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Two-for-one: ‘if Baird goes, so will Abbott’

Voters in New South Wales are being promised a two-for-one deal if they vote for Labor at next Saturday’s state poll.

Labor held an anti-privatisation rally in the western Sydney suburb of Burwood, six days out from the election.

It was designed as a deliberate counterpoint to the Liberal Party’s official campaign launch at the home of the Australian Chamber Orchestra at Angel Place in the Sydney CBD.

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Tony Abbott Mike Baird

Tony Abbott and Mike Baird with a roads announcement. Photo: AAP

Opposition Leader Luke Foley told the crowd of about 200 people that “if Mr Baird goes next Saturday, Mr Abbott goes on the Monday.”

Mr Foley once again vowed that Labor would never support the sale of the electricity network.

If you cut hospitals, if you cut schools then you’re not a leader, you’re just a Liberal. It’s as simple as that.
Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews.
“The people of this state deserve the schools and hospitals of tomorrow without having to succumb to the blackmail that says only electricity privatisation can pay for it,” Mr Foley said.

With polls showing dissatisfaction with the federal Liberal Party, Mr Foley used his speech to underline the similarities between the state and federal governments.

“Liberal cuts from governments in Sydney and Canberra are hurting the people we represent,” he told the gathering.

“They mightn’t be biting too hard in the district Mr Baird is in today, but out in communities in this state they’re suffering from $30 billion of cuts to our schools, TAFEs and hospitals from Mr Baird and his good mate Tony Abbott,” Mr Foley said.

Ignore Baird’s ‘charm’: Andrews

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who has known Mr Foley for 20 years, was a special guest at the rally, touching down in Sydney for only a few hours.

Mr Andrews said the NSW election provided a choice for voters.

“Now more than ever NSW needs a Labor government and Australia needs another Labor premier at that COAG table,” he said.

“I think we need someone in the NSW premier who spends less time standing up beside Tony Abbott on a surfboard and more time standing up to Tony Abbott when he cuts hospitals and schools.”

The Victorian leader said voters should not be taken in by Mr Baird’s charm.

“My message is very simple today: If you cut hospitals, if you cut schools then you’re not a leader, you’re just a Liberal. It’s as simple as that,” Mr Andrews said.

“You can smile a lot, you can even be charming but if you cut the things that matter most to ordinary hard-working families, you’re not a nice guy, you’re just Mike Baird.”

Earlier Labor’s deputy leader Linda Burney criticised Mr Baird’s announcement that he would bring forward the start of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, initially in Penrith and the Blue Mountains.

She described it as a cynical exercise.

“No consultation with the disability community and he is pork-barrelling disability services to win the seat of the Blue Mountains,” Ms Burney said.

ABC

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