“In modern Australia, no one should have to justify their sexuality or their love, to anyone else”, Labor leader Bill Shorten said at Labor’s official election campaign launch on Sunday.
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There has been a consensus among political observers, backed by marginal seat polling, that Mr Shorten will fall short of the 21 seats needed to form government.
Only Labor believes access to healthcare should depend on your Medicare card, not your credit card. It could be untrue.
Mr Turnbull is due to launch his campaign on June 26, just six days before the election.
Mr Turnbull has labelled the campaign “disgraceful” and said Medicare would “never ever” be privatised under his Government.
The launch was attended by former prime ministers Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Julia Gillard but not Kevin Rudd, who is now in Russian Federation.
Mr Shorten also targeted the Coalition’s business tax cut, saying that $30 billion of the $50 billion cut would go “straight overseas”.
Mr Turnbull has insisted he will not privatise Medicare and accused Mr Shorten of “extraordinary and audacious” lies.
At Labor’s campaign launch, Mr Shorten said he had “new proof” of Mr Turnbull’s agenda.
However, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said he stood by his comments and that: “Cabinet has not considered outsourcing any part of Medicare services”.
Any outsourcing would apply only to back-office operations and the administrative actions of making payments to individuals and providers, Mr Turnbull said at the time.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday regretted inviting an anti-gay Islamic preacher to an iftar party and asked the cleric to recant his comments that gays were responsible for spreading HIV and other deadly diseases.
“It will never, ever be sold”, he told reporters in Sydney. Every element of Medicare services that is now being delivered by Government will continue to be delivered by government.
Shadow health minister Catherine King acknowledged Labor would have to collaborate with the private sector to upgrade and run Medicare’s IT systems but said that was “a very different thing than flogging it off to private companies”.
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The biggest cheers of the speech were prompted by the commitment to give small businesses with a turn over of less than $2 million tax breaks of up to $20,000 if they hire workers who typically have trouble getting into the workforce – parents returning to work, carers, and people aged under 25 or over 55.
