Labor says the appointment of Anne Ruston to the health portfolio in a re-elected Coalition government would mean cuts to Medicare, pointing to past comments by the senator that the costs of the health scheme were unsustainable.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced on Sunday that Ruston would take over the health and aged care ministry vacated by the retiring Greg Hunt, if the Coalition wins the election on 21 May.
The opposition seized on the announcement, with leader Anthony Albanese saying Ruston “wants to take the universal out of universal healthcare”.
Ruston, the families and social services minister, dismissed the remarks, telling a press conference on Sunday the Morrison government had been clear it would not cut Medicare.
Labor pointed to remarks the senator made in parliament in March 2015 when the former Abbott government was attempting to make reforms to Medicare policy after abandoning plans for a co-payment.
Ruston told the Senate “Medicare in its current form is not sustainable into the future without some change being made” and “we do need to seek some alternatives for how we are going to make Medicare sustainable into the future”.
Earlier, in December 2014, she told the Senate: “Everybody would like to think that we could go on in life with universal healthcare, with universal education and with all these wonderful things that over the last 20 years Australians have come to accept as a given. Unfortunately, the credit card is maxed out.”
Albanese said on Sunday Ruston “has made it very clear that, if we have [an] election of the Morrison government, we will see more cuts to Medicare, more cuts to Medicare over the next three years”.
Labor’s Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said the appointment should “send a shiver down the spine of every Australian who relies on affordable healthcare”.
But Ruston told media on Sunday Australia’s economy had come through the pandemic strongly and her current position was not reflected in remarks she made seven years ago.
“Our government has been clear that we are not cutting Medicare,” she said.
“Our track record in terms of increased spending across all elements of our healthcare system stand for themselves.”
Morrison said the senator was the right pick to guide Australia’s health system out of the pandemic because of her experience managing the complex portfolio of families and social services.
He defended his government’s record on health spending.
“If people want to understand what are the consequences of a government that can’t manage money, like the Labor party … what are the consequences of that?” he said.
“Well the consequences are not being able to put pharmaceuticals on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.”
Earlier on Sunday, the Coalition announced it would subsidise continuous glucose monitoring devices for all people with type 1 diabetes.
Currently the devices are subsidised for some people including pregnant women, people under the age of 21 and concession cardholders.
“Our plan for a strong economy means we can invest in life-changing equipment for diabetes patients and make more medicines cheaper for more Australians,” Morrison said.
Labor said it would match the announcement, with health and ageing spokesman Mark Butler saying Australia had “a proud history of bipartisan support for new diabetes technologies”.
“Whatever the election result, Australians with type 1 diabetes will get better support,” he said.
