Opposition leader Bill Shorten has announced his Labor party will spend 250 million dollars of taxpayer's money to reduce waiting lists for elective surgery around the country if it wins the national vote on the 18th of May.
The funding promise is part of Labor's proposed 2.8 billion dollar cash injection into state hospital systems.
Mr Shorten says the government is being hypocritical in its criticisms of Labor's health funding promises.
"There's a massive out of the pocket crisis in health care, in terms of cancer. But, I notice that the government, having initially said there was no problem, have now said that Labor's not funding it enough. You've got to love these guys. They're the cheeky brigade of Australian politics. They're either saying we're not doing enough, or we're doing too much," Mr Shorten says.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the federal government's plans for managing Australia's population growth fit in well with Australia's multicultural society.
Mr Morrison's government has recently announced plans to lower the migration cap from 190 thousand people per year to 160 thousand.
Mr Morrison has launched the campaign of Gladys Liu, the Liberal party's Hong Kong-born candidate for the seat of Chisholm in suburban Melbourne in the forthcoming election.
Mr Morrison says his plans are not about stopping Australia growing, but, rather, making sure Australians keep growing together.
"And a big part of our plan to manage our population growth is to ensure, just like we have here in Chisolm, that, as Australia grows, we continue to grow together and not apart. That all the communities continue to grow together and weave together, and that is based on respect. It's based on an appreciation. It's about an understanding about where you've come from, but, more importantly, as Australians, knowing where we're all going together. And this is an important part of our plan to manage population growth," Mr Morrison says.
[The full story is available on the podcast above]
