Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek says the Liberal government is showing its true colours when it prefers to cut funding for children's dentistry rather than chase tax dodgers.
Ms Plibersek was responding to a Fairfax report that a $2.7 billion dental program that has provided one million children with free dental care could face the chop in the budget.
"It says everything you need to know about Liberal Party values when they'd rather go after looking after kids' teeth than rorting multinational companies avoiding their tax," she told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.
More than a million children - far fewer than the anticipated three million - have received care under the means-tested scheme since it was introduced in 2014 by the coalition government.
The Fairfax report said Health Minister Sussan Ley told a meeting of health and dental groups last week that she didn't think the scheme was an effective use of funds and foreshadowed further changes.
A spokesperson said Ms Ley had been merely pointing out that the well-funded program wasn't meeting its aim and that "there may be a better way to target funding".
