What dental policies do the major political parties and independents have?
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Labor Party
The 2023 ALP policy platform is to provide universal access to affordable dental services for all Australians. They promised to engage a consultative process with all relevant stakeholders to begin this work. The health minister Mark Butler is on record saying:
“I can’t say to people that in the short term there’s going to be any change to dental, but I do recognise in the longer term there’s a lot of ambition for dental to be covered by Medicare.”
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Liberal Party
The shadow health minister Anne Ruston is on record saying that the Coalition recognises access to affordable dental care is an important issue, particularly in the context of rising health costs, and that they want Australians to have timely and affordable access to healthcare.
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Independents & Minor Parties
Monique Ryan (Kooyong) supports including dental care in Medicare.
Ben Smith (Flinders) wants to expand Medicare to include basic dental care starting with seniors.
Helen Huang (Melbourne) says that Medicare should also cover essential dental and mental health check-ups.
Caz Heise (Cowper) supports the recommendations of the 2023 Senate Committee and will advocate for their implementation, starting with expanding Medicare to cover essential oral healthcare and properly funding the public system to end long wait times.
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Greens
The Greens plan is that everyone should be able to use their Medicare card when they go to the dentist, just like when they go to the doctor. They want to ensure that every person who holds a Medicare card will be able to access the essential dental services they need for free.
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National Party
The National Party has no specific dental policy for regional Australians.