McGrath: Campaigns can be boring but elections do matter
Elections matter.
I’m a bit of a nerd. Proudly so. I volunteered for a predecessor party of the LNP when I was 15 and have worked on campaigns from The Maldives to Mongolia to London. When I leave the Senate I will continue chipping away for my side of politics. So I write from experience and a large dose of idealism.
The Labor campaign across Queensland is one of the worst I have ever experienced. It is disappointing that Labor started the campaign by lying and are now ending their pursuit for power with lies.
As you read this Labor hacks and union thugs are spreading squalid lies from Cape York to the Gold Coast about the Liberal National Party. Union officials, instead of standing up for workers, are spending their time on pre-poll booths abusing LNP volunteers.
It is ugly. No wonder union membership keeps declining.
Elections should be a battleground of ideas. A choice of competing visions for the future. Elections should be boisterous. Elections should not be nasty. Elections are a choice that shouldn’t be clouded by left-wing venom.
We forget that over the past two years by coming together as a Nation we lead the world in recovering from Covid. Your LNP Government has helped steer Australia through the worst economic shock since the Great Depression.
Jobkeeper saved 700,000 jobs while Homebuilder helped more than 100,000 Australians into a home.
Australia has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Our unemployment rate is at the lowest level for half a century. We are one of a small number of countries to maintain a AAA credit rating.
Over the last 30 years, Labor has delivered higher unemployment, higher interest rates, and higher electricity prices. And not a single balanced budget.
Good economic management means there is record funding for schools, hospitals, Medicare, mental health, aged care, women’s safety and disability support.
Good economic management means over 90 per cent of taxpayers won’t pay more than 30 cents in the dollar in tax. Idealism matters as we believe you should have more of your money. Labor wants higher taxes because they believe government knows best.
Which is why for housing we want you to be able to access your money in your Super to help buy your first home. Labor wants the Government to own a share of your home.
Elections matter. We can’t risk Labor. Australia is too important to allow Labor and the Greens to sneak into power for a rerun of the 2007 Rudd Gillard Rudd debacle.
Queensland Liberal Senator James McGrath and his ALP counterpart Senator Anthony Chisholm will bring an upper-house view to the election campaign every Thursday. Today’s are their final columns.