E&OE...
Listen to this Speech (MP3 - 1.42Mb - 92secs)
Mr Rudd wants to be Prime Minister of Australia, but he has no plans of his own for Australia's future.
He says that he has the same economic policy as that of the Government. That raises two questions. If our economic policy is so good, what is his argument for changing the Government?
Secondly, how does he explain his past opposition to all of those reforms which helped produce the very economic policy which he now says is so good?
Mr Rudd opposed tax reform and tax cuts. Mr Rudd opposed putting the Budget into surplus. He voted against measures, such as the sale of Telstra, which helped pay off Labor's $96 billion Federal Government debt. He also opposed industrial relations reform.
The Leader of the Opposition wants it both ways. Now that the economy is strong, our debt paid off and the budget in healthy surplus he pretends to the public that he has always supported the policies which have brought that about.
The truth, of course, is completely the opposite.
In Government Mr Rudd would be neither strong nor experienced enough to maintain the economic policies of the Government, which he says are so good.
He would do the union's bidding on industrial relations thus putting at risk our 33 year low in unemployment. And six Labor Premiers would demand and get what they wanted.
To be Prime Minister of Australia you must have your own plans and the courage to argue them to the Australian people. It is not enough to echo the policies of others, be they the Coalition or the unions.
Listen to this Speech (MP3 - 1.42Mb - 92secs)