Michael Gordon Political editor, The Age
April 19, 2013 - 7:56AM
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has conceded that some of the actions of an incoming Coalition government would ''hurt'' people, but vowed that voters will have advance warning before the September 14 election.
''I have to warn you, in all candour, that an incoming Coalition government will do some things that are unpopular,'' Mr Abbott told a forum of undecided voters at Geelong on Thursday night.
''We will do some things that will hurt because when a country, a government, has been living beyond its means, you've got to take remedial action,'' he said.
''And you can't reduce expenditure, reduce the growth of expenditure, without looking at some of the existing expenditure measures. So, if we're going to do our job properly, we've got to get the budget under control and inevitably that is going to involve some tough things.''
But Mr Abbott insisted that the Coalition would be upfront about its intentions, citing the example of its plan to abolish Labor's low-income super contribution, which cuts tax to zero on 3.6 million super accounts.
''Mark us down if you like for what we are proposing to do, but please mark us up for having the honesty to tell people before an election,'' he said.
On workplace relations, Mr Abbott vowed that the policy to be announced soon would give small business owners a level of comfort, while reassuring the workers of Australia ''that their pay and conditions are safe''.
''The worker deserves justice, just as the owner and the manager deserves justice, and it's a question of getting the balance right. We got the balance wrong in our last term. I think the current government has got the balance wrong and we do need to take it back to the sensible centre.''
The Opposition Leader won the biggest applause of the evening when he declared himself an ''absolute believer'' in the proposed National Disability Insurance Scheme.
After the hour-long question and answer session at the Geelong RSL, 50 of those present said they supported Mr Abbott, 17 were opposed and 41 were undecided.
