The 2016 election presents a clear choice between Labor’s plan to invest in better healthcare, hospital, schools and teachers, and the Coalition’s insistence on tax cuts for the wealthiest Australians.

With the election campaign now officially underway, Peter Hayes, Labor Candidate for North Sydney said Labor was ready for Government, with a positive, coherent policy platform.

“Labor will protect and promote Medicare. Universal healthcare is in Labor’s DNA, we see it as an investment in people. By contrast, the Coalition plan is for patients to be stung with surprise fees for pap smears, pregnancy tests, x-rays, blood tests and MRIs, thanks to their $650 million cut to the health budget.

“Labor will invest in schools and teachers, to give every kid a decent shot at success. Unlike the Coalition, we are fully committed to the Gonski funding reforms. We will make sure higher education is affordable, stamp out the Coalition’s $100,000 degrees, clean up rorts in vocational education and put TAFE back at the centre of the system.

“Labor will insist on a fair tax system, going after multinational tax avoidance Labor rejects the fiction of trickle down economics. Labor is committed to middle class prosperity, unlike the Coalition, whose income tax cuts will do nothing for three quarters of Australians.

“Only Labor has a serious plan to address climate change and deliver marriage equality – two causes Malcolm Turnbull has abandoned in order to lead the Liberal Party. People thought Malcolm Turnbull could change the Liberal Party, but the reality is that the Liberal Party has changed him.”