Mark Butler dismisses dental on Medicare but Clare O’Neil leaves door open

Health Minister Mark Butler has dismissed calls from Labor backbenchers to begin looking at putting dental onto Medicare, declaring it was not something the government was able to do in the short term.

Health Minister Mark Butler. Picture: NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

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Cabinet Minister Clare O’Neil says she is “not surprised” to see members of the Labor backbench calling for dental to be added to Medicare, saying it was a “really important issue for constituents”.

It follows Labor MPs including Helen Polley, Brian Mitchell, Graham Perrett and Mike Freelander revealing in The Australian this week they believed the issue should be put on the government’s agenda in the future, given the increasing divide between those who can and can’t afford oral healthcare.

Despite Health Minister Mark Butler declaring he was “unapologetically” focused in the near term on general practice rather than expanding Medicare to include dental services, Ms O’Neil left the door open to the idea.

“A lot of (people) ... at home probably wonder why when something goes wrong with the rest of their body it is covered by Medicare,” Ms O’Neil, recently appointed to the housing portfolio, told Sunrise. “I’m not surprised to see Labor MPs raising this. Labor’s the party of Medicare. We invented it and in each term of government we do big and important things to protect this most important part of our healthcare system.”

When asked if she believed dental should be covered by Medicare, Ms O’Neil said “it’s not Labor’s policy for this term, but … I’m not surprised to see Labor ­people raising this because it’s a ­really important issue for our constituents”.

Mr Butler said the policy, which would cost about $45bn over four years, was not one of his priorities.

“I’m focused right now on strengthening the fundamentals of Medicare, which are under real strain after a decade of cuts and neglect, particularly the freezing of the Medicare rebate,” he told ABC.

“I’ve said very clearly and un­apologetically to the medical community and to Australians that my focus is on general practice.

“I think our backbenchers are reflecting the sort of pride and ambition they have around Medicare.

“Labor is very proud of the work we did in creating and defending and ultimately strengthening Medicare.”

While Labor was clear under Bill Shorten’s leadership about a desire to work towards universal access of dental care – starting with a multibillion-dollar proposal to invest in seniors’ oral health in 2019 – the issue has dropped off the party’s agenda.

In the absence of a federal plan , the Greens have since 2022 been campaigning to put dental on to Medicare.

Mr Butler said while oral care was “fundamental”, it had not been a feature of either Medibank under Gough Whitlam or Medicare under Bob Hawke and for the 40 years since.

“That has been a bugbear of many people who would like to see oral health covered by Medicare as well but that’s not something we’re going to be able to do in the near term,” he said.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said the proposal would never be accepted by the Coalition given the significant costs it would entail.