Coalition accuses Health Department of pushing a key Labor election slogan in caretaker mode

The Health Department has been accused of pushing a key Labor election slogan when the agency was supposed to be apolitical during caretaker mode.

Senator health minister Anne Ruston quizzed senior bureaucrats in a Senate Estimates hearing on Thursday about their branding on the department website before, during, and after the Federal election on May 3.

She claimed the branding on the website had changed to “replicate” Labor’s Medicare campaign when the department should have been apolitical under caretaker conventions.

“Given that the department content cannot be political why did the department rename its website to ‘Strengthening Medicare’ after the election was called, when that was the election slogan of the Labor Party?,” Senator Ruston said.

“I’d be really keen to understand if you can provide me with a paper trail to show why you chose to do this — incredibly coincidentally — at the same time that the government was actually in election mode.”

Department of Health official Rachel Balmanno described changes to the website to “Strengthening Medicare” branding as “part of the regular website update process”.

Ms Balmanno later claimed that the Strengthening Medicare slogan was used as it was the term given to “budget measures” which had been handed down by Treasurer Jim Chalmers before Anthony Albanese called the election.

Senator Ruston cast doubt on Labor’s claim that every Australian will “see a GP for free” under the Government’s $8.5 billion Medicare plan.

Mr Albanese’s election pitch included making nine out of 10 GP visits bulk-billed, saying “Medicare is a promise that no one will be left behind.”

Health Department officials also told Senate estimates comprehensive GP-by-GP level modelling had shown 4800 GPs nationally would be better off under their Medicare plan.

However, officials couldn’t say how many clinics had signed up to receive the Practice Incentives Program payments when it starts on November 1.

In response to questions about the incentive payments from ACT senator David Pocock, health officials said the list of GPs who will decide to join the bulk-billing wave won’t be available until November 1 when participants will be required to register on Health Direct.

It comes as Mr Albanese and Health Minister Mark Butler are expected to on Friday spruik that Labor’s free Medicare Urgent Care Clinics - established to ease the pressure on hospitals - have clocked up more than two million visits.

Of those patient presentations 221,220 have been to WA clinics.

So far, 90 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics have been established with another 47 promised to open by mid-next year.

Nearly 30 per cent of visits have taken place on weekends, and 25 per cent of patients have attended after 5pm on weekdays.

“When you go to an Urgent Care Clinic, all you will need is your Medicare card, not your credit card,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Butler described the clinics as a “game changer.”

“They are taking the pressure off hospitals and delivering fully bulk billed urgent care with no appointment needed,” he said.

“No wonder over two million Australians have accessed this health care.”