PAP – Policies

Posted bySingapore VotesPosted inPoliciesTags:

People’s Action Party GE2020 manifesto:
Our Lives, Our Jobs, Our Future

“We will work with you to chart a new direction for Singapore in a post-Covid-19 era. We will draw on our collective ideas, strengths and abilities to: emerge stronger as an economy, emerge stronger as a society, emerge stronger as a people.”

PAP GE2020 manifesto

These points have been extracted from the PAP GE2020 manifesto.
Read it in full here.

GST • COVID-19 and healthcare • Migrant worker health • COVID-19 and jobs • Economy • Job creation • Workers aged 40-60 • Senior workers • Young job seekers • Lower wage workers • Workers with disabilities • Social and financial support • Children with special education needs • Preschoolers • Students • Seniors • Healthcare • Social resilience • Environment

💸 On GST

  1. GST will increase from 7% to 9% but not before 2022.
  2. Implement a $6 billion Assurance Package to pay for GST increase for 5 years for most households and 10 years for lower income households.
  3. Enhance GST permanent voucher scheme.
  4. The government will continue to absorb GST on publicly subsidised healthcare and education.

💊 On COVID-19 healthcare response

  1. Continue to support and equip healthcare professionals and frontline agencies to provide excellent healthcare for all.
  2. Provide free in-patient treatment for Covid-19 at public hospitals.
  3. The government has already allocated $20 billion to the Ministry of Health in recent budgets.
  4. Ramp up Covid-19 testing and tracing capabilities.
  5. Invest in research and development for Covid-19 treatments and vaccines, ensuring it will be available to all Singaporeans who need them.
  6. Ensuring everyone can obtain protective items (e.g. masks), establish new norms for safe interaction, improve public hygiene as a national effort.

🩺 On the health of migrant workers

  1. Committed to complete health clearance for migrant workers ensuring that they be able to safety return to work.
  2. To build additional housing for migrant workers according to new operating models and improved standards.

🧰 On COVID-19 impact on jobs

  1. Providing wage subsidies under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS).
  2. Assistance to the self-employed under the Self-Employed Person Scheme (SIRS).
  3. Financial assistance to retrenched workers and those suffering significant income loss under the Temporary Relief Scheme (TRS) and the Covid-19 Support Grant (CSG).

📊 On the economy

  1. To stabilise the economic situation the PAP is helping businesses with cash flow, costs and credit; passing laws for rental relief; providing assistance to hardest hit sectors.
  2. Accelerate digital transformation of all industries.
  3. Assist firms to innovate and adapt with Transformation and Growth Packages.
  4. Provide SMEs with extra support through the SMEs Go Digital, SkillsFuture Enterprise Credits.
  5. Promote new growth sectors – innovation and technology, biomedical, ICT, cybersecurity, food manufacturing, medical care and education.
  6. Establish green lane arrangements for safe travel with other countries.
  7. Pursue international cooperation and expand Singapore’s trade networks and participate actively in the global digital economy.
  8. Diversify Singapore’s sources of food and essential supplies and build resilient supply chains.

🏭 On job creation

  1. Established the National Jobs Council to oversee the effort of job creation.
  2. Create 100,000 new job opportunities.
  3. Set up satellite career centres in all HDB towns.
  4. Scale up programmes for career conversion and skills upgrading with the Next Bound of SkillsFuture.
  5. Strengthen safeguards for jobseekers under the Fair Consideration Framework.
  6. Provide financial incentives for employers to hire or redeploy their local workers.

🧑 On workers aged 40-60

  1. Boost employment for Singaporeans aged 40-60.
  2. Through providing extra SkillsFuture credits and heavily subsidizing reskilling programmes.
  3. Providing mid-career pathway programmes.
  4. Offer special incentives for employers to hire workers aged 40-60.

👵 On senior workers

  1. Encouraging the employment of senior workers through the Senior Employment Credit, providing grants for re-employment, and supporting firms and industries to redesign jobs.

👩‍🎓 On young job seekers

  1. Strengthening career support for new graduates.
  2. Establish structured traineeships with firms.
  3. Offer free continuing education and training.
  4. Prepare job seekers for regional opportunities through the Global Ready Talent programme.

⚙️ On lower wage workers

  1. Enhancing Workfare support.
  2. Extend the Progressive Wage Model to more industries.

👩‍🦽 On workers with disabilities

  1. The PAP will work with employers to hire persons with disabilities, including through the Enabling Employment Credit.

🤝 On social and financial support

  1. Continue providing assistance through the Care & Support Package.
  2. Enhanced housing grants for purchase of HDB flats.
  3. Provide transport vouchers for public transport.
  4. Education subsidies. 100% subsidy for ITE fees and reduced fees for SIT and SUSS full time general degrees.
  5. Healthcare subsidies up to 80% and CHAS.

🧍‍♂️ On families with children with special education needs (SEN)

  1. Raise awareness of SEN promoting greater inclusivity.
  2. Make special education more affordable and open new Special Education Schools.
  3. Increase support for SEN students beyond age 18.

👦 On families with preschoolers

  1. Enhance subsidies making preschool affordable as primary school.
  2. Increase government share of supported preschools to 80% and double the number of MOE kindergartens to 60.
  3. Enhance the quality of preschool through the National Institute for Early Childhood Education.

📚 On students

  1. Provide greater support to students from vulnerable backgrounds and those most affected by the Covid-19 crisis.
  2. Accelerate the National Digital Literacy programme.
  3. Make Home-Based Learning an integral part of education.
  4. Introduce more interdisciplinary learning in higher education.
  5. Refresh the Character and Citizenship Education curriculum.
  6. Deepen professional expertise of teachers with SkillsFuture for Educators.

👴 On seniors

  1. Provide networks of support through the Community Network for Seniors.
  2. Free entry to public gyms and pools for seniors.
  3. Provide financial security in retirement with the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme, enhanced Silver Support, and the Silver Housing Bonus and Lease Buyback schemes.

🚑 On healthcare

  1. Expand the polyclinic network from 20 to 32 by 2030.
  2. Redevelop the Singapore General Hospital and National University Hospital.
  3. Complete the Novena Community Hospital by 2022.

🧱 On social resilience

  1. Build a more caring and united community where no one is left behind.
  2. Create communities of care in every town through the SG Cares network.
  3. Support the aspirations of people in arts, culture, and sports.

🌏 On the environment

  1. Deploy more solar panels on building rooftops and reservoirs, and converting food waste to energy at Tuas Nexus to produce more clean energy.
  2. Reduce greenhouse emissions.
  3. Plant one million trees and new mangrove areas.
  4. Add 200 hectares of nature parks and 140 hectares of city parks and gardens in the next 5 years.
  5. Enhance green corridors and park connectors so that every household is a 10 minutes walk from a park.
  6. Introduce sustainable living with the HDB Green Towns Programme.
  7. Rejuvenate Singapore’s heartlands through the Remaking Heartlands programme.
%d bloggers like this: