Australia Under Tony Abbott

Australia will have an election in a few weeks. The two main candidates are Tony Abbott of the conservative Coalition and Kevin Rudd of the Australian Labor Party. The polls suggest that it is likely to be a victory for Tony Abbott, which is a bit of a bummer because, although Kevin Rudd is not perfect, Australia under Tony Abbott is a worrying thought, mainly because I suspect he has extreme policies lined up. His stated policies, such as paid parental leave, cutting the costs of the NBN, Direct Action on climate change, and scrapping the carbon tax, are highly dubious, but most of these policies will reduce tax revenue significantly, meaning Abbott will likely resort to austerity measures that he has not even announced yet. It is the uncertainty of what this may mean, e.g. cutting funding to hospitals, schools, and the public service, that are worrying.