Kevin 'Mini-Me' Rudd is no John Howard

Kevin Rudd copies key Coalition policies, but cannot avoid the fact that he leads an unrepentantly socialist Party with an ideology that will destroy the Australian economy built by the Coalition.

In recent weeks we’ve seen the emergence of the real Kevin Rudd as he does the rounds on radio stations and makes announcement after announcement. In the process, it’s become obvious that Kevin Rudd’s true political inspiration is … John Howard.

As Rudd has revealed key policies for the next election campaign, many of them appear identical to the Coalition’s - leading some commentators to suggest that Rudd is nothing more than “an echo of John Howard”. The Liberal Party itself now frequently accuses Rudd of aspiring to be a Liberal Prime Minister.

Consider the following Coalition policies that Rudd supports.

In the context of the Haneef saga, we saw Rudd’s Labor Party support the Coalition’s Anti-Terror Laws. Rudd even supported the government’s stance on the cancellation of Haneef’s visa and his detention under the new laws.

The Coalition’s position is also aped in Labor’s Federal-State relations policy. In its policy paper entitled “A Framework to Guide the Future Development of Specific Purpose Payments (SPPs): A discussion paper by the ALP Advisory Group of Federal-State Reform”, the ALP set out their plan to tie education funding to schools’ outcomes, such as improved literacy levels. As Matt Price commented, this is not radical stuff, except for the Labor Party.

Much to the dismay, nay, fury, of Greens’ leader Bob Brown, Rudd also spent time in Tasmania promoting his pro-timber policy.

It doesn’t stop there. Rudd supports Howard and the Coalition on its Indigenous reform initiative for the Northern Territory.

Likewise, Rudd supports the Coalition’s Murray-Darling water plan, contrary to the Labor Party in Victoria.

Rudd has abandoned Labor’s opposition to the privatisation of Telstra.

Rudd has even stated that he supports parent choice in the private school funding debate.

So that’s terrorism, state-federal relations, the environment, Indigenous policies, primary resources, privatisation, education. And there’s more!