30 May 2016
Dear Party Leader,
Re: 2016 Federal Election – Party policies
ACOSS is the national voice for the needs of people affected by poverty and inequality in Australia and peak body of the community services and welfare sector. Our vision is for a fair, inclusive and sustainable Australia where all individuals and communities can participate in and benefit from social and economic life.
As an independent non-partisan national organisation, ACOSS aims during this Federal Election to provide independent information and advice on the key public policies of the main political parties. We focus on election policy commitments that are of relevance to our national membership and wider constituents, particularly people on low and modest incomes.
ACOSS has developed a set of priority questions to establish how political parties and candidates would address poverty and inequality in Australia if elected. Our questions to you are attached, “ACOSS Questions to Political Parties, Federal Election 2016”.
I am writing to invite you as the Leader of the Australian Labor Party to respond to these questions, setting out your election policies and commitments.
ACOSS will make public that we are seeking answers to these questions from across the political spectrum. We also undertake to publish the responses from the major parties with equal prominence and without editing (beyond enforcing the word limit) on our website. The deadline for these responses is Tuesday 14th June.
I would be grateful if you could restrict your answers to 200 words for each question and outline both the relevant policy direction and applicable budgetary commitments.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Cassandra Goldie
ACOSS CEO
Attachment: Questions to political parties, federal election 2016