Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Health Minister Peter Dutton address the GP co-payment proposal on Wednesday. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has promised that any taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to promote his new GP co-payment plan will be “fair” and “frugal”.
Speaking to reporters at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne on Wednesday, Mr Abbott said he would not rule out an “information campaign” to explain the changes.
“I think it is important given the misinformation which tends to get into the public arena, that correct information be given to the public,” he said.
“So I certainly don’t rule out an information campaign and let’s just see what happens in the future.”
The government on Sunday launched a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to address concerns about its proposed higher education reforms, which have not passed the Senate.
The youth-focused campaign is aimed at countering fears about skyrocketing degree costs under a deregulated fee system. The government has declined to provide an estimate of the cost of the campaign, which includes advertisements on TV, radio, in newspapers and on social media and bus shelters.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten declared the decision “an absolute disgrace”.
Asked whether an advertising campaign to promote the Medicare changes would be more or less expensive than the campaign on higher education changes, Mr Abbott said that in the last nine months his government had spent less on advertising than the former Labor government had in its final three months, including the caretaker period.
“So what people will get from us when it comes to information … will be fair and the spending will be frugal,” Mr Abbott said.
In July last year, the-then Special Minister of State, Mark Dreyfus, exempted ads promoting Labor’s hardline stance on asylum seekers from scrutiny by an independent committee on the grounds of extreme urgency.
In its 2013 budget, the Gillard government allocated $10 million for a Medicare information campaign.
with Matthew Knott