Medicare a birthright: Shorten

Bill Shorten has visited another medical centre while meeting with victims of dodgy financial advice.

Another day, another medical centre.

Bill Shorten is not about to leave the future of Medicare alone, despite the Turnbull government repeatedly saying it won't be selling it off whatever the Labor leader might claim.

"I will keep fighting to defend Medicare against the ruthless cuts of the Liberals and what they would do to Medicare," Mr Shorten told reporters after touring the Victoria Tower Medical centre in the Liberal seat of Reid.

At one stage, Mr Shorten brandished his own Medicare card, saying it is just as much an Australian passport as the one people travel overseas on.

"This is a birthright of Australians," he said.

During the tour of the inner-Sydney hospital he met Karen, who believes Mr Shorten is on the mark with his argument, even if the government has called it a desperate scare campaign.

"Save Medicare Bill," said Karen when she was introduced to Mr Shorten.

Other patients, Ian and Margaret McLeod, were less emphatic in the aims of Mr Shorten.

"I have faith as an Australian citizen that whichever government that is in will look after those who need the care," Mrs McLeod said.

"Well that's what we hope anyway," added her husband.

It might not necessarily have been what Mr Shorten wanted to hear, but he did like the colour of Mrs McLeod's jacket - red.

The Australian Medical Association president Michael Gannon has criticised Mr Shorten for suggesting outsourcing Medicare payments amounts to privatisation.

When quizzed on this, Mr Shorten said Dr Gannon also said the major issues of the AMA are what Liberals are doing to hospitals and what they are not doing to help GPs.

"He made it very clear that Labor has the best policies for our health care system, we will fund hospitals to a superior level than the government," he said.

Later, Mr Shorten met with victims of dodgy financial advice and Commonwealth Bank financial planning whistleblower Jeff Morris, which gave him the opportunity to again press for the need for a royal commission into banks.

One victim, Mark Hadley, a tradie from Sydney's Blacktown, invested $200,000 through his tax agent who was also a financial adviser.

He lost the lot, which left him unable to pay his mortgage and created marriage difficulties and trouble with alcohol.

"It all come up stump," he told Mr Shorten.


Share
3 min read

Published

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world