Labor to target competition policy as it seeks bush policies

AAP General News (Australia)
02-18-2000
Labor to target competition policy as it seeks bush policies

National competition policy will be in the spotlight when Labor leaders meet today
to develop policies to revitalise regional Australia.

Opposition Leader KIM BEAZLEY and all Labor premiers and opposition leaders will meet
in Tasmania to start the formal process of creating policies for the bush.

The meeting will be held in Burnie, a once-thriving industrial city on the state's
north-west coast that symbolises many of the problems facing regional Australia.

It comes as polls suggest the bush will be a key to the next federal election, and
Labor has an opportunity to steal a march on Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD.

National competition policy will come under the microscope in a paper prepared by Queensland
Premier PETER BEATTIE, with other State leaders also likely to queue up to attack its
practical effects in the bush.

The Labor leaders are likely to press the federal government to revitalise the Council
of Australian Governments process.

AAP RTV dw/sub/rp/as/msk

KEYWORD: LABOR REGIONAL (HOBART)

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