Albo to talk to Premiers on health

OPPOSITION Leader Anthony Albanese has promised Premiers an audience on health funding should he win the election, but has given no guarantee Labor would pump desperately needed cash into state health coffers beyond piecemeal infrastructure commitments.

Mr Albanese on Monday again reiterated a commitment to sitting down “constructively with all state governments” based on their health priorities.

But asked to clarify if there was appetite — considering the nearly $1 trillion government debt — to boost health funding, Mr Albanese repeated Labor’s list of health commitments so far.

This includes infrastructure pledges like the $200m — to be matched by the SA government — for hospital improvements, and the $135m Labor will put toward trialling 50 urgent care clinics across the nation to take pressure off emergency departments.

But Mr Albanese sidestepped any commitment to boost funding instead staying he would “have more to say on health” during the campaign — which has just 12 days more to run.

Fresh from a highly-combative second leaders debate, Mr Albanese’s campaign on Monday spanned three states starting with a visit to his alma mater St Mary’s Cathedral College — in the safe seat of Sydney — where he was thronged by excited schoolboys.

The Labor leader released a policy to pay students who get an ATAR of 80 or over up to $12,000 a year if they decide to study an education degree, as part of its plan to boost teaching standards and reduce teacher shortages.