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.
One thing Malcolm Turnbull should do in the short term if he’s forming a new ministry is find a first-rate minister to put into the health portfolio.
David Moir/AAP
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 said he remained ‘quietly confident, reasonably confident’ of forming a majority government.
David Moir/AAP
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.
Some Coalition’s policies have been seen as a fundamental assault on Medicare principles of bulk billing and universality.
Dan Peled/AAP
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.
Medicare wasn’t a major election issue at the start of the campaign.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Has the Coalition invested an average of $5 billion per year more than Labor into Medicare?
Was Labor’s shadow health minister Catherine King, pictured here with shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus, right about cuts to bulk-billing payments?
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
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?
Bill Shorten’s Medicare message is a powerful one.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
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.
Labor leader Bill Shorten has been campaigning heavily on health issues.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
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.
Health Minister Sussan Ley has not appeared in an election debate with her shadow counterpart during this campaign.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
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 rallied his party for a big effort in the final fortnight of the campaign.
AAP/David Moir
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 in Australia is big business.
ariadna de raadt/Shutterstock
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.
The cost for after-hour services has increased by 98% in the last ten years.
from shutterstock.com
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?
New AMA president Michael Gannon is looking to ‘build bridges’ with what he expects will be a returned Turnbull government.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The AMA has campaigned heavily on the Medicare rebate freeze, pointing out its potential impact on patient access if out-of-pocket costs were to increase.
Who took the points in the first leaders’ debate of the 2016 campaign?
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
The Conversation’s experts respond to the first Turnbull-Shorten debate with an eye across key policy areas and the leaders’ performances.
Although the Coalition is largely associated with this issue, Labor first introduced the Medicare rebate freeze in 2013 as a ‘temporary’ measure.
AAP/Joel Carrett
Labor will lift the rebate freeze from 2017, while under the Coalition, GPs will be paid the same amount for delivering health services in 2020 as they were in 2014. So what does this mean for patients?