Federal election 2025: Anthony Albanese says Labor promises boosted 24/7 healthdirect hotline, more telehealth
Anthony Albanese is going all in on healthcare with his last major policy pitch to voters, less than a week out from the election, pledging to expand a 24/7 nurse helpline and give it better links to the GP network.
The Prime Minister will make the pledge at a campaign rally in Parramatta, a marginal seat in western Sydney, on Sunday.
He’s promising $204.5 million to expand the current healthdirect helpline to a truly national service – rebadged as 1800 MEDICARE – and offer more after-hours GP telehealth care.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“If it’s late at night and your child is running a temperature you’re worried about or has a cough that sounds like it’s getting worse, if you know your elderly parent needs help, even though they’re insisting they’re OK, that trained, expert advice is just at the other end of the phone,” he will say.
The existing healthdirect helpline was set up by John Howard in 2007 and currently operates everywhere except Queensland, which runs its own service.
The new funding will also give incentives to GPS to offer after-hours telehealth sessions to make sure they are available all weekend and on weeknights from 6pm to 8am.
Health Minister Mark Butler said this expansion, combined with the urgent care clinic network, to would put free care within a short drive or a phone call away from everyone, and save about 250,000 unnecessary trips to emergency departments.
Labor has made healthcare its central pitch to voters and main attack on the opposition throughout the campaign.
But the Liberals have increasingly pushed back on Mr Albanese’s claim that patients will only need their Medicare card, not a credit card, to see a GP.
The actual policy is a target to boost bulk-billing rates to 90 per cent, meaning one in 10 visits will still incur a fee.
Mr Albanese has abandoned that line in the draft version of Sunday’s campaign rally speech, instead leaning into Labor’s history of creating and protecting the universal health system.
“Medicare – which didn’t just give us a better health system or import someone else’s, it invented a truly Australian one. The fact that your Medicare card is green and gold is no accident,” he will say.
“American-style healthcare is decided by what treatment you can afford. In Australia, under Labor, it’s about the care you need.”
