WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Senator Anne Ruston has confirmed Australians won't get free GP services under a coalition government.
OUR VERDICT
False. The Opposition health spokeswoman said not every GP visit will be free under bipartisan bulk-billing plans.
AAP FACTCHECK - Labor is falsely claiming that the coalition has confirmed Australians will not get free GP visits under a Peter Dutton government.
The claim misrepresents comments made by Opposition health spokesperson Anne Ruston in Senate Estimates, in which she actually reiterated the coalition's support for bulk billing.
The claim, which is made in a press release put out by Health Minister Mark Butler, coincided with a misleadingly edited video published on the Australian Labor Party Facebook page.
"Today, Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston confirmed Australians will not get free GP visits under Peter Dutton and the Liberals," Mr Butler says in the press release.
He then quotes Senator Ruston from a Senate Estimates appearance on February 26, 2025.
"'At no time have I, or anybody from the Coalition, ever suggested that the only card you needed to take to the doctor going forward was your Medicare card," the release quotes her as saying.
"'We have never said that Australians will get access to free GP services without exception.'"
Mr Butler's office did not provide a response to AAP FactCheck's request for evidence to support the claim.
Senator Ruston's comments were made in an exchange at Senate Estimates in which she questioned whether recent Labor social media posts about a plan to lift bulk-billing rates to 90 per cent by 2030 were misleading (12 hours 17 minutes).
Labor unveiled the $9 billion policy on February 23 and it was swiftly backed by the coalition.
A Facebook post caption from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's account declares that the policy means Australians will only need their Medicare card to visit the GP and not their credit card, while a post from Mr Butler's account explains Australians won't need to worry about reaching for their credit card to visit a GP.
Senator Ruston suggested those claims could be misleading, because bulk-billing rates will not be 100 per cent under the policy, and pressed health department officials to confirm GPs will still be able to charge out-of-pocket costs.
Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, who was representing Mr Butler at estimates, responded to those questions by suggesting the coalition had adopted Labor's policy.
"Clearly your own policy statement in terms of Medicare bulk billing is also following the health minister and the prime minister and there is certainly no misleading statements," Senator McCarthy said.
Senator Ruston then responded with the comments quoted by Mr Butler, attempting to clarify that the coalition had not characterised the bulk-billing boost in the way Labor had.
But Senator Ruston did not say Australians won't get free GP visits under the coalition.
After the exchange was interrupted, Senator Ruston confirmed the coalition supports bulk billing.
"We do support Australians getting more affordable access, and if that includes bulk billing, that is exactly what we want to see achieved," she said.
Senator Ruston then responded to a suggestion from Senator McCarthy that the coalition does not want Australians to have free access to GPs by again clarifying her party's position.
"No, I do want them to have free access," Senator Ruston responded.
Mr Butler's release states Senator Ruston's comments were "not some slip of the tongue" but instead a "clear articulation of the Liberal disdain for the promise of Medicare to deliver free healthcare".
The release then references quotes from deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Mr Dutton, providing hyperlinks to their remarks.
"Deputy Liberal Leader, Sussan Ley - another former Liberal health minister - said last year: 'The Liberal Party believes you don't value something unless you pay for it'.
"Last week on Sky News, Peter Dutton said: 'There's just nothing free in this world, and the government needs to stop pretending that things are for free'."
Ms Ley and Mr Dutton were not speaking about Medicare or health policy, however.
Ms Ley's remarks were a reference to Labor's free TAFE policy - which the coalition has opposed - and Mr Dutton was discussing power bill subsidies and university debt.
Labor also published an edited video of Senator Ruston's estimates comments on Facebook.
While the video does not make the same claim as the release, the words "without exception" are cut from the end of her quote, leaving the line as: "We have never said that Australians will get access to free GP services."
The video's caption reads: "The Liberals saying the quiet part out loud."
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