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On September 13, a joint debate session for the 2012 DPJ presidential election candidates took place in Osaka. The four candidates, Yoshihiko Noda, Hirotaka Akamatsu, Kazuhiro Haraguchi, and Michihiko Kano, presented their policies before more than 500 gathered party members and supporters, elected local government members and various other people from related organisations. The following three questions were presented to candidates from among questions collected in advance from party members in Osaka Prefecture: (1) What is your view of the Japan Restoration Party? (2) What have been the achievements since the change in government administration and what are the challenges for revitalising the DPJ? and (3) What is your evaluation of the three party agreement and what do you think are the prospects for the reforms of the social security system? The responses by the four candidates are summarised below (in the order of registration).
Candidate Noda
(1) Mayor of Osaka Toru Hashimoto has been among the people who have praised our local sovereignty reforms, including the expansion of local grants that can be used freely and revisions to local government obligations and frameworks. In terms of national government, the DPJ’s relationship with the Japan Restoration Party is the same as with other political parties. I hope to engage in friendly competition with them.
(2) Our achievements have included our policies to put children first and to revitalise local regions. In order to revitalise the party, what we need to do is to ensure that the manifesto and party platform are not discussed only by a limited number of Diet members in a short time frame, but rather are developed and honed with input from local organisations.
(3) We still have work to do on mid- to long-term reform of the pension system and on revisions to the healthcare system for the elderly. We will ensure that the concepts of the party are duly emphasised and put forward in the National Council for Social Security System Reform and then moved forward for implementation. Following the presidential election I would like to reconfirm the three party agreement.
Candidate Akamatsu
(1) The Diet is already dealing with issues raised by the Japan Restoration Party such as the bill to establish special zones in large cities. The eight-point policy plan they have issued includes various issues, but none of them will be easy to achieve. I believe it would be better to respond to each issue on a case-by-case basis.
(2) Our achievements have included the abolition of the taxation on sole proprietorships, making high school tuition free, child benefit allowances, income support for individual households, and the abolition of the “amakudari” system through which ex-bureaucrats move into cushy private sector jobs after retiring. I believe that we should work hard to explain to the public that the 179 items detailed in our manifesto are at the very least starting to come to fruition.
(3) While I naturally respect the outcomes of the three party agreement, leaving the critical items to the National Council to discuss will only result in an increase in taxation. We should use regressive measures and apply these to a reduced tax rate. Not even one yen raised from the increase in consumption tax should be used in public works projects.
Candidate Haraguchi
(1) The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement would bring a new liberalism to the entire country. I cannot understand why the people of the Japan Restoration Party who call for local sovereignty on the one hand would champion the TPP on the other. They should work to increase their support base without claiming a populist policy.
(2) Our achievement has been local sovereignty reforms. What we need to do now is reconfirm our party principles and look to increase our alliance partners. I would like some time to share our principles with the people of Japan and with Diet members.
(3) While I will abide by the agreements concluded with the party and the pledges made in cooperation with other parties, I believe that our pledge to the people of Japan is becoming frayed. One article in legislation has been established with provisions for the passing on of increases in the consumption tax rate, but I do not know if this will truly be enough to help vulnerable people in society.
Candidate Kano
(1) Although I agree with the Japan Restoration Party’s ideas on local sovereignty and reforms to overlapping government administration, I have strong doubts about when the proposals to make consumption tax a local tax and to make the election of the prime minister a public election would work well. These things are easy to say, but tremendously difficult to put into practice.
(2) One of our achievements has been the system to provide income support for individual farming households. The major points for party revitalisation are to strengthen the relationship between the party and the cabinet, to make decision-making processes transparent, and ensure that policy is not decided by the same few people, but by everyone in the party.
(3) The three party agreement represents a pledge between the three major parties and therefore must be honoured. We must not forget that fiscal, economic and social security reforms are part of a comprehensive reform package and that social security reform is designed to invest in our children and future generations.
The four candidates also held a joint debate session in Fukuoka on September 17. Candidate Noda stayed in Tokyo for official duties and attended the session from the party headquarters via Internet. The candidates responded to questions, which were collected in advance from party members in Fukuoka Prefecture, regarding (1) achievements since change in government and future agendas, (2) energy policies, and (3) bullying issues and prevention programs. Around 1,000 people gathered despite bad weather conditions.
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