For my practicum I am reading the book “My Place” with the students. While it is a children’s book it raises some ver interesting topics such as the wars, the depression, women working, aboriginal issues etc. This week the topic of politics came up and I wanted to give the students some information on the two major parties. I did not want to be bias so I went to the official websites of each of the parties and each had a heading that said what we stand for. This is what I found:

What Labor Stands For

Labor’s Values
Labor believes the truest measure of a good society is the care it provides for those most in need and the opportunity it provides for every person to realise his or her full potential. Labor’s commitment to a strong economy is therefore matched by its commitment to justice, fairness and equity for all.

Fairness
Labor believes that all people are created equal in their entitlement to dignity and respect, and should have an equal chance to achieve their potential. For Labor, government has a critical role in ensuring fairness by:
ensuring equal opportunity;
removing unjustifiable discrimination; and
achieving a more equitable distribution of wealth, income and status.

Compassion
Labor is committed to protecting and supporting those who are disadvantaged, oppressed or simply struggling to cope. The Labor tradition has always been to reach out, embrace, protect and support those in need. The consequences of a society characterised by high levels of inequality include poverty, crime, drug abuse, greed, envy and insecurity. Accordingly, Labor believes that all Australians have an interest in the creation of a more compassionate and egalitarian nation.

Human Rights
Labor is committed to a just and tolerant society which fully protects the rights and freedoms of all Australians. Labor supports the rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international treaties to which Australia is a party. This includes:
the fundamental political and civil rights of everyone to freedom of conscience, expression and association, and to due process of law.
‘economic rights’ such as, for example, access to tertiary education on the basis of merit, access to adequate health care and the right to rest and leisure including reasonable limitations on working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Labor supports the introduction into Australian domestic law of the rights recognised and protected in the international treaties, conventions and protocols to which Australia is a party. In introducing these rights, Labor will ensure that existing rights are also protected.

Labour Rights
Labor is committed to protecting and advancing the fundamental rights of working people to join trade unions, and to organise, collectively bargain and strike.

What does the Liberal Party stand for?

We are the party of initiative and enterprise.

We believe in the inalienable rights and freedoms of all peoples; and we work towards a lean government that minimises interference in our daily lives; and maximises individual and private sector initiative.

We believe in government that nurtures and encourages its citizens through incentive, rather than putting limits on people through the punishing disincentives of burdensome taxes and the stifling structures of Labor’s corporate state and bureaucratic red tape.

We believe in those most basic freedoms of parliamentary democracy – the freedom of thought, worship, speech and association.

We believe in a just and humane society in which the importance of the family and the role of law and justice is maintained.

We believe in equal opportunity for all Australians; and the encouragement and facilitation of wealth so that all may enjoy the highest possible standards of living, health, education and social justice.

We believe that, wherever possible, government should not compete with an efficient private sector; and that businesses and individuals – not government – are the true creators of wealth and employment.

We believe in preserving Australia’s natural beauty and the environment for future generations.

We believe that our nation has a constructive role to play in maintaining world peace and democracy through alliance with other free nations.

In short, we simply believe in individual freedom and free enterprise; and if you share this belief, then ours is the Party for you.

I imagine that a lot of this rhetoric and it doesn’t always get lived out that way but I thought it was rather interesting