Cabinet ministers privately admit the government is lagging Labor in the race to the election because of the anger about the handling of the pandemic over summer,while they step up attacks on Mr Albanese in the hope that voters will return to Mr Morrison.
A Newspoll published inThe Australian on Monday showed a slide in the Coalition’s primary vote from 36 to 34 per cent over summer,two weeks after the Resolve Political Monitor inThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Agerevealed a fall from 39 to 34 per cent.
The research and industry plan comes after criticism of the government for not doing enough to build up local manufacturing,with Mr Morrison using the speech on Tuesday to promise $2.2 billion for a research and commercialisation action plan,saying this includes $2 billion in “new money” not previously announced.
The spending comes from the decisions taken but not announced in the mid-year budget update in December,which means the outlays will not changethe forecast for the deficit.
The measures include a $1.6 billion competitive program to fund early-stage research ideas so they get through the so-called “valley of death” where projects can languish because they do not gain commercial support.
Other components include a $150 million expansion of a CSIRO program to support start-up companies and a $296 million investment into university fellowships and doctorates.
The policy also includesthe $247 million “trailblazer” program for a small number of universities,a commitment made last year and criticised by the education sector because it helped some campuses rather than all.
Mr Morrison will argue that only 40 per cent of Australian researchers work in private industry,fewer than seen in other advanced economies,and that this needs to change to commercialise ideas.
“This,together with low mobility between industry and the university sectors leads to culture and capability gaps that reduce the ability of Australian businesses to innovate,” he says in a draft of the speech.
“To tackle this issue,the government will invest in a new suite of industry PhD and research fellowships schemes to create Australia’s new generation of research entrepreneur.
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“We will invest in an additional 1,800 industry PhDs and more than 800 industry fellows over the next 10 years.”
“This is not an election promise. These are funded programs already in the budget,incorporated into the mid-year budget update.”
Mr Albanese has promised a $15 billion “reconstruction fund” topour money into local industry and has cited this as a way to make more rapid antigen tests in Australia,the latest dispute over manufacturing.
The Labor policy platform also includes $1.1 billion tomake 465,000 TAFE places free and fund an extra 20,000 university places,announced last December.
The aged care cash bonus move replicates a $393 million program earlier in the pandemic to give bonus payments to aged care workers in government subsidised home care and to aged care workers providing direct care,food or cleaning services in government subsidised residential care.
With the aged care sector calling for more rapid antigen tests and more staff to deal with rising cases,Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Monday the government had delivered 9.2 million RATs including 7.6 million to the sector since August.
Mr Hunt said 99 per cent of aged care facilities were expected to complete their vaccine booster programs on Monday.
“So,in fact,we will have finished about six weeks ahead of our intended schedule,and that was a fast schedule in any event,but it was brought forward by Omicron,” he said.
Mr Hunt expressed sympathy for the families of those in aged care and said 60 per cent of those who had died were in palliative care,while 25 per cent were either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.
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Labor has not revealed how much it would offer aged care workers if it formed government but Mr Albanese said on Sunday thathigher wages were one of the two key changes needed in the sector,along with stronger regulation.
“We still don’t have a commitment to increases in wages and conditions so that aged care facilities are able to attract the staff,” he said.
“So I’ll tell you one thing we would do right now:there’s a case before the Fair Work Commission for an increase in wages for aged care staff. The federal government should be making a submission to that,to the Commission,supporting an increase in wages.”