The Labor party propose to halve the cost of maths and science degrees. An excellent suggestion, though in my opinion it doesn’t really get to the heart of the current problems with the mathematical sciences in Australia as outlined in this recent study (see also commentary on this at Larvatus Prodeo), the real problem is the massive funding cuts to universities by the Howard government which have hit less industry-oriented faculties like maths and pure sciences (and also others such as the Arts) particularly hard as universities depend more on outside funding. Furthermore there is a change towards more vocational courses (and less demanding ones) as universities compete for the student dollar, leaving the fundamental disciplines struggling.
So what has Howard done for the mathematical sciences lately? Well, he asked Australia’s first Fields medalist Terence Tao what country he was from. Of course if Howard knew more about the state of the mathematical sciences he’d actually ask “what country did you go to?” (link to PDF).

UPDATE: The education minister disagrees with Labor’s plan, basically because it won’t fix the problems … the problems that her Government created that is. The universities on the other hand are rather keen on the plan. Of course what the minister says is not in total disagreement with what I said, I also don’t think it will fix everything, but I do think that something has to be done and this would achieve some good.