Labor’s budget reply boosts Medicare

A MASSIVE expansion to cancer services under Medicare was the centrepiece of Labor’sreply to the federal budget reply, delivered by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten last week.

Mr Shorten said the $2.3 billion Medicare Cancer Plan was “the most important investment in Medicare since Bob Hawke created it”.

He said Labor would put $600 million towards eliminating all of the out-of-pocket costs for diagnostic imaging, resulting in six million free cancer scans over four years.

This will also apply to MRI scans and the cost of seeing a specialist.

“A new Labor Government will invest $433 million to immediately cover specialist consultations for cancer patients.

“What this means over the next four years, is it means that an additional 3 million appointments will be bulk-billed – with no out-of-pocket costs.

“Reducing what you pay from hundreds of dollars – to zero.”

Labor’s “affordable medicine guarantee” will see every drug recommended by the independent experts listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Mr Shorten said Labor would also match the Liberals’ tax cuts.

“Labor will provide a bigger tax refund than the Liberals for 3.6 million Australians. All told, an extra billion dollars, for low-income earners in this country.

“There’s always a lot of talk about tax from those opposite, but here is the simple truth: 6.4 million working people will pay the same amount of income tax under Labor as the Liberals.

“And another 3.6 million will pay less tax under Labor.”

Labor will also uncap university places, double the size of its Rebuilding TAFE fund to up to $200 million and pay upfront fees for 100,000 TAFE places, including allocating 20,000 places to aged care workers and paid carers for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.