Coronavirus: Labor says some testing clinics won’t open for 6 weeks

Labor attacks the government’s $2.4bn medical package, as details of it emerge, saying it is ‘good, but not good enough’.

People line up for coronavirus testing at Royal Melbourne Hospital. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Labor has accused the government of complacency over its $2.4 billion medical response package to the coronavirus, saying it’s “not good enough” that fever clinics as part of the plan won’t be rolled out for another six weeks.

The opposition also criticised a lack of clarity on whether phone calls to GPs would be funded and called for GP video calls to be extended to all age groups beyond the elderly, as they responded to the government’s package.

“The fact is, whilst we welcome any initiative by the federal government, it is of some concern that they are saying that today’s announcements are demand-driven,” Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday.

“What we need on this is to provide leadership, not complacency. Leading doesn’t mean following demand. And that’s the concern here.

“There’s a real concern with the provision of personal protection equipment, which is in short supply, including masks and other equipment to keep those people providing these tests safe and to keep those people who enter the medical centre here safe as well,” he said from a press conference at a medical centre in Western Sydney.

Mr Albanese said Labor would welcome and support any actions the government takes in relation to coronavirus, but would continue to provide suggestions on further action it wanted to see.

Chris Bowen, opposition health spokesman, criticised the government over a lack of clarity in it’s messaging.

“The package announced today by the government is good, but not good enough. Not good enough in our view, given the size of the challenge facing the Australian people,” Mr Bowen said.

“We give them bipartisan support for every action taken. But that does not mean we won’t, as a responsible Opposition, call for more.

“It’s good that the telehealth rebate has been introduced. But Labor had called for a much broader telehealth rebate. We want people being able to call their doctor and for that to be covered under Medicare bulk-billing. What the Government’s announced today is only in relation to elderly Australians and some subsets of vulnerable people.

“It seems to us that it would make much more sense to have that much more broadly available. Also, the Government must urgently clarify whether this covers telephone consultations or not.

“The Prime Minister on Twitter this morning said that it did. That’s not evident in the announcement in the detailed documents. That refers to Skype and video conferencing. And with all due respect, not everybody has Skype and video conferencing available to them, particularly as this bulk-billing rebate has been at this stage made available primarily only to elderly Australian.”

Labor's health spokesman Chris Bowen. Picture: AAP

Mr Bowen also said he was “very concerned” about the timeline the government has set to open about 100 fever clinics.

“The first Australian diagnosis of COVID-19 was the 29th of January ... to be announcing the fever clinics today, which they flagged some weeks ago. And now saying it might be up to six weeks before some open, I don’t think that’s good enough.

“We’ve been dealing with this since January. It’s now March. And we would like to see those fever clinics up and running more quickly than the six-week time frame that’s being given.

“And of course, if they do manage that, it will have a big tick from us. But it’s not good enough to wait another six weeks.”