It was the big-picture reform that defined the Labor prime minister Bob Hawke and infuriated his opponents with its radical promise of a fairer, healthier society.
Medicare, Australia’s taxpayer-funded system of universal health insurance, established in 1984, has long presented as a paradox. It’s a political winner and a political target. A government-run scheme in an era of marketisation. A constant that has been constantly debated.
Pledges to limit the program have come and gone, and most elections have, at some point, centred on threats to its continuation – whether real or conjured.
