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A re-elected Labor government would launch a 24-hour ‘1800MEDICARE’ service, allowing patients to access free after-hours general practice telehealth consultations, as the Coalition signals its aim to visit 28 seats during a frantic final week of campaigning.
At the government’s final campaign rally ahead of the 3 May poll, the prime minister will pledge $204.5 million over four years, to revamp the existing Healthdirect service, operated in conjunction with the states and territories.
Meanwhile, the Opposition leader will begin the final week in Melbourne, flagging an intention to showcase Coalition momentum by visiting 28 key seats — around four a day — before polls close on Saturday.
Labor’s promised telehealth overhaul, which it says would be in place by 1 January 2026, would ensure patients requiring urgent care between 6pm and 8am on weeknights or during weekends had access to a bulk-billed consultation with an after-hours GP via phone or video.
Registered nurses would staff the line 24 hours a day on weekdays and weekends to provide immediate advice and refer patients to local GPs, hospitals or Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.
The ‘1800Medicare’ GP would have capacity to advise treatment of short-term illness injury or illness, and provide emergency prescriptions, with every consultation recorded under the MyHealth Record scheme.
Healthdirect currently operates a 24-hour advice line, but does not offer integrated 24/7 telehealth GP consultations across all jurisdictions.
“At this election, Australia faces a clear choice: a stronger Medicare with more bulk billing and more free urgent care under Labor, or more cuts to Medicare under [Opposition leader] Peter Dutton’s Liberals,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Dutton has said at various points throughout the campaign that Labor’s claims that he would cut Medicare if elected are a baseless scare campaign.
Labor expects the rebranded program to reduce pressure on public hospitals across the country, particularly Queensland and Tasmania, where not all existing Healthdirect services are uniformly available.
“Around 250,000 Australians will avoid an unnecessary trip to a hospital emergency department, because of the free urgent GP care provided by 1800MEDICARE,” Health Minister Mark Butler said.
The policy capitalises on the booming popularity of telehealth consultations after the pandemic, and will also combat an increase in online-only GP services, which are not integrated with the Medicare system.
According to the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Advisory Committee, such services, which offer quick access to prescriptions and medical certificates, “do not support integrated, safe and high-quality care”.
On Saturday, Butler appeared in Launceston with Albanese, where the government in February unveiled to lift Medicare bulk billing rates and increase healthcare staff.
At the time, the Coalition was quick to match the promise “dollar for dollar” — and will face pressure to match this latest announcement.
Dutton set to embark on cross-country push
Needing to win 21 seats to form a majority government, Dutton will begin the final week of vote-winning in Melbourne tomorrow, before embarking on a cross-country campaign to harness lingering cost-of-living anger.
In the coming days, Dutton is expected to campaign in a number of seats held by Climate Independents for the first time since the writs were issued.
Kooyong, Goldestein and Mackellar are among the seats the Opposition Leader is yet to visit, having made a brief appearance in teal-held Curtin in the campaign’s second week.
Gilmore, Aston and Gorton and Bennelong are among the Labor seats Dutton is looking to flip, with liberal figures dismissive of published polling suggesting their primary vote has experienced a steady decline over recent weeks.
The Prime Minister was also urging Labor faithful not to be complacent, telling party volunteers in Bass to not “leave anything in the tank” in the run-up to 3 May.
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