King: “We will campaign on Medicare in the coming months because it is core business for us. Philosophically, it’s at the centre of everything the modern Labor Party stands for”.
Translation: Mediscare 2.0
“Before an election, the Liberals always insist they’ll make no cuts to health. But they lie, every time”
Fact check:
The left-leaning ABC investigated Turnbull’s claim that the Coalition were “spending record amounts on health” and judged it a…Fair call:
The Verdict: Spending on health was higher in 2016-17 than in any other year since at least 1985-86.
King: “it’s worth remembering the GP co-payment”, referring to the Abbott government’s plan to introduce a $7 charge for patients who make a bulk-billed doctor’s visit.
Comment: It’s all very well criticising Abbott’s solution but King has NO SOLUTION for escalating health costs and over-servicing. And King is sidestepping the non-partisan INDEPENDENT Productivity Commission by proposing what she calls an ‘independent’ Health Reform Commission.
Source: The Age
In October Michael Gannon, the new head of the AMA said:
“We don’t need a scare campaign – we need honest differentiation between the major parties when it comes to what they’ve got to offer the electorate”. Source: SMH
Comment: King’s speech represents a number of things that are “philosophically at the centre of everything the modern Labor Party stands for”:
- Lying and scare campaigns, e.g. Mediscare 1.0
- Creating useless bureaucracies and extending their influence past their term of office
- Confusing ‘spending’ with effectiveness
- Criticising spending cuts which are the result of efficiency gains, e.g application of technology, reducing over-servicing
- Having a Machiavellian disregard for the needs of the population, instead scheming to win votes.
Machiavellian
adjective
1. cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics.
“a whole range of outrageous Machiavellian manoeuvres”
synonyms: devious, cunning, crafty, artful, wily, sly, scheming, designing, conniving, opportunistic, insidious, treacherous, perfidious, two-faced, Janus-faced, tricky, double-dealing, unscrupulous, deceitful, dishonest; informal foxy
“there were press accusations of Machiavellian deception”