As he struggles with the lessons of the recent past and the challenges of the immediate future, Malcolm Turnbull needs to avoid two dangers. One is being spooked by the conservatives inside and outside…
The idea of hitting voters with a powerful message on election day is just the culmination of three trends in Australian campaign communication that have been brewing for decades.
Malcolm Turnbull is struggling to produce the right response in the aftermath of his election debacle. On Saturday he did not take on any blame and lashed out at Labor’s “Mediscare” tactic. On Tuesday…
Malcolm Turnbull has taken ‘absolutely full responsibility’ for his criticised election campaign, and declared the Coalition must rebuild public trust in itself on the issue of Medicare.
Scare campaigns only work if there is some anxiety to build on. Labor’s Medicare campaign plugged into a long history of Coalition ambivalence – or open hostility – towards Medicare.
Labor’s shadow health minister Catherine King, said that the government has “cut bulk-billing payments for pathology and diagnostic imaging to make patients pay more”. Is that right?
Health is always a key factor in deciding which way to vote. So what have the major parties promised in health? And what could these changes mean for consumers?
The greater threats to our national public health system lie in the increasing role of consumer co-payments and the power of vested interests that stifle policy innovation in health.
When a system is as complex as that of Medicare’s, it is going to be extremely expensive to rebuild and it is not possible to simply “retrofit” an off-the-shelf product from another company.
The posters are going out under Malcolm Turnbull’s signature “I guarantee Medicare stays”. The government is clearly alarmed that Bill Shorten’s Medicare scare campaign could take hold. But what, in the…
Bill Shorten has pledged Labor would reverse the government’s cuts to pathology and give a modest tax break to small businesses to get people back into the workforce.
Pathology Australia promptly abandoned its Don’t Kill Bulk Bill campaign against cuts to bulk-billing incentives after doing a deal with the federal government.
Recent reports have signalled another potential Medicare cost blowout due to the billing practices of GPs providing care after hours. Is it true and is there a problem with these services?
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne