Election will shape future: PM

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Julia Gillard

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Poll

Who will you be voting for in the federal election?

This poll ended on 05 September 2010.

Labor

27%

Liberals

43%

National Party

8%

Greens

12%

Family First

1%

Independent

2%

Other

3%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

OPINION:  When you enter the ballot box on Saturday, you will help to shape the future of the country for many years to come. This election outcome is a real cliffhanger. The choice is stark and Tony Abbott poses a real risk to the future of Australian families.

As I've travelled around Australia this campaign, there has been one constant: people work hard for their families and their communities. They deserve a government that offers the right judgment and a better plan for the future.

I want to see a strong economy that creates jobs, invests in great schools and health services for all Australians and builds the infrastructure we need for the future.

This includes rolling out the National Broadband Network (NBN), to help transform business, education and healthcare.

Just this week we announced new Medicare rebates so that patients outside of metropolitan centres can access specialist medical care through online consultations. Imagine a patient with heart disease being able to get regular specialist consultations via their own GP, saving them hours in the car every time they need an appointment.

But if Tony Abbott is elected, he would pull the plug on the NBN. It's just one reason why he lacks economic credibility. Another reason is all the black holes in his budget.

Even worse, Tony Abbott's budget is based on grabbing cash from pensioners, apprentices and disadvantaged schools. He will cut more than a billion dollars from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and push up the cost of drugs for pensioners.

Just this week he confirmed he would cut an additional $1.5 billion from education and training - cuts that have been hidden from the Australian people for the first month of the campaign. This will eliminate 461,000 training places for apprentices and trainees. A further 80,000 people who are in training right now, such as apprentices and trainees, will have their careers thrown into limbo.

In other words, Abbott will cut the training places and apprentices that our economy desperately needs. And in another trick hidden until this week, Tony Abbott will cut $330 million in funding from more than 1600 disadvantaged schools across the nation. We also know that the Coalition will bring back the worst aspects of WorkChoices.

Tony Abbott is too great a risk to your family's future and to your local economy. In contrast, I have a better economic plan and a better plan to help families meet cost of living pressures. We will deliver tax breaks for all small businesses, create jobs and help workers save for their retirement nest eggs.

My government will invest in better schools and better hospitals. Our Trade Training Centres will give students at around 2700 secondary schools the chance to learn a trade at school.

We will continue to deliver GP Super Clinics. And we will support the after-hours GP helpline, to ensure a nurse or GP is available on the other end of the phone, 24 hours a day.

Tony Abbott would cut billions out of health, education and training, squander our budget surplus and return to the worst aspects of WorkChoices. Don't risk your family's future with Tony Abbott.

He is too great a risk to the economy and to families. I will move the nation forward with a strong economy and a positive plan, including more doctors, more nurses and harnessing the power of the National Broadband Network. Tony Abbott would only take us backwards.

The choice is yours.

Read the Opposition leader's editorial here.