Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has addressed the National Press Club in Canberra on his “plan for a stronger economy and a stronger Australia”.
The keynote speech was Abbott’s first major speech for the new year. He maintained his political attack on the Gillard government and made only broad commitments.
- Listen to Abbott’s speech
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- Listen to Abbott’s responses to questions
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MY PLAN FOR A STRONGER ECONOMY AND A STRONGER AUSTRALIA
Four decades after Donald Horne ironically tagged Australia as “the Lucky Country”, the Gillard government is relying on good luck rather than on good management to secure our nation’s future.
The government often cites the fragile international economic situation but fails to propose any new policies to respond to it. It claims ownership of the fundamental strength of the Australian economy even though its own actions have weakened it. And it boasts of a future return to surplus while actually delivering the four biggest budget deficits in Australian history.
Labor’s economic strategy is to hope that China’s strength will keep our economy growing. It’s lazy, complacent economic management from a government which is much better at deception and dirty tricks than at the hard work of actually running the country.
The Eurozone crisis is a terrible verdict on governments that spend too much, borrow too much and tax too much yet our prime minister is lecturing the Europeans while copying their failures.
In just four years, Labor has turned a $20 billion surplus into $167 billion in accumulated deficits and $70 billion in net Commonwealth assets into $133 billion of net debt. That’s $6000 for every Australian man, woman and child.
At the heart of Labor’s failure is the assumption that bigger government and higher taxes are the answer to every problem. [Read more...]

The Liberal Party’s Federal Director, Brian Loughnane, has addressed the National Press Club on the coalition’s election defeat.
Today I will talk about preparing children to succeed by raising standards in our schools.
Australia Day embodies a “profound truth and a simple irony”, according to the Prime Minister, John Howard.
