The health minister and her opposition counterpart went head to head in a National Press Club debate on Tuesday and found they agreed on more than they disagreed.
There was, as a journalist said in a preamble to a question, an "outbreak of bipartisanship". A smiling Ms Plibersek opened proceedings by saying she'd held the portfolio for 622 days and "loved every minute of it".
She went on to talk about the wonderful things she'd done, both in policy achievement terms and the people at the health coal face she'd met. She summed it up by describing a "stronger, smarter" health system with "patient benefit first".
Her only reference to the opposition was that she was pleased Tony Abbott had said Australia has an excellent health system. Mr Dutton replied in similar vein, saying there was a lot that was great in the system.
But, he continued - as if remembering this was an election campaign - good intentions were not enough.
Mental health, electronic health records and GP super clinics were among the areas where performance hadn't matched promise.
There were a few minor clashes, particularly over the cost of prescription medicines and whether a coalition government would take the axe to Medicare Locals and all the health agencies, like the organ donation agency, that Labor had set up.
There was a faux disagreement over the health system architecture when both professed to want more control devolving to the local level. Ms Plibersek said the architecture was broadly right, though primary care needs more attention.
Mr Dutton said there'd been six years of missed opportunity, with Kevin Rudd never fulfilling his promise to fix the system. Mr Dutton, who'd voted against freeing up the abortion pill RU486 during the conscience vote in 2006, said he wouldn't upset the present arrangements for the drug.
And the pubic subsidy of abortions would continue. Ms Plibersek seemed unsure about her approach to alcoholism.
She said alcohol was a more complex problem than smoking because there was a safe consumption level.
In the summing up, Ms Plibersek went back to where she started, saying she was proud of what the government had achieved.
Mr Dutton said the government had good intentions, but couldn't deliver.
Health may cost the Commonwealth budget $64.6 billion this year, but it doesn't look like being a vote changer.
