Anthony Albanese is desperate to hold on to power. He revels in being an underestimated political underdog. Behind the scenes, he is a ‘factional ninja’ whose experience has been ‘shaped by decades of internecine feuds’. As a beta male, Albanese’s power is wielded most where it is shielded most – in the opaque world of Labor’s internal politics.
Albanese is currently running a Mediscare campaign suggesting the Coalition will cut Medicare to fund its nuclear energy policy. It’s dirty politics and Peter Dutton isn’t sinking to Albo’s level. But are Australian voters able to hear Dutton’s message through Labor’s election atom bomb?
Despite Labor’s claims about the Opposition’s health and energy policies being discredited one by one, Albanese uses the old Labor adage that if you say something often enough it becomes true. Rather than call these out, the mainstream media (MSM) have gone quietly along for the ride on the Albo campaign bus. This makes life far too easy for Labor to pull a Mediscare out of the hat. Our democracy is lesser for it.
Labor is proud of Medicare, a name plagiarised directly from US President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1965 federal health insurance program for people over 65s. Medicare in Australia was established by the Hawke Labor government in 1984. It revived Whitlam’s 1975 Medibank scheme which had been watered down by the Fraser Coalition government in 1981. Fraser allowed Australians to opt-out by taking out private health insurance.
Today, Australians have no choice but to pay the Medicare levy at 2 per cent of taxable income. If you work hard and do well but don’t take out private hospital cover, then you get to pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge at an additional 1 or 1.5 per cent (depending on your income). Over time, private health insurance benefits have been so watered down that taking out the lowest private hospital cover possible is a smart strategy.
Put simply, our healthcare system is a rip-off.
Labor thinks Medicare is great. They talk about bulk billing as if everyone gets free medical wherever and whenever they want. But as everybody knows, wherever you take your Medicare card, you’ll need to take your credit card, too.
One can only imagine how much a GP’s appointment would cost if Medicare operated differently. Before Medicare, Queenslanders had free hospital provided by the state government. Up until the 1950s, free hospital was commonplace in most states. Even free dental was provided for Queensland school children with a dental clinic on the premises at many state schools.
From a historical perspective, Medicare consolidated more power for the feds from a state responsibility and has been used for political purposes as a grand gesture by Labor (and subsequently Prime-Alt Minister Adam Bandt for children’s dental).
Healthcare in Australia is a black hole where you pay the Medicare levy, pay for health insurance that doesn’t cover much (or pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge), then you pay the gap at the surgery.
Being able to wield a state responsibility for political purposes has become Labor’s easy weapon of choice. Peter Dutton has attempted to neutralise this weapon by promising more than Labor to support Medicare.
But as a weapon of choice, Albanese has pulled out his Medicare card at every opportunity. Rather than call out this loser move, his Mediscare tactic seems to cut through.
If we were truth-telling, Medicare would be called Mediscam.
Another claim that has been exposed but refuses to die is the purported cost of the Opposition’s nuclear energy policy.
The Smart Energy Council put this figure at $600 billion. The $600 billion figure has allegedly been weaponised by the Coalition’s political opponents.
Despite the Smart Energy Council’s costings being largely discredited, on Monday this week Labor frontbencher Jason Clare went so far as to claim that the $600 billion costing for nuclear came from the CSIRO.
If you say it often enough, it becomes true.
On the same day, in his pre-election interview on the ABC’s 7.30, Anthony Albanese stated:
‘The Coalition can’t say where the $600 billion for nuclear power plants are going to come from, they can’t say what cuts they are going to make.’
This from the same Labor Party that told us our power bills would be $275 cheaper by now.
Shadow Minister for Energy, Ted O’Brien, recently put Labor’s tactic into perspective:
‘Debating Labor on energy is like arguing against a drunk who constantly seeks to trump logic with lies’.
In a recent interview, Peter Dutton hopes Australians will see through the Prime Minister’s ‘lies’. Mr Dutton stated:
‘We’re banking on the Smart Australians and the Forgotten Australians.’
I just hope the Liberal’s bank account is in better shape than the bank accounts of many Australians.
Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is The Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. All opinions in this article are the author’s own.
