Labor pledges new Medicare safeguard

McCauley, Dana . Sydney Morning Herald ; Sydney, N.S.W. [Sydney, N.S.W]13 Feb 2019: 6.

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Labor has vowed to set up an independent national body it says will protect Australia's universally accessible
healthcare system if the party wins the coming election.
Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said the new body would function in a similar way to the
Productivity Commission and oversee state and federal reform efforts while holding all levels of government to
account.
It comes as Bill Shorten gears up for an election campaign fought on health, seeking to position Labor as "the
party of Medicare".
In a speech to be delivered today at the Press Club in Canberra, a copy of which has been seen by the Herald, Ms
King said the Australian Health Reform Commission would work through COAG to ensure that "every Australian
can access affordable, high-quality healthcare". It will initially focus on increasing access to public hospital
specialists and addressing the rising burden of chronic disease in an ageing population.
Medical experts have lobbied for a national approach to tackle obesity, which afflicts almost one-third of
Australians, increases the risk of cancer and diabetes and is forecast to cost the economy $87.7 billion by 2025.
The commission, if established by a Labor government, would advise federal and state health ministers and report
publicly on the progress of all levels of government on long-term reform projects.
Commissioners would be appointed for at least five years, giving them sufficient time to develop "rigorous and
durable policy solutions that cannot be easily unpicked by one side of politics or another", Ms King said. "Its job
will be to shepherd important innovations from their conceptual stage to reality - even when they take many years
to deliver."
The opposition health spokeswoman will seek to portray the move as a bold one that would put her in the firing
line if Mr Shorten appoints her as minister.
The commission's reports would be made public, meaning the government of the day "will not be able to simply
conceal or ignore inconvenient proposals".
Ms King said Australia's healthcare system faced challenges including "growing barriers to care" such as "high
costs, long wait times and workforce shortages", along with "persistent inequalities" of access to care in
disadvantaged communities. "These challenges have been understood for years and in some cases decades," she
said. "But the big, structural reform that's so clearly needed has been repeatedly undermined by the short-term and
combative nature of our political system."
She blamed the "partisan cycle" of federal politics in which Labor reforms were reversed by the Liberal
governments that succeeded them, citing then health minister Peter Dutton's decision to scrap Medicare Locals in
2014, replacing them with a smaller number of primary health networks.
Ms King said health reform efforts had also been hampered by "constant blame and cost-shifting" between the
Commonwealth and the states.
CREDIT: Dana McCauley

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 Subject: Health care policy; Politics; Shortages; Medicare

Location: Australia Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia

People: Shorten, William Richard (Bill)

Lexile score: 1710 L

Publication title: Sydney Morning Herald; Sydney, N.S.W.

First page: 6

Publication year: 2019

Publication date: Feb 13, 2019

Section: News

Publisher: Fairfax Digital

Place of publication: Sydney, N.S.W.

Country of publication: Australia, Sydney, N.S.W.

Publication subject: General Interest Periodicals--Australia

ISSN: 03126315

Source type: Newspapers

Language of publication: English

Document type: News

ProQuest document ID: 2178566995

Document URL: http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/

2178566995?accountid=8203

Copyright: Copyright (c) 2019 Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited. www.smh.com.au. Not
available for re-distribution.

Last updated: 2019-03-07

Database: ProQuest One Academic,eLibrary,ProQuest Central

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