Labor’s candidate for Forde, Mr. Brett Raguse, said that a Rudd Labor Government will increase benefits for our nation’s most severely disabled war veterans.

“A Rudd Labor Government will restore the value of the Special Rate Disability Pension (TPI and TTI), Intermediate Rate and the Extreme Disablement Adjustment Pensions by indexing the whole of these pensions to movements in Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE) or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is greater,” he said.

It is estimated that this announcement will affect more than 43,000 war veterans with disabilities.

“On current projections, over the first four years after implementation, the recipients of these pensions will be $1,700 better off with their pensions building to $30 a fortnight more than they otherwise would have been. This announcement concerns the most severely disabled of our war veterans. They include those who fought and served in conflicts including World War II, Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, the Gulf War, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan,” Mr. Raguse said.

“We are already seeing veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan needing assistance. As of December 2006, eight soldiers who served in Afghanistan and two from Iraq will be affected by Federal Labor’s announcement. Our veterans have paid a very high price for their service to our country. This is about fixing an injustice. We have listened to our nation’s veterans and we are acting,” he said.

It has been budgeted to cost $61 million from September 20, 2008 – the day of indexation.

There has been no other issue that has been the subject of greater sustained and passionate concern in the veterans’ policy area over the last ten years.

“I have heard from many individuals and representatives of the local Veterans’ community about the importance of this issue,” Mr Raguse said.

In 1997 when the Howard Government indexed a range of other pensions, they left out the above general rate disability pensions. Since that time there has been an erosion of these pension’s values compared to the broader community.

For example, in 1997 the Special Rate Disability Pension represented 46.3 per cent of MTAWE. On the most recent figures available it now only represents 42.9 per cent. If it had maintained its 1997 value it would now be $70 a fortnight higher.

The Howard Government provided only partial MTAWE indexation in 2004 after sustained protests from the Veterans’ community. This was only a band-aid solution that failed to fully address the problem.

“This announcement will mean that the three pensions will not continue to have their value eroded. Instead they will now be indexed against both the CPI and MTAWE to ensure that their value is maintained. This will take place in the first budget set by a new Rudd Labor Government,” he said.

In his Budget Reply speech, Kevin Rudd announced Federal Labor will create a $250 million National Water Security Plan for Towns and Cities to secure water supplies by repairing water pipes and reducing leaks, wastage and evaporation.

Federal Labor Candidate for Forde, Brett Raguse, said the initiative was a commonsense response to the impact of drought and climate change on Australia’s towns and cities.

“Securing water supply is a critical issue for all Australian families - regardless of their postcode,” Mr Raguse said.

“This plan will target domestic and industrial water use in Forde. It’s about stopping the wastage of water as it makes its way to the tap.”

Ten per cent, or more than 155,000 megalitres, is lost from urban water systems in major cities alone each year.

“This is the equivalent of about one third of Sydney Harbour,” Mr Raguse said.

The National Water Commission reported that up to 30 per cent of water in water mains can be lost through leaks and burst pipes.

“Kevin Rudd’s plan will help ‘stop the drop’!” Mr Raguse said.

A small leak can waste more than 500,000 litres of Beenleigh’s drinking water in a year.

Federal Labor's National Water Security Plan For Towns and Cities will ensure Australia urgently deals with our worst water leaks and losses.

Under the plan, a Federal Labor Government will invest $250 million - in matching funds - to:

• Work in partnership with government and local water authorities to minimise water loss;
• Invest in modern, more efficient water infrastructure and – where appropriate – refurbish older pipes and water systems; and
• Provide funding for practical projects to save water.

Kevin Rudd last Thursday announced Federal Labor’s 10-year $2.5 billion Trades Training Centres in Schools Plan - a groundbreaking initiative which will see new trade centres built in all high schools in Forde.

“This plan is about providing real career paths to trades and apprenticeships for our kids,” Federal Labor Candidate for Forde, Brett Raguse said.

There are around one million Australian students in Years 9, 10, 11 and 12 in Government, Catholic and Independent Secondary schools, who could benefit from Federal Labor’s Trades Training Centres in Schools Plan.

“Kevin Rudd is delivering a real Education Revolution - one that would turbo-charge the training and skills of the next generation of Australians,” Mr Raguse said.

“We need to lock in our prosperity when this once in a lifetime mining boom comes to an end.

“And one way we will do that is to fill the skills gap - a gap which is holding many local firms and small businesses back.

“It’s true not every kid in Forde wants to go to university. Kevin Rudd’s plan is all about addressing their needs.

“That means hard working students at Beenleigh, Beaudesert, Loganlea, Tamborine Mountain and Windaroo Valley High Schools and Cantabury and Trinity Colleges will be given the best possible opportunity to develop skills that will set them up for the future,” Mr Raguse said.

Federal Labor’s Plan would provide resources and equipment to build or upgrade trade workshops, Information, Communications and Technology labs and other facilities such as:

• Metal or woodwork workshops;
• Commercial kitchens;
• Hairdressing facilities;
• Automotive workshop;
• Plumbing workshop;
• Graphic Design laboratories;
• Computer Laboratories; and
• Other technical facilities.

The program will also fund the purchase or replacement of a range of equipment such as:

• Safety equipment;
• Soldering and Welding equipment;
• Ovens;
• Wood and Metal-Turning Lathes;
• Grinders; and
• Drills.

Federal Labor’s Trades Training Centres in Schools Plan also includes:

• A commitment to provide $84 million – over four years – to guarantee access to one day a week of on-the-job training for 20 weeks a year for all Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Schools students from Year 9 to Year 12; and
• A commitment to increase funding to the Enterprise and Career Education Foundation by $8 million over five years to improve linkages between Forde schools and business and develop innovative, high quality work and training programs for VET in Schools.

“Federal Labor’s Plan will give our local students a better chance at a great start in life,” Mr Raguse said.

“It will give them the chance to find the skills that suit them best and set them on the path to a satisfying trade that will benefit the communities of Forde.”

Labor’s candidate for Forde, Brett Raguse, welcomes the announcement of $293.6 million in additional Indigenous housing funding for remote communities.

Remote communities are facing a shortage of up to 18,000 homes by 2009, according to the Ministerial Council for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (MCATSIA).

At most, the Budget announcement could fund around 730 new houses in remote areas, far short of the 18,000 needed across Australia, and 7,600 needed in remote communities.**

There is also a substantial “backlog of repairs and maintenance estimated in excess of $700 million”, according to the Government’s 2007 review of the Community Housing and Infrastructure Programme (CHIP).

“There is still a massive need for housing that will not be met in this Budget.

“The Budget did not deliver any additional funding to meet the housing needs of three-quarters of the populations living in urban and regional areas,” Mr Raguse said.

“The Budget papers also reveal underspending of $60 million in the current Indigenous housing programme for 2006-07.

“Bureaucracy and red tape has meant that urgently needed funding for Indigenous housing has not made it to many of these communities.

“The Federal Government needs to assure people that today's announcement of much-needed funding for housing will not be held up by bureaucracy. No group of people in our communities must go without basic housing and services that other Australians take for granted,” he said.

The Shadow Treasurer, Wayne Swan, was the keynote speaker at the opening of Labor’s Forde Campaign Office on Saturday. Over one hundred people gathered at Forde Candidate Brett Raguse’ York Street office in support of his campaign to win the seat of Forde.

Mr Swan said that the Labor Party had to win over Howard’s ’battlers’ in Forde to ensure a Labor win. He complemented Mr. Raguse on his ‘grass roots’ campaign which was aimed at bringing the ‘battlers’ back to Labor.

Commenting on Kevin Rudd’s budget response speech he said that Kevin Rudd has put forward a comprehensive plan to tackle the economic challenges of the future, particularly the economic challenge of lifting productivity to ensure prosperity beyond the mining boom.

“That’s why Kevin Rudd has been talking about an Education Revolution - to lift our productivity, to create prosperity when the mining boom turns down. And of course he’s been talking about the need for modern infrastructure, particularly high speed broadband, once again to lift our productivity. Labor is definitely in the future business,” he said.

Labor’s Candidate for Forde, Brett Raguse, who’s working background was in the education sector, said that the campaign was about returning equity to the Australian work force.

“In order to ensure our future we must invest the wealth created by the mining boom in education and modern infrastructure. It’s about the future, not the past,” he said.

Actor, Noni Hazlehurst, who was also present to support Mr. Raguse’s’ campaign, said that there was a feeling in the community that it was time for a change.

Mr. Raguse’s campaign office is situated at 6/102 York Street Beenleigh.