Beazley's Budget "Right of Reply" Makes Cursory Mention of Universities and Research. (May 12, 2006)

    The leader of the Federal Labor Party opposition in his budget reply last night focused on making a "pact with middle Australia". He guaranteed,  "what you put in, you get out".

While his list of promised funding encompassed spending $200 million to establish 260 new child-care centres on school grounds and other community land, setting up a joint venture with telecom carriers to build a high-speed broadband, scrapping TAFE fees for trades apprentices, and a $2,000 bonus for trade course completion he chose to give no commitments with regard to upgrading the nation's universities or research capability.

Rather he pointed to the government's lack of support saying the minerals boom had given Mr Costello a once-in-a-lifetime chance to set Australia up for the 21^st century. "He blew it. Just imagine if this Government was making real investments in our schools, TAFE colleges, universities and research labs, so that Australia led the world with the best trained workforce." And Mr Beazley claimed "Australia is the only advanced country to cut investment in training", and that the budget had no plans to relieve Australia from high oil prices, to fix crumbling infrastructure, or to stop students being turned away from TAFE or facing huge university debts.

And while the leader of the Labor Opposition pointedly remarked on Australia's current account deficit, there was no outline of how he plans to reverse it.

[O]ur kids' inheritance from this government is foreign debt reaching half a trillion dollars, and growing faster than ever before. One of the world's highest foreign debts.

For our kids this government leaves a massive burden - already $500 million of interest payments every single week - while Australia racks up even more debt with the worst run of trade deficits in our history.

Even the treasurer's own department has warned this year that Australia's foreign liabilities "cannot continue to rise forever".

Over the next year or so we'll see if Mr Beazley is prepared to recite chapter and verse on just what he intends to do to fix the "crumbling infrastructure", physical and intellectual, and reduce the current account deficit. Until he does so, it's fair to ask, "Does he really have a clue."