Scott Morrison has released the Liberals’ health policy – and all it does is confirm the Liberals’ have no health policy, only cuts.
With 28 days to go until polling day, Mr Morrison has made the extraordinary admission that this is it – the Liberals have got nothing else to say on health, one of the issues most important to the Australian people.
Apart from today’s small announcements around clinical trials and cystic fibrosis – both of which Labor welcomes – this “new” policy contains nothing new whatsoever.
It locks in the cuts that Mr Morrison authored as treasurer.
And it says in black and white: “The Coalition’s plan for strengthening Australia’s world class health system will not place additional costs on the budget.”
In other words, the Liberals will not invest a single cent more in health during the course of this campaign. They have completely given up.
That means they will not match Labor’s $2.3 billion Medicare Cancer Plan, which will improve care and force down costs for cancer patients across the country.
And they will not match Labor’s $2.8 billion Better Hospitals Fund – which will reverse the Liberals’ cuts – to be used to improve funding to every hospital in the country, fund vital upgrades, and drive down elective surgery and emergency department waiting times.
On the very same day the AMA declared that our hospitals are “chronically underfunded”, our doctors and nurses are at “breaking point” and waiting times have blown out across the nation, the Liberals have raised the white flag and admitted they are completely bereft of ideas.
Their plan is to have no plan at all.
They just want to continue with a status quo – failing to address the demands on our health system of our ageing population, rising chronic disease levels or our creaking health infrastructure.
Only Labor has a plan to properly fund our hospitals and Medicare, improve treatment and drive down costs for cancer patients, and rein in private health insurance costs.
This election is a choice between Labor’s plan for better hospitals and better schools, or bigger tax loopholes for the top end of town under the Liberals.
After six years of Liberal cuts and chaos, our united Labor team is ready.
SATURDAY, 20 APRIL 2019