Election 2022: Coalition refuses to match ‘reckless’ $400m health pledge

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham says the Coalition will not match federal Labor’s promise of a $400m hospital upgrade in SA’s most marginal seat.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham says the Coalition will not match federal Labor’s promise of a $400m hospital upgrade in South Australia’s most marginal seat, labelling it “reckless spending”.

The rejection was swiftly seized on by popular Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas on Monday who said the rejection gave South Australians a “clear choice” to vote for the opposition’s candidate at the upcoming federal election.

Labor has pledged $400m to increase capacity at Adelaide’s Flinders Medical Centre in a bid to tackle the state’s hospital crisis if it wins government on May 21.

Under a 50/50 shared funding model with the state government, the project will fund 160 new beds, an upgraded intensive care unit and new operating theatres.

The promise comes amid a fierce election contest for the marginal seat of Boothby which is held by outgoing Liberal MP Nicolle Flint on a margin of 1.4 per cent. Labor’s candidate Louise Miller-Frost will go up against Liberal medical researcher Rachel Swift, as well as high profile Climate 200-backed independent Jo Dyer.

Scott Morrison has also been pouring resources into the marginal seat, taking his re-election campaign to Adelaide last week where he spruiked the Coalition’s decision to freeze deeming rates at a seniors home and pledged $14m to upgrade the tourism precinct.

Campaigning in South Australia for the first time, Mr Albanese kicked off his pitch to voters alongside Ms Miller-Frost and Mr Malinauskas, who recently took government from former Liberal premier Steven Marshall after a ferocious campaign run on health and ambulance ramping.

Mr Albanese was also joined by several senior Labor frontbenchers including opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers and opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong.

Speaking at the hospital on Monday, Mr Malinauskas warned that the facility would only get an upgrade “if federal Labor wins”.

“Now there’s a clear choice,” Mr Malinauskas said. “It’s a crystal clear choice for people in South Australia. Do they want to see a federal government committing to the ambitions and hopes among everybody in South Australia for a hospital system that works because if they do, they’ve got to vote Labor but if they want more of the same they can choose to vote for Scott Morrison’s Coalition.”

Mr Albanese denied accusations the pledge was a way to win over votes in the marginal seat following the landslide swing to state Labor, arguing that the hospital desperately needed funding.

“This is the hospital that needs the infrastructure upgrade, and it’s needed right now,” he said.

Speaking to ABC Radio Adelaide on Monday morning, Senator Birmingham defended the Coalition’s decision not to match Labor’s promise, saying the commonwealth already spends significant funding through Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. He said Labor’s spending during its election campaign was fiscally irresponsible, saying it would lead to spiralling inflation and interest rates.

“(Mr Albanese) is running an election campaign that would see the size of federal deficits increase, the size of federal debt increase further, all of which would put extra pressure on inflation and interest rates in Australia,” he said.

“They are the things … the ­nation can see the sort of reckless spending promises occur in a way that opens up huge exposure.”