In short:
The Coalition has vowed to match Labor’s pledge to boost Medicare funding by $8.5 billion over four years, describing a drop in bulk billing rates as a “mess” created by the government.
Labor has promised nine out of 10 GP visits will be free from out-of-pocket expenses by the end of the decade, in what will be a cornerstone of its re-election pitch.
What’s next?
The Coalition said their funding would come in from November if they win this year’s federal election, due on or before May 17, which is the same timeline given by Labor.
Labor has repeatedly warned that Medicare would be worse off under Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, but the Coalition was quick to announce their own $9 billion funding commitment for GPs as Mr Albanese was detailing his plans at a campaign-style rally in Launceston.
The Coalition’s $9 billion commitment includes matching Labor’s pledge plus $500 million previously announced for mental health support.
In a year’s time:
Dutton: “We’ve kept our promise and have matched Labor’s spending dollar for dollar. They didn’t win and have spent nothing. And so we’ve spent nothing too.”
He’s going to sack 36,000 public servants to pay for it. https://www.pressreader.com/australia/the-guardian-australia/20250225/281612426138609
I’ll be voting all minor parties across the board with the major parties right at the bottom. If the major parties want people to vote for them, they should try listening to the people and fixing the housing crisis and cost-of-living crisis.
Remove negative gearing, remove capital gains tax concessions, implement net-zero immigration, outlaw AirBnB, make foreign investment into residential property illegal, introduce a vacancy tax, punish developers who conduct “land-banking” and invest in TAFE to train the people we need locally
The first preferences are easy, Greens then Independents etc harder at the bottom, so many shitstains, so few spaces to number them.
Hey, hey! Shhhhhhhhh!!!
That sort of talk and with policies that will have some real impact might slow down the housing bubble!
Think about our property portfolios!
Great, so the policy – to the dollar for the $8.5m – has strong, unequivocal bipartisan support.
So they can work together to implement it now. I’m sure they’ll do that, as doing it sooner rather than later is in the best interests of the Australian people, and these politicians – elected by the Australian people – focus only on doing what’s best for the Australian people.
Be kind of a boss move for Albanese to call back Parliament for this, literally force the Liberals into support for this before the election or risk a massive loss in support.
It could also be used as a last minute rapprochement with the Greens. The major left wing parties demonstrating they can work well together as well as how they’ve pushed each other. After last years debacles, i think it could help both parties.
I actually can’t see a downside for going early on this policy for Labor. They should definitely strike while the irons hot on this one. Politics is all about timing after all, and this could be used as a positive end to a challenging term.
No you have to wait until after the election so the LNP can go “oh did we say +$8.5M we meant -$8.5M, classic sign error sorry lmao.”
Just like the NBN. Right? Hard pass. Nice to know they aren’t just opposed to it for no reason but at least we can be somewhat confident Labour won’t fumble the ball on purpose and then blame the whole premise.
Jk plebs you only get healthcare to the node
The Coalition has vowed to match Labor’s pledge to boost Medicare funding by $8.5 billion over four years, describing a drop in bulk billing rates as a “mess” created by the government.
Sure is! A mess created by the previous decade of Lib mismanagement… But the average chucklefuck doesn’t pay attention so will only know what fashcorp & co tell them.
