Australia politics live: Littleproud says Coalition will ‘struggle’ to match Labor pledge to cut student debt
Key events
And naturally Butler was also asked about the upgrades saga. He said MPs had complied with the rules, and said the stories had “occupied a lot of column inches, a lot of radio and TV time” but that they were just getting on with the job.
He also foreshadowed an announcement on bulk billing, saying they were starting to “turn a corner”.
We’re seeing more doctors, we’re seeing more bulk billing, and we’re seeing more Medicare urgent care clinics.
Butler defends student debt relief
Health minister Mark Butler has been asked on ABC television whether it’s “fair” that taxpayers foot the burden for students’ debt relief. He said students were under “real financial pressure”:
It’s something we can afford as a country because we know there’s no better investment we can make than in the skills and the education of our young citizens.
Good morning
Well hello, Australia, and welcome to the third-last sitting week of the parliamentary year. I just learned that the word for that is “antepenultimate”.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese joined South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas yesterday to kick off what some are referring to as the election campaign. When we’re all distracted by the shenanigans in the United States!
The centrepiece was an announcement on student debt relief to the tune of $16bn and fee-free Tafe places and the obligatory three-word slogan (in this case, “Building Australia’s Future”).
The Coalition has been out already this morning saying they probably can’t afford to match that pitch to younger Australians. Nationals leader David Littleproud told ABC television this morning that they would “struggle” to find the dosh. He said:
We’re going through a process now, but I just can’t see how we can pick winners to that scale of money and support a mechanism like this. In the totality of this cost-of-living crisis, there are more pressing things about getting your energy bill down, and we can do that quickly with more gas and a long-term policy around energy.
We’ll hear more about that today, but there’s little chance it’ll knock conversations about Qantas flight upgrades and the Chairman’s Lounge off the agenda.
