Medicare pitch may put Anthony Albanese back on the rails in health-poor regions, but Labor faces bumpy ride
The Tramsheds and associated function centre at Invermay are a popular favourite for Labor love-ins but the location was a sound choice for a Medicare-led campaign pitch.
Bulk-billing rates are low in regional areas across the country but nowhere more so than Tasmania, where the percentage of GP practices bulk-billing new non-concession patients sits at … zero.
Tasmania suffers one of the more acute shortages of doctors and other medical staff, and has nation-trailing health outcomes on multiple indices.
More to the point for Labor, health is a hot-button issue in the island’s bellwether marginals, including here in Bass and neighbouring Braddon, where the party believes it can regain two seats to offset losses elsewhere.
There was no pretence that the event was anything other than the start of an election campaign.
There were slogans – “Medicare card not a credit card”; “beating heart of Medicare”; “make or break for Medicare” – and slick, giant banners in the form of green Medicare cards.
The red party T-shirts were taken out of mothballs and some catchy campaign tunes trialled – from the irritating “This is what we do” to the iconic (Ganggajang’s Sounds of Then (This is Australia).
Journos were kept well away from the PM, lest a doorstop slip-up pollute the massaged messaging of the scripted speeches.
The local faithful lapped it up, although privately some conceded it may not be enough to swing the party over the line in Bass, Braddon or even Lyons.
“Strengthening Medicare” will almost certainly win votes in these marginals, but GP fees are just one contribution to the cost-of-living woes fuelling voter volatility here and elsewhere.
The PM on Saturday sought to further placate the state’s salmon industry, promising millions more to reduce its impact in Braddon’s Macquarie Harbour.
He repeated his promise of legislation to ensure salmon operations in the harbour can continue, amid uncertainty created by a review of approvals being conducted by his own Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek.
However, there was no commitment to enact the changes before the election and it remains to be seen whether the PM’s word is enough for salmon workers and their communities come polling day.
Albo’s big day at Launceston’s Tramsheds has put the country on the rails to an election. But like the now defunct trams in the neighbouring museum, it all looked a little like a throwback to Medicare scare campaigns of times past.
Labor’s prospects in Tasmania are aided by a minority Liberal government almost as much on the nose as the suspected pieces of dead salmon that have washed up on southern beaches in recent days, after mass fatalities at fish farms.
However, state Labor is faring little better and Taswegians are traditionally canny at separating state and federal issues.
In Bass, newcomer Labor candidate Jess Teesdale faces a tougher task in unseating maverick popular incumbent Liberal Bridget Archer than the 1.4 per cent margin would suggest.
In Braddon, Labor’s candidate – soon to be ex-senator Anne Urquhart – must overcome an 8 per cent margin to regain the northwest electorate for the party.
In Lyons, polling suggests Labor’s dumping of MP Brian Mitchell for former state leader Rebecca White may stave off seasoned Liberal challenger Susie Bower, but a wafer-thin 0.9 per cent margin makes it anyone’s guess.
And in Franklin, Labor minister Julie Collins, while on an apparently safe 13.7 per cent margin, faces a potential backlash from hundreds of salmon workers, while high-profile independents add a wildcard.
Tasmania’s health-stressed swing voters may like what they see in Invermay this weekend but the campaign journey has just begun.
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