Election 2022 live: Scott Morrison and Ann Ruston’s vow to not cut Medicare
The Prime Minister has said Senator Anne Ruston will become Health Minister if they win the next election, and explained why they would not introduce Medicare co-payments.
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Scott Morrison’s pick to be his next health minister has previously argued Medicare is not “sustainable” and universal healthcare was not a “given” when the nation’s debt was high.
Families and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston has been nominated to take over as the critically important health portfolio from retiring minister Greg Hunt if the Coalition wins the election.
Labor has seized on Ms Ruston’s appointment, arguing her past comments in the Senate as proof the Coalition would seek to cut Medicare, a claim the Prime Minister has denied.
Speaking about GP co-payments to the Senate in 2015, Ms Ruston said Medicare “in its current form is not sustainable into the future without some change being made”.
“We originally put on the table this co-payment as a method by which we could try and seek to make Medicare more sustainable,” she said.
In 2014 Ms Ruston argued rather than take on the health funding burden, the government could make co-payments affordable for Australians if it got the economy moving and allowed people to “make their own choices”
“Everybody would like to think that we could go on in life with universal health care, with
universal education and with all these wonderful things that over the last 20 years
Australians have come to accept as a given,” she told the Senate.
“Unfortunately the credit card is maxed out.”
Labor leader Anthony Albanese was scathing of the appointment on Sunday, accusing Ms Ruston of wanting to “take the universal out of universal health care”.
“People are already seeing escalating costs to health care,” he said.
“The appointment of Anne Ruston sends a very bad message that this government, if re-elected, will make further cuts to Medicare.”
Mr Morrison dismissed Labor’s attack on Sunday, describing Ms Ruston as someone who had “great empathy for Australians and some of the most difficult areas of need”.
He said the Coalition could deliver on its heath commitments because of its economic management.
“If people want to understand what are the consequences of a government that cannot manage money, like the Labor Party … well, the consequences are not being able to afford to put pharmaceuticals on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme,” he said.
“We saw that last time they were in government.
“The consequences are not being able to deliver and guarantee essential services, that is the consequence of not being able to run a strong economy.”
Constituents in the marginal seat of Parramatta got a visit from Mr Morrison and wife Jenny this Easter Sunday, marking his second visit to the key electorate since the campaign began.
The Morrisons visited the Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney’s west to announce a $270m cash splash to expand the Glucose Monitoring Initiative from July 1 to all 130,000 Australians with Type 1 diabetes.
The couple presented Easter gift hampers to executives at the hospitals before colouring in with young children.
But the gimmicks weren’t enough to win over everyone, with one little boy pointing to Mr Hunt to say “I’m backing him”.
Mr Morrison was also flanked by his “real eel” Parramatta candidate Maria Kovacic, and Senator Ruston.
Quakers Hill local Scott Lavender and his family, from the neighbouring electorate of Greenway, said they’ll be voting for Mr Morrison this election.
“No one knew what was going to happen in the past two years. He’s (Morrison) has done his absolute best to get us to the other side of it. We can’t say that Labor could have done better, no one knows,” he said.
“We’re still not out of it. I think it would be best to have someone who’s been there to get us out of it at the end of the pandemic... let him finish what he started.”
“If you’re smart, you’d keep Scomo in.”
Mr Lavender said he wanted more investment in healthcare and education.
Mr Lavender’s daughters Shania, 10, and Maddison, 6, posed with the PM with Shania saying she was excited to meet the Prime Minister.
“I didn’t expect to do that. He was nice.”
PM DOUBLES DOWN ON TUDGE AFFAIR PAYOUT
Mr Morrison has refused to reveal details of a taxpayer-funded payout to Alan Tudge’s former staffer, despite her freeing the government from the confidentiality clauses.
Rachelle Miller, who had an extramarital affair with Mr Tudge while she worked for him, has reportedly been paid more than $500,000 after she alleged he had emotionally and, on one occasion, physically abused her.
Mr Tudge strenuously denies the allegations.
On Friday, Ms Miller accused the government of leaking information about the settlement, and freed the government from its strict confidentiality clauses.
But, when Mr Morrison was asked to provide details to the Australian taxpayers on Sunday, he refused to be drawn, saying hte matters were “confidential”, despite Ms Miller having released the payout from confidentiality.
He was asked why he did not recognise the “public interest” of taxpayers knowing where and how their money was being spent.
“My simple point is this process is confidential and has been put in place by the Department of Finance,” Mr Morrison said
“I think that is the way these matters should be handled and I intend to honour the process that has been established independently by public officials about how sensitive matters of this nature should be handled and so I intend to stick to the process.”
ALBO’S NEW ASYLUM SEEKER GAFFE
Mr Albanese has been forced to clarify a comment yet again after he said Labor did support temporary protection visas for asylum seekers who arrived by boat before the turnback policy started.
Labor has long-held a position of opposing the Coalition’s current requirement that refugees who arrived by boat before Operation Sovereign Borders began in 2013 need to constantly reapply for temporary protection visas.
But on Sunday when Mr Albanese stopped to briefly answer questions on his way out of an Easter Sunday mass in Cairns, he initially said Labor did support the TPVs.
A journalist asked if he supported Operation Sovereign Borders, “and if so to you support the retention of temporary protection visas,” Mr Albanese said: “yes”.
But less than five minutes later he had to clarify.
“Earlier on I heard half the question, and didn’t hear all of it. Labor’s policy is to support Operation Sovereign Borders, we support offshore processing, we support resettlement to third countries, we don’t support temporary protection visas,” he said.
PAYNE REACTS TO TRANSGENDER ROW
Foreign Minister Marise Payne repeatedly ducked a question on whether the Liberal Party’s Warringah candidate should be dumped over her controversial comments on transgender people.
Ms Payne, who is also Women’s Minister, avoided stating her opinion on whether Katherine Deves should continue to contest the Sydney seat, which was formerly held by Liberal Tony Abbott before being captured by independent Zali Steggall at the last election.
“I don’t share Ms Deves’ views on the comments that she has made,” Ms Payne told ABC Insiders host David Speers on Sunday morning.
“But importantly, she has apologised and she has withdrawn those views.”
Speers repeatedly pressed Ms Payne on whether she believes Ms Deves should stay on the Liberal ticket, but Ms Payne insisted it was a matter for the local party division and avoided stating her own view.
“Minister, you are one of the most senior figures in the NSW division. Do you think Katherine Deves should be dropped?” Speers asked.
When Ms Payne did not directly answer the question, he repeated it.
“Do you think she should be dropped as the candidate, is the question?” he asked again.
“David, it’s a matter for the organisation in NSW. I need to get on with my job. That’s what I’m doing,” Ms Payne responded.
Ms Deves was slammed by NSW Treasurer Matt Kean for her comments, which included a false claim most trans men were sex offenders.
But the Prime Minister has stood by the candidate, and she’s received support from Mr Abbott as well.
A News Corp poll asked readers if Deves should be dumped as a candidate for her transgender views. Out of the 3079 votes cast, 82 per cent thought she should still run as candidate.
PM, ALBO HEAD TO CHURCH
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has kicked off the second week of his election campaign with a church service for Easter Sunday.
The Prime Minister arrived at Horizon Church in Sutherland on Sunday morning.
Churchgoers were seen singing on stage as Mr Morrison arrived.
Mr Morrison and his family greeted churchgoers at their “home church” and wished them a Happy Easter.
“Easter is about so many things but for Christians today is resurrection Sunday and we celebrate the resurrection of Christ… a message of hope,” he said.
“This is something that’s always been very special for Jen and I and our family and this wonderful church community we’ve been a part of for so long… It’s a time of great hope, at a time we can look to the future with confidence.
“If you’re on the roads over the weekend, please be safe when you’re driving home… God bless and Happy Easter.”
Horizon has been the Morrisons’ local church for 15 years.
“Enjoy the time with family and friends today but don’t forget the real reason for today, the risen Christ,” he said outside the church.
“For those of us who believe that strongly, and we certainly do, it’s a time of great hope and a time that we can look forward to the future with confidence.”
Pastor Brad Bonhomme said his message in the service would be one of hope.
“Given the challenges that people have experienced in society in recent years, I just want to really encourage people that the message of Easter is one of hope,” he said.
“Although there’s loss on Good Friday, there is always hope.”
‘HIGH DEGREE OF UNCERTAINTY’: GREENS LEADER QUIZZED
Greens leader Adam Bandt has been grilled on the price tag of his party’s ambitious campaign plans, including making dental care covered by Medicare.
Mr Bandt was asked by Channel 9 reporter Chris Uhlmann where he would find the money for the dental proposal, which was calculated to cost $77 billion over a decade.
“By making those billionaires and the big corporations pay their fair share of tax,” Mr Bandt said.
“At the moment, one in three big corporations in this country pays no tax at all. And I think when a nurse pays more tax than a multinational (corporation), something is seriously wrong in this country.”
Uhlmann said that according to the Greens’ own calculations, taxing billionaires would only pay for about half of the $77 billion.
“I have the costing here, it says in bold there’s a very high degree of uncertainty you would ever get that money,” Uhlmann said.
Mr Bandt began answering but was interrupted by Uhlmann.
“That’s the costing I just held up, and it says there’s a very high degree of uncertainty,” Uhlmann repeated.
“That’s on the billionaire tax, of course they’ll do whatever they can to try and avoid paying tax,” Mr Bandt said.
“Another part is making the big corporations pay their fair share, which brings in over $330 billion over the decade.”
Mr Bandt went on to call for a stop to “handouts” to corporations.
The Greens could end up with an important role to play in the next parliament in case both major parties fail to capture a solid majority of seats.
Mr Bandt said his priorities would be tackling the climate crisis, stopping new coal and gas projects, and easing the cost of living.
ALBO’S HEALTH PLAN UNDER ATTACK
Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said Labor’s promise to create 50 new urgent care clinics will be “up and running” by the middle of next year.
Speaking on ABC’s Insiders, he said that the service would be open seven days a week from 8am to 10pm and they would be fully bulk billed.
Significant questions remain over the costings and viability of the Opposition’s flagship health announcement.
The “fully costed” plan to trial 50 urgent care clinics across Australia with $135 million to top up running costs only covers the equivalent of one extra GP per centre.
Mr Butler said that the service would be open seven days a week from 8am to 10pm and they would be fully bulk billed.
When asked about who would run the clinics, he said he didn’t believe GPs and nurses would have to be imported in from overseas to run the clinics, despite the massive labour shortages hitting the medical industry.
“It will be very clear that Australian GPs will want to work in this type of practice,” Mr Butler said.
“If we were elected, we want to see them up and running in the next financial year, commencing 1 July, 2023.”
His comments came after Mr Albanese was spotted trying to turn around his disastrous election fortunes with a localised “cheat sheet” of figures at a media appearance in Cairns.
Mr Albanese was in the far north Queensland seat of Leichhardt on Sunday, seemingly more prepared than on previous election stops, with a sheet of scribbled Defence statistics related to the strategically significant region.
After copping criticism for his lack of preparedness, one senior Labor figure told News Corp they hoped the extra attention to detail – including basic facts like where the nation’s Navy headquarters were – was a sign of the much talked about “Easter weekend reset” the campaign “desperately needs”.
“I think we’d all rather he had the homework than be caught guessing again,” they said.
Labor’s urgent care policy to reduce hospital waiting times for non-life-threatening emergencies would effectively give each GP clinic an extra $1849 per day to stay open from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week.
The bulk of the cost for treatments like broken bones, cuts and minor burns would be covered under the Medicare rebate system, but Labor has declined to answer questions about what this was estimated to be.
Assuming the treatments would ordinarily be done in a hospital, the policy may not increase the overall impact on the budget, but it also does not amount to extra health services for a community.
Instead treatments are just moved from crowded emergency departments to overstaffed GPs clinics.
Labor has claimed GPs believe the extra cash will make the bulk billed and after hours services viable, but the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has slammed the plan as “piecemeal” and not properly tackling hospital waiting times.
On Saturday Labor declined to put a figure on the expected Medicare cost, or how the policy amounted to extra medical services for a community if certain treatments were just being moved from a hospital to GP clinic setting.
In response to Labor’s failure to explain its costings behind the policy, the Coalition conducted an “elementary” assessment based on conservative assumptions including GP consultations of 20 minutes or less, no fees or costs for scans, bloods, complex consults, nurse assistance or medical items and equipment, or loadings for rural areas or after-hours payments.
In this scenario the $1849 still only stretched as far as covering the equivalent of one doctor churning through patients for 14 hours a day, 7 days a week.
After first claiming the policy was fully costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), Mr Albanese was forced into an embarrassing backflip earlier this week when it was revealed Labor’s figures were only “informed” by the department.
Mr Hunt said the public should see the “real costings now”.
“We already know this hasn’t been costed despite Mr Albanese saying it has,” he said.
“The super clinics policy failed abysmally last time. This reheated version is worse and has been rejected by the medical groups.”
Mr Hunt said Mr Albanese had shown he was “ill-informed, not across the facts and willing to tell Australians what they want to hear even when it’s not the truth”.
ENROL NOW, AEC ISSUES WARNING
The AEC is calling on voters who need a postal vote to only come to the AEC directly — and only if they need one.
Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said he’d written to political parties and candidates today about their distribution of postal vote applications.
“It’s legal but it is potentially misleading and we’re concerned,” Mr Rogers said.
“There is a multitude of issues we’re seeing and it’s the number one complaint we’re receiving from Australians with thousands of pieces of correspondence received across social media and more traditional complaint channels in just days.”
“Firstly, the election is an in-person event. People are attending concerts, sporting events and cafes - most voters will come to a polling place so we don’t need the mass distribution of postal votes.”
“We’ve also seen the wrong forms distributed in one division, our colour purple used in a potentially misleading way in another and voters being directed to generically named websites en masse with the potential to mislead.
“People have a right to know what they’re doing with their personal data. The AEC takes privacy seriously and operates under the Privacy Act, political parties don’t have to.”
“While we haven’t seen unauthorised postal vote applications, the use of colour and wording means someone who doesn’t examine the material in detail could mistake it for a piece of AEC communication.”
VOTERS COOL ON COVID AS AN ELECTION PRIORITY
Covid has collapsed as a priority for voters since January while cost of living has surged according to a tracking poll of 15 margin seats across Australia.
But while voter interest in the pandemic has waned as restrictions have eased, health care and the cost of health care still remains a big issue with the public.
Between January and April, unprompted concern over coronavirus has fallen from first place to fifth place as an issue with voters, while the cost of living as surged as the top-of-mind issue from 8 per cent of those surveyed to 25 per cent.
The number of people listing the economy and taxes as the most important issue has also jumped from 7 per cent to 17 per cent in the same period.
But while concerns about the pandemic appear to have eased the number of people citing health as their number one priority increased from 14 per cent to 19 per cent.
Interestingly the cost-of-living and health were neck and neck with Coalition voters on 23 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
The pollsters also found that when prompted, voters ranked the affordability of health care more highly than housing affordability as a concern.
Almost a third of voters – 30 per cent – said they had found it difficult to pay for a medicine in the past three years, a number which has risen 5 points between January and April, while 17 per cent say that over the same period say they have been unable to pay for their scripts.
Professor Trent Twomey, the National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia which paid for the polling said the first issue that community pharmacists would like to see the Coalition tackle is medicine affordability.
“This is a key cost of living issue for Australians. People are struggling from pay to pay to afford essential medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme,” he said.
“Health is a key cost of living issue. People need help to afford their medicines at the cash register, not in October. People who can’t afford medicines will end up in hospital before they hit the safety net.”
He said preventive medicines were the best way to preserve the health of Australians and relieve the burden on hospitals and emergency services.”
The seats surveyed by pollster Insightfully were Macquarie, Cowan, Dobell, Gilmore, Corangamite, Bass, Boothby, Swan, Braddon, Reid, Flynn, Robertson, Lindsay, Kooyong and Bowman.
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Originally published as Election 2022 live: Scott Morrison and Ann Ruston’s vow to not cut Medicare
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