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27 August - 2 September 2013 Issue: 478

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Food & wine P7

RACE AROUND THE WORLD Aussie sets sail from London sport P14

OUR SECRET SHAME What Aussies really love about the UK uk life P6

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n Tony Abbott has laid out his plan for a coalition government, should it win power on 7 September.

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has appealed to Labor and Australian Greens voters to give his team a chance to form government, saying Labor doesn’t deserve the nation’s trust. Mr Abbott was addressing the Liberal and Nationals party faithful at the coalition’s official election campaign launch in Brisbane on Sunday. He promised that if elected on 7 September the coalition would be a competent and trustworthy “no surprises, no excuses government”. “I won’t let you down. This is my pledge to you,” Mr Abbott said. Within ten years Australia would have lower taxes and there would be two million more jobs in manufacturing, agriculture, services, education and the resources sector. By the end of its first term the budget would be on track to a “believable” surplus. This promise extends the timeframe the Labor government has set for a $4 billion surplus in 2016/17. Within a decade the budget surplus would be one per cent of gross domestic product, Mr Abbott said. “And each year government will be a smaller percentage of our economy.” Mr Abbott again pledged to abolish the carbon and mining taxes, cut company tax and business red tape and shift the industrial relations pendulum “back to the sensible centre”. He highlighted his signature plan

DOUBLE TROUBLE Aussie comedians storm Soho Theatre | P8 to give working women six months parental leave at their full pay, prompting a loud round of applause from the party faithful. “I want our workers to be the best paid in the world and for that to happen, we have to be amongst the most productive in the world,” Mr Abbott said. Mr Abbott announced a number

of new initiatives totalling more than $300 million, including plans to index eligibility thresholds for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card so more self-funded retirees had access to cheaper medicines. A coalition would also commit an additional $200 million to dementia research and give young trade apprentices access to HECS-style,

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interest free $20,000 loans to help pay for their training from next year. “This is a hand-up – not a handout – for people who will meet our skills needs for the next 40 years,” Mr Abbott said. Mr Abbott promised progress on

Indonesia slams Abbott boat buyback OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott’s plan to buy boats from Indonesian fishermen to prevent the vessels being used by people smugglers has been slammed by Jakarta as unfriendly and an insult to Indonesia. The buyback plan has met with heavy resistance in Jakarta, with a senior member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s ruling coalition saying it showed Mr Abbott lacked understanding of Indonesia, and the broader asylumseeker problem. Mahfudz Siddiq, the head of Indonesia’s parliamentary commission for foreign affairs, said on Monday that it was Mr Abbott’s right to suggest the policy but warned that it had broader implications for the relationship between Jakarta and Australia. “It’s an unfriendly idea coming from a candidate who wants to be Australian leader,” Mr Siddiq told AAP. “That idea shows how he sees things as (an) Australian politician on Indonesia regarding people smuggling. Don’t look at us, Indonesia, like we want this people smuggling. “This is really a crazy idea, unfriendly, derogatory and it shows lack of understanding in this matter.” Mr Abbott, who has previously ...continued on p3