Another day another tens of millions of dollars in this paradise of promises

Labor has promised $28m for infrastructure at the University of Newcastle’s new Gosford campus, near its medical school which is scheduled to accept students next year. Presumably the money will come from what is left of the $300m University Future Fund.

Labor also has$10m for a QUT – Queensland health system venture, the Herston Biofabrication Institute, to produce “customised patient medical devices.” This cash appears to come from a different bucket, given it is announced by Industry shadow Kim Carr and not one of the education spokespeople.

“This commitment to research infrastructure by Labor is necessary because Australia is still without a long-term dedicated funding vehicle for university infrastructure,” Senator Carr says.

He refers to the government’s attempts to re-allocate the $3.5bn balance in the dormant Education Investment Fund, first to the NDIS and then in the Budget to become a natural disaster recovery reserve.

It demonstrates the lock Labor has on research and education announcements in the election. But it’s different in health and medical research. The Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes is tracking which side is promising what (woebetide the winner if it does not deliver every dollar to AAMRI’s satisfaction), There the conservatives are making plenty of commitments.