ELECTION 2010: Leaders focus on skills and education as Labor continues attack on Coalition policy costings

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott have both focused on skills and education, with Gillard promising to increase cash incentive payments to apprentices by $1,700 to $5,500, and Abbott promising to spend $200 million boosting the pay of top teachers.

Gillard, who was campaigning in Sydney this morning, says the $334 million promise will help encourage an extra 55,000 apprentices to take up the tools.

“This means as trade apprentices like carpenters and bricklayers and motor mechanics reach milestones each year they will get additional support,” Gillard said this morning.

The extra cash can be used on things like tools, registration costs or insurance.

Down in Melbourne, Tony Abbott unveiled a $345 million education package aimed at lifting education standards.

As well as promising $200 million to fund bonus payments to teachers – paid directly to the workers, and not administered through state governments as Labor has proposed in a similar scheme – Abbott is also promising $120 million in grants to help schools improve their technology infrastructure and $25 million for technical colleges.

Abbott says the criteria for rewarding the best teachers will be decided after the election.

“If for arguments sake 10% of teachers were to get the extra money and they were all to get the same amount that would work out at $6,000 a year,” he said.

While the leaders traded blows on education, Treasurer Wayne Swan and his opposite number Joe Hockey continue to trade blows over whether the Opposition will submit their policies to the Federal Treasury to be officially costed.

The deadline for polices to be submitted is 5:30pm today, according to the rules put in place by the Howard Government.

“Time’s up,” Treasurer Wayne Swan told ABC Radio this morning.

“I tell you what’s going on here, their numbers don’t add up.”

The Opposition says it has already submitted more than 50 policies, but Hockey says it can no longer trust Treasury after unofficial costings of a Opposition policy prepared by Treasury were leaked to the media.

The Opposition has asked the Federal Police to investigate and Opposition finance spokesman says that until that investigation is completed, it will look to have its policies costed be an independent authority.

”If the cloud over Treasury is not clarified and cleared, we could potentially have an official or several officials in the costings who are prepared to aid and abet the Labor Party in political way,” he said.