largest or on some measures the second largest economy.
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There has also been disappointment in some quarters with Turnbull, whom many expected to distance himself from the right-wing policies of Abbott on issues such as immigration and climate change. They view this election as a skirmish before they can settle scores with each other.
In a country where economic policies are often copied from opposition to government and vice-versa, this election offers voters a real choice between the ruling conservative Liberal-National coalition, and the Labor Party.
“Labor’s plan recognises that every dollar of taxpayer funds should be going toward programs which actually make a difference in the classroom”, Mr Shorten said in a statement.
Labor leader Bill Shorten has been quick to paint Turnbull, a multi-millionaire lawyer and former tech entrepreneur, and the coalition as friends of big business.
How it wants to invest in people, in schools, in the future, senior Labor figure Penny Wong insisted.
Both Mr Turnbull and Labor leader Bill Shorten are in Queensland on the first full day of the marathon eight-week federal election campaign.
On that basis, the coalition would lose seven seats to drop to 83 and Labor would gain seven from 55 to 62.
The ABCC was disbanded in 2012 by a former Labor government linked to the trade union movement.
The results follow the pre-election budget, released last Tuesday.
But with the submarines acquisition and new base deal with Singapore, Turnbull will have plenty of opportunities to maximize his Coalition’s perceived advantages in defense matters.
Ratings agency Moody’s has warned that the treasurer’s pledge to restore the budget to surplus by 2021 would prove “challenging” due to moderate nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
The change of leadership boosted the government’s standing in opinion polls.
BML CEO Andrew Young said that choosing the Brisbane Produce Market to start the campaign acknowledged the importance of the fresh produce wholesale industry with the six Central Markets in Australia providing more than 50% of all fruit and vegetables eaten from the plate.
When the Prime Minister kicked off his campaign on Sunday, he said debates hadn’t been discussed yet but “I look forward to having a number of them”.
“We need to see a government elected which commits to decent economic reform”, said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at Sydney-based AMP Capital Investors Ltd., which oversees about $120 billion.
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A decade-plus mining boom in resource-rich Australia and plummeting commodity prices has left the government struggling to raise revenue.
