GOVERNMENT FINALLY FOLLOWS LABOR’S LEAD ON MRIs

After five years of abject failure when it comes to the cost of medical scans, the Liberals have finally decided to follow Labor’s lead and award more Medicare-subsidised MRI licences.

Labor welcomes the Government’s move but we question Scott Morrison’s motives and commitment to actually delivering.

 

When Labor was last in Government we awarded 238 MRI licences – delivering more affordable scans to hundreds of communities across the country.

 

In May this year, we promised a Shorten Labor Government would invest an extra $80 million to deliver a further 20 licences in locations of pressing need.

 

By stark contrast to Labor’s record, the Liberals awarded just five licences in their first five years in power – including two in marginal Liberal electorates during the 2016 campaign and one in WA as a result of a dodgy deal with One Nation. There was no opportunity for other communities to apply for a licence.

This was one of the most disgraceful health policy failures since the Liberals came to power – and that’s saying something.

 

Scott Morrison spent three years as Treasurer trying to give big business an $80 billion handout but did nothing to address this scandal and give Australians more affordable access to potentially life-saving scans.

 

MRI scans are used to detect and diagnose conditions that affect soft tissue – including tumours and cancer – and can mean the difference in detecting a disease as early as possible. But they only attract a rebate if they are performed on a machine with a licence – with many Australians travelling long distances or experiencing significant wait times to access an eligible machine.

 

Last year, Labor initiated a Senate inquiry into Medicare MRI licences, which highlighted the Government’s failures.

 

The inquiry heard that the Liberal neglect in this area could have deadly consequences, with evidence that a lack of MRI licenses meant children were at risk of being overexposed to the radiation of CT scans. Children’s Healthcare Australasia gave evidence that for every 1,000 CT scans a new case of cancer is created in an Australian child.

 

The Health Minister’s own Department told the Committee that the last Labor Government ran such MRI licence rounds regularly – including in 2012, when Labor granted 225 full and partial MRI licences around Australia. Labor’s investment meant that more communities could access early detection and diagnosis of disease.

 

The inquiry’s top recommendation was for the Government to “immediately implement an application process with clear, objective and transparent assessment criteria to permit hospitals and radiology practices to apply for licences for Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines”.

 

That was more than six months ago and the Liberals are only now moving. This shows they are not really committed to improving the health care of Australians.

 

Labor’s investment in MRI licences comes on top of our commitment to invest an extra $2.8 billion in public hospitals.

 

We will reverse the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison public hospital cuts and ensure our emergency departments and hospital wards have the doctors, nurses and hospital staff to keep up with record demand.