Rudd Targets WA

Yesterday, Prime Minister John Howard targeted the marginal Tasmanian seat of Braddon,by effectively taking control of a public hospital that teh State government proposed to downgrade to a day-surgery and Emergency Department.

Today, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd promises that, if elected, some of the Federal Government's income from the Pluto gas project would be put back into WA infrastructure.

Mr Rudd said "I think we would want to be generous in order to make sure that people here in the West in the State Government can plan properly into the future." Well, yes, winners would be grinners. As much as John Howard's Tasmania stunt was about buying votes, so too is Kevin Rudd's.

Not that states shouldn't be better funded by the Federal Government - they should - but that is the policy position that should be put.

John