Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was in Brisbane today to see the very latest in medical innovation and technology.

He says, it shows what’s possible in Australia and criticised the Abbott Government for not putting science funding at the fore-front.

Suraya Daly reports.

TRANSCRIPT

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was visiting the Australian branch of international company Cook Medical today which is based in Eight Mile Plains.

He was shown the state-of-the-art facilities and the latest technology being developed at the centre.

Bill Shorten, Opposition Leader: “There are hundreds of people here making and designing the best technology in the world which will literally save and extend the lives of thousands of Australians and thousands of people throughout the world.”

He took the opportunity to lash out at the Abbott Government saying they’d been ‘horrendous’ for the future of science and the future of jobs in Australia.

And it was time to reverse its anti-science policy.

The opposition leader says that young people are being deterred from studying science because of the Abbott Government’s cuts to University funding.

Bill Shorten, Opposition Leader: “Three billion dollars worth of cuts, one in five employees at the CSIRO have lost their jobs. We have the prospect of young people seeking to study science in Australia being put off by the prospect of one hundred thousand dollar degrees.”

Suraya Daly, QUT News.