Dental on Medicare must be next frontier for Labor: backbenchers

Anthony Albanese is facing an internal push to put dental onto Medicare, with MPs from the Left and Right factions to raise the matter after the next election.

Labor MPs are pushing Anthony Albanese to put dental on to Medicare.

Anthony Albanese is facing an internal push to put dental on to Medicare, with several Labor MPs calling for the issue to be part of the government agenda in the next parliamentary term.

As the Greens ramp up calls to implement supertaxes on big business to raise the $45bn needed to include dental in Medicare over the forward estimates, government MPs from the Left and Right factions said they would be raising the matter with colleagues after the next election. Backbenchers Helen Polley, Brian Mitchell, Mike Freelander and Graham Perrett backed opening discussions about how dental could be added to Medicare.

Senator Polley said while budgetary challenges facing the government were significant, it was clear Labor needed to move on the issue. “The reality is, we need to do something about dental health. If I could (add dental to Medicare) tomorrow, I would,” she said. “It’s very much on my radar and agenda to crank this up next term and talk to my colleagues about it.”

The Tasmanian senator said the campaign on making dental services affordable needed to mirror the ramp-up in funding and support around mental health over the past decade.

Labor senator Helen Polley, centre. Picture: Stephanie Dalton

“It’s a bit like mental health and in the same way we tackled that, we will need to put together a campaign, bring people along and look at how to fund this,” she said. “At the very least, in the next term we need a comprehensive campaign on oral health.”

Mr Mitchell – who used his first speech in 2016 to declare Medicare should be expanded “to include dental coverage for all Australians” – said the change was “not a matter of if, but when”.

“I would certainly like to see discussions commence next term,” the Tasmanian MP said.

“I don’t believe there’s any move to make it happen in this term of government … but there’s always pressure on to do it.”

However, he said the full change would need to “happen in good time” because of the level of funding that would be required.

Labor backbencher Brian Mitchell. Picture: Mathew Farrell

“I know there’d be a lot of us who would love to see some moves made towards it, but we also know that we are dealing with a finite amount of money and budget, and you’ve got to just make it fit when you can,” he said.

“So we’re all realists, and it’s a very worthy thing, because if we look after people’s dental health, then it means that overall health is better, so there are savings for the health system further on and of course people just get a better quality of life. In principle, I would love to see it, but I also know it’s going to take time.”

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Mark Butler said the government was considering dental policies as part of the upcoming National Oral Health Plan for 2025-34 being worked on with states and territories. The National Dental Reform Oversight Group is also expected to hand a report to Labor by year’s end that will consider recommendations from a Senate committee into dental care, including adding dental to Medicare.

And as part of a $220m investment in the “dental reform agenda”, the government will conduct a costing study into adult dental services in the public sector.

Mr Freelander, a doctor and the son of a dentist, said affordability was “a major health issue”. “There’s an economic divide for who can and can’t access dental care,” he said. “I do think it’s important we get some dental care in the publicly accessible health system, but the Greens’ suggestion to cover all dental care is unaffordable at the present time.”

Labor MP Mike Freelander. Picture: NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

All backbenchers who spoke to The Australian agreed the Greens’ plan – which Adam Bandt said the party would be “in a strong position to push Labor on” amid expectations it will fall into minority government – was not realistic and that the change would need to happen through a well-planned, staged approach.

The Greens have described adding dental to Medicare as “finishing the job” started in 2010 when the party used its position in a minority government to demand Labor make basic dental free for kids, a policy which has since delivered more than $3.1bn in benefits to more than 3.5 million children.

Mr Perrett, a Queensland MP who will leave parliament after the next election, said “whatever policies the Greens take from the rack is about wedging Labor, not about outcomes”.

He said while adding dental to Medicare might not be seriously considered in the next term of parliament, it’s “something that should be considered”. “But it needs to be considered through carefully weighed economic decisions in terms of what the budget can afford. At the moment we’re making incredible steps forward in terms of childcare, and … aged care … and education standards, they’re high-profile issues.”

Mr Perrett said the government should focus on putting money into prevention in the short term, including through better labelling of sugary foods and drinks, particularly as the policy could mean increasing taxes to pay for the change.

“Focusing on prevention for now might then make the proposition less of a burden, if every second kid doesn’t have (bad dental health),” he said.

“If it’s more of the acute end that we’re talking about, that might be something that the nation can get on board. Because there’s certainly not a conga line of constituents knocking on my door saying we want to increase our taxes to pay for dental care.”

Senator Polley said vulnerable cohorts, particularly older Australians, should be prioritised in any staged rollout of the policy, while Mr Mitchell pointed to “workforce issues” as a challenge to be addressed before universal dental care could be achieved.

The Australian revealed on Monday the Greens’ plan to add dental to Medicare would double demand on a sector that “simply doesn’t have the workforce available”, while risking changes to what health insurers were willing to cover.