Labor set to revive Mediscare campaign for 2025 election

Jim Chalmers has paved the way for a new year Mediscare campaign, declaring Peter Dutton would undermine the national health insurance scheme, push down wages and increase electricity prices.

Labor is set to revive its Mediscare campaign at the upcoming federal election.

Jim Chalmers has paved the way for a new year Mediscare campaign, declaring Peter Dutton would undermine the national health insurance scheme and push down wages, as the ­Treasurer spruiked $5bn of Labor welfare and wage increases coming into force on January 1.

Ahead of an election set to be dominated by cost of living and which could be called in a matter of weeks, the Opposition Leader declared in his new year message that the Coalition would aim to “restore our national confidence” if it won power.

But a day after telling The Australian that he wanted voters to be optimistic about the future, Dr Chalmers on Monday repeatedly claimed the opposition would dismantle Medicare should it win office, in a signal of what could be a negative and aggressive election campaign on both sides.

“Our major focus in 2025 is people who are still doing it tough even though inflation is coming down and wages are up,” Dr Chalmers said.

“The meaningful and responsible cost of living help which began in 2024 will be the key priority into 2025 as well.

“The biggest risk to household budgets in 2025 is Peter Dutton, who’d come after Medicare and wages again, push electricity ­prices up, and risk the progress we’ve made together in our ­economy.”

In a revival of Bill Shorten’s Mediscare campaign that almost cost the Coalition majority government in 2016, Dr Chalmers accused Mr Dutton of “going after Medicare” in eight of his 11 announcements and media appearances over the past two weeks.

A Labor Mediscare flyer from the 2016 election.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston criticised the “baseless scare tactics”, which she said were an effort to distract Australians from the fact seeing a doctor was more expensive under the Albanese government.

“Jim Chalmers is treating ­Australians like mugs and proving that Labor is only focused on ­playing politics, not supporting struggling families,” Senator ­Ruston said.

“It’s disgraceful that instead of addressing the rising unaffordability of essential healthcare, the Albanese government is lying to Australians.”

In an effort to counter the Mediscare campaign, the Liberal website has launched a “health facts” page that points out the Coalition government increased Medicare funding every year and that the bulk-billing rate was lower under the Labor government.

While Labor seeks to draw election battlelines on health policy, the Coalition has focused its attacks on the government over the past year on migration and housing, claiming Labor is looking to implement a “big Australia policy by stealth”.

In his new year message released on Tuesday, Mr Dutton unveiled what was set to become a major Coalition slogan for the next election, calling for the country to get “back on track”.

“Our nation has endured three tough years. Australians have become worse off, and our nation has gone backwards,” the Opposition Leader said.

“Families are hurting, with everything costing more, we’ve had a record number of small businesses going bust (and) sadly, crime and hate have spread across many parts of our communities.

“But setbacks don’t need to be set in stone. In 2025, together, let’s get our country back on track.”

Anthony Albanese meanwhile used his New Year’s message to tell Australians his government had “new determination and renewed optimism” that would ensure “we can build an even stronger Australia”.

Labor’s claims that the Coalition would come after Medicare come as the government continues to execute its anti-­nuclear campaign, which came under fire this month when a video raising health concerns associated with nuclear energy was shared on Labor Party social media channels.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie wrote directly to Defence Minister Richard Marles in the days following the release of the video, urging him to clarify whether the government had serious health concerns over nuclear energy given Australian Defence Force personnel were set to work on nuclear submarines in coming years under the AUKUS security pact.

Dr Chalmers on Monday linked higher electricity prices with the Opposition’s nuclear scheme, warning that a Coalition government would worsen the cost of living.

At the same time, the Treasurer highlighted the raft of changes coming into force from January 1 that would ease the pressure on Australians’ back pockets. This included a hike to Youth Allowance for those with dependent children, with payments increasing by $30.60 a fortnight, while those without children will receive a payment increase of $24.30 a fortnight.

The Carer’s Allowance will also be boosted by $5.80, bringing the rate up to nearly $160 a ­fortnight.

According to figures from the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook, unemployment benefits overall are set to cost an extra $315m in 2024-25 and $210m in the 2025-26 financial year.

Wage rises for 340,000 aged care workers will come into force, with the boost to salaries of between 2.3 per cent and 13.5 per cent to cost $3.8bn over five years, while wage theft will officially become illegal.

Dr Chalmers also pointed to a freeze on co-payments for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which will cost the budget nearly $500m, and the $414m free TAFE program as measures that would ease cost-of-living pressures.

“Many Australians will get a bit more help with the cost of living from New Year’s Day,” the Treasurer said.

“We’re helping people earn more and keep more of what they earn, every taxpayer is receiving a tax cut, medicines are cheaper, youth and carer support is higher for a million Australians, and more people can study at TAFE for free.”

Economists warned Australians were still facing “tax hikes by stealth”, which occurs because of the absence of indexation on tax thresholds, which remain fixed in dollar terms.

Judo Bank economist Warren Hogan said the conversation on indexing tax thresholds needed to occur next year.

“It’s effectively a tax hike and it’s not transparent at all,” Mr Hogan said.

“Now that we are in a world of much more inflation than we’ve seen before, it doesn’t make sense.”

Independent economist Saul Eslake said one of the main reasons Dr Chalmers was able to project that deficits would eventually be eliminated by the mid 2030s was because of the bracket creep that would occur between now and then, which would pour billions into the government’s coffers.

“It’s a thoroughly dishonest way of increasing taxes,” Mr Eslake said.