Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott have made one last appeal for votes. Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
THE two men vying to be prime minister share their final pre-election messages to the people of Australia.
By Kevin Rudd
WHEN Australians vote this Saturday, they will be making a choice between fundamentally different visions for the future of our country.
Labor's vision is for a country where every Australian has the right to a decent job and where our economy grows to generate these job opportunities.
It is a vision of an Australia powered by the industries of the future - innovative agribusinesses, hi-tech manufacturers and new industries we haven't even dreamed of yet.
An Australia where all our kids get the education, skills and training they need.
We envision an Australia where homes and businesses are wired to the world through modern broadband technology.
It's an Australia with one of the world's best health and hospital systems, which looks after its elderly people and cares for those with disabilities.
By contrast, Tony Abbott's policies all boil down to just one thing: cuts.
My opponent is planning to cut billions of dollars in spending: cuts to services; cuts to education; cuts to family payments and cuts to public sector jobs.
And he continues to hide the details.
Throughout the election campaign Mr Abbott responded to questions about cuts by promising he would produce a full account of his promises and how he would pay for them before September 7.
When he finally produced documents on Thursday they included no detail and concealed the cuts he will impose upon Australians if he wins the election.
Cuts are the last thing Australia needs as our economy faces an important transition with the mining investment boom winding down.
To secure our future we need to diversify our sources of economic growth by investing in new industries and new jobs.
Kevin Rudd says his vision is very different to Tony Abbott's. Source: AFP
Labor has a $1 billion plan to create jobs beyond the boom and diversify our economy.
We have policies to ensure more Australian firms get work on the big investment projects and to ensure more young people get jobs as apprentices on federally-funded construction projects.
We will tackle unemployment through a new Jobs, Training and Apprenticeships Guarantee which will bring together our employment services and training systems - to give jobseekers and employers alike the skills they need.
Labor has a $15 billion Better Schools Plan to ensure our children get more one-on-one attention in the classroom.
Mr Abbott will cut school funding - and then he will cut the Schoolkids Bonus, making it harder for hundreds of thousands of families to make ends meet.
Labor is building the National Broadband Network to provide affordable, superfast broadband for families and businesses.
Mr Abbott will scrap the NBN.
It will cost up to $5000 to connect to a home or business to Mr Abbott's second-rate alternative, while Labor's NBN will be connected to homes and premises at no cost.
Labor will continue investing in our health and hospital system.
Mr Abbott's track record as Health Minister was to slash $1 billion from hospitals. Now he poses a threat to Medicare Locals and the jobs of 3000 front-line health workers.
Labor is building cooperative workplaces and supporting women in the workforce with the nation's first Paid Parental Leave scheme.
By contrast, when Mr Abbott was last in power, the Coalition introduced WorkChoices which cut wages and conditions.
On the economy, Labor has created nearly one million new jobs in Australia at a time when the global economy faced the worst downturn since the Great Depression.
Under our economic management, Australia has a AAA credit rating from all three global ratings agencies.
But we cannot take the future for granted.
We can only build a prosperous future by working together and implementing Labor's positive plans, not by cutting to the bone.
By Tony Abbott
Today we face the most important choice in a generation.
It is a clear choice between: the Liberal team with a positive Plan for the future or another three years of chaos, dishonesty and division from Labor.
We are a great country and a great people but we can't afford another three years like the last six - with more waste, more debt and more boats.
We need a stronger government and a stable Parliament, not another divided minority government.
We stand ready to deliver more jobs, higher wages and better services for all Australians - and we will do that by building a stronger economy through lower taxes, more efficient government and more productive businesses.
If you choose the Coalition, you'll get a new government that will:
• build a stronger, more diversified economy so everyone can get ahead;</p><p>
• scrap the carbon tax so that next year alone your family will be $550 a year better off;
• get the Budget back under control by ending Labor's waste;
• stop the boats; and
• build the roads of the 21st century - including the North-South Road.
That's our Contract with you.
I am confident in our plans because I am confident in my team.
For the last three years, the Coalition has had the same strong, united team as well as the same clear plans.
As you consider the choice for the next three years just remember:
•Labor changed prime ministers twice in three years;
•Labor hit your power bills with a carbon tax that is going up and up - as well as over 40 other new taxes and tax increases;
•Labor has run up record debt that you will have to repay - a debt that will surge past $300 billion by Christmas, and
•Labor started the boats - with over 51,000 arrivals including 3000 since Mr Rudd launched his "PNG solution".
Tony Abbott is promising a ''positive Plan'' for the future of Australia. Source: Getty Images
At this election, only the Coalition has put forward a positive Plan to build a strong, prosperous economy and a safe secure Australia.
If you vote for Our Plan real change starts the morning after the election.
You know what you will get.
If you vote for change, on day one of an incoming government, I will instruct the public service to prepare the carbon tax repeal legislation.
If you vote for change, Operation Sovereign Borders will start immediately.
If you vote for change, Labor's $1.8 billion FBT hit on company cars won't proceed and confidence can return to the local car industry from Sunday morning.
If you vote for change, defence spending will be preserved and defence industries supported.
With your vote, within one hundred days, legislation to abolish the carbon tax and the mining tax will be in the Parliament.
With your vote, by the end of a Coalition government's first term, the Budget will be on-track to a believable surplus.
And with your vote, we will restore confidence in our country and in our future.
Your vote gets a competent, trustworthy government. That's what my strong, united team want to deliver to the Australian people in the future.
And there's another commitment that we give you - there will not be a minority government under the Coalition.
There will be no deals done with independents or the Greens under the Liberal and National Parties.
At this election I need you to vote for change - so that we can achieve all the good things that we set out in our Contract with you.
There's only one way to do it and that's to vote for your local Liberal candidate.
I respectfully ask you to join us - and help us build a stronger Australia and a better future - for all Australians.
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