Media Statement - 11th October 2007
In a desperate bid for votes, the Howard Government has begun peddling lies about its failing dental policy.
Across Australia, Liberal candidates have been telling voters their dental policy is open to all Australians – when it is only open to a very narrow range of people.
Last night the Liberal member in the marginal South Australian seat of Kingston, Kym Richardson, told an Aldinga Bay Residents Association meeting that the Government had recently announced that:
“…any person with acute oral pain, any person with oral pain … can receive up to $4100 over a two year period...”
This is completely untrue. The Government's failing dental scheme is not available to anyone with a toothache, it is only available to people who meet a strict set of criteria.
Under this policy, if you have a chronic medical condition, like valvular heart disease or diabetes or malignancies of the head and neck AND you have poor oral health or a dental condition which is exacerbating a chronic and complex disease AND you are being treated under a Multidisciplinary Care Plan, then you are eligible for assistance with your dental care.
Narrow eligibility is one reason why only 7000 people have received assistance from the program over the last three years.
This behaviour is consistent with the Minister’s own record in consistently inflating the impact of his failing program.
Federal Labor has announced $290 million for the first instalment of our new Commonwealth Dental Health Program, to provide up to one million consultations and treatments for working families.
This is a desperate pre-election tactic from a Government that knows it has neglected the dental health needs of Australians for eleven long years. It’s time the Howard Government started offering some practical solutions for working families.