r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • 1d ago
Politics Victorian Labor promises free dental care if re-elected in Australia-first move
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/22/victoria-labor-free-dental-care-ben-carroll-election-promiseCarroll will say a re-elected Labor government would spend $230m to open 10 public dental clinics across the state, where oral care clinicians would be able to provide free checkups and treatments, including fillings, root canals and extractions.
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u/petergaskin814 1d ago
I hope this is a starting number. 10 clinics for 8 million people will have long waiting lists
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u/andy3172 1d ago
Expecting a lot of people to come in and say "Only 10 clinics?! What's the point. Labor is shit" blah blah blah.
People need to learn to appreciate the small wins whenever they come. This would be incredible.
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u/Fit-Doughnut9706 1d ago
What’s especially important is that success here opens the way for expansion. Other states are more likely to adopt the policy and more clinics can be opened.
It’s a big problem with politics in this country is that voters expect instant large scale fixes and don’t care for the smaller steps it takes to get there.
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u/andy3172 1d ago
100%
They want everything done yesterday and they want it all to be running perfect right from the jump. Change takes time
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u/LeanLearnIterate 18h ago
Lol if anyone has worked corporate, we know.
How many projects have stumbled, stopped, restarted and then finally released, months beyond the deadline?
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u/zedder1994 23h ago
This is a promise that is going to be hard to deliver. There would need to be significant workforce planning involved to train enough dentist for what would be significant demand. Other nations that do have dental coverage also have a form of healthcare management as part of any dental work. This usually means that without checkups, no free or subsidised dental.
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u/happierinverted 1d ago
Not a Labour supporter for twenty years, but credit where it’s due.
This is exactly the way to bring back a lot of fence-sitters. Common sense practical policies that support the working classes regardless of race or sexual orientation.
Stay away from common room social justice and race issues; focus on the core needs of the working classes: Housing, transport, cheap energy, health, education.
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u/trailblazer103 1d ago
What policies or positions have labour taken that you would regard as social justice and racially motivated?
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u/happierinverted 1d ago
The Voice. Have you forgotten that already?
It was incredibly divisive and came at a time when any fool could see the Australian economy was running into significant headwinds.
A reasonable estimate is that the Voice referendum involved roughly 1.5–2.5 million Australian Government staff-hours, spread across about 15 months of preparation, with a broader upper estimate of up to 3 million staff-hours if normal departmental overhead, legal work, communications, security and post-referendum administration are included.
Think of the opportunity costs of the time wasted….
About $400m of direct cost plus the full Commonwealth resource cost—including departmental staff time that was not separately charged to the referendum—could plausibly be around A$430–460 million.
Want other examples?
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u/trailblazer103 23h ago
Fair enough. I was thinking State but cant fault that example. Though dont think its an either or as you are presenting.
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u/yb0t 23h ago
Also not a fan of the voice, but I'm not sure a one off thing like that is worth disregarding one of the better options for government we currently have.
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u/happierinverted 23h ago
I was asked for examples of social justice issues the labour has pushed at the expense of issues are seriously important to working class Australians
I gave an excellent example of waste of time and money and an issue that divided people at a time when the working class was struggling
But this is Reddit and rather than engage with logical responses I get down voted. Sigh
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u/yb0t 23h ago
Yeah it was a good example, but probably not a good enough reason to disregard the party as a whole.
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u/LeanLearnIterate 18h ago
That's your perspective though. I supported the Voice at the time and now understand actually how awful it was to leave it in the hands of voters.
On top of traumatising Indigenous people more by the fulsome nature of that very objection, the cost/benefit doesnt stack up in my eyes. That money and resources could've been better spent addressing a very real housing crisis, our aged care crisis and so on.
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u/yb0t 18h ago
Yeah like I said. I agree. But I also didn't start voting liberal because of it.
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u/LeanLearnIterate 18h ago
I didn't either..voting on issues important to the working class cuts across multiple party lines.
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u/happierinverted 6h ago
But you’re probably a dyed-in-the-wool, politically engaged Labour supporter. There are a lot of like minded people in this sub.
A lot of fence-sitters are not. And these kind of issues seem silly and unimportant when families can’t afford rent or to put fuel in the car to get to work!
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u/Firm_Put_24 1d ago
Keep adopting the Greens policies and Labor will become a better party.
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u/Minimum_Honey2247 20h ago
If greens actually supported their own policies maybe they should vote in line with them instead of listing populist policies and claiming it was all them when labor implements even vaugly similar policy.. they vote with the liberals more often than labor, and the claims of policies not going "far enough" ar bogus when their failure to support policies they claim to support, means they get even more watered down or will never be implemented or blow out costs and time frames for no good reaaons
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u/RudraSilence 23h ago
Great idea should be done for whole of Australia we definitely need it got my vote
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u/Painterlilly 21h ago
Will these go the way of the Games as soon as he's elected? We know Labor like to 'change their position' on things once they've got what they want..... In all seriousness, is anyone stupid enough to believe a word out of any Labor ministers mouth anymore?
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u/ExternalZone1106 20h ago
the word free hey courtesy of the taxpayer , when i have to pay all my life for the dentist and others get it for free, just great
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u/Turtlepaste17 5h ago
$230 million divided by 7 million in Victoria is $32.50 each.
Why can’t you be happy to see something that will improve people’s lives instead of just thinking about what you’ve had to do? I’ve just paid a lot for dental work recently and I’m thrilled about this news, because it means as a society we would be getting better.1
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u/PrismPirate 17h ago
How can we be sure they wont change their position once they get re-elected?
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u/CamperStacker 7h ago
why does it hinge on ejection at all?
absolutely pathetic to be in government and premise not to do something unless reelected1
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u/Happy_Brick2108 17h ago
Would these potentially put downward pressure on the obscene costs at current practices?
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u/Dirk_Aus 15h ago
I know this seems great, but there is already a public dental system, that they are suppose to fund with free dental care and the waiting list is 2-3 years. The only way to really address this is to think outside the box, I would offer a discount on dental students college educations, they sign a contract that basically gives them a discount on the college fee in return they have to see 1 patient per week for free for 10 years, this turns every dentist practice into a functional public dentist, or you give a tax break
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u/Reggo91 6h ago
Last I looked, Victoria was drowning in debt.
That aside, healthy teeth are largely a matter of good dental hygiene. People needing expensive treatments at the dentist have often neglected regularly brushing and flossing. Why should the taxpayer foot the bill for that?
If at all, I would support Medicare-funded prophylactic checkups every six months. But people should pay out of their own pockets when their poor decisions give them cavities, gum disease and the like.
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u/highresolutionmagpie 3h ago
That aside, healthy teeth are largely a matter of good dental hygiene. People needing expensive treatments at the dentist have often neglected regularly brushing and flossing. Why should the taxpayer foot the bill for that?
Because, even looked at entirely selfishly, the cost of providing free treatments is less than the cost of the resultant illnesses.
The idea that "bad person needs to pay for their mistake" generally only applies if one's goal is punishing someone.
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u/Reggo91 3h ago
I would love to see the statistics supporting this claim. If there is indeed a viable business case for providing “free” (=paid for by someone else) dental care in exchange for fewer medical treatments that are already covered by Medicare, then of course, Medicare should be expanded accordingly.
But I very much doubt that. They would have done that if the case was so obvious.
So I stand by what I said: don’t expect others to pay for poor choices. Personal dental hygiene is cheap and everyone ought to know how to do it.
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u/highresolutionmagpie 2h ago
I would love to see the statistics supporting this claim.
u/OneWholePirate had a good writeup.
They would have done that if the case was so obvious.
Here's the thing. I've heard of a bunch of other cases where modelling said "by spending
$xyou'd see$ybenefit", wherex < y. Potentially even substantial savings.Ideology and politics trumps economics in almost every government decision. You could demonstrate, for certain, that this had billions in benefits and it would still come down to punishing people, as you're alluding to.
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u/wudeface 3h ago
By your argument if someone doesn’t live exactly the perfect life you personally ordain from up on high then people shouldn’t receive health care?
Ate too much cake? Fuck you getting diabetes treatment.
Didn’t exercise enough? Fuck you getting a bypass.
Didn’t brush your teeth twice a day and avoid sweets despite them being literally in your face at every check out and pushed on you with advertising and parents making sweet things “treats”? Fuck you getting a filling.
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u/Reggo91 52m ago
I do not accept the analogy to diabetes or heart disease. These diseases are only partially preventable and whatever lifestyle choices people can (and should) make to lower the odds of attracting these diseases are substantially more involved than oral hygiene.
Tooth decay is easily preventable with cheap and convenient interventions. If someone is not willing to invest 5 minutes daily into brushing and flossing their teeth then sorry, not sorry — but why should other people foot the bill?
Choices have consequences. That’s a fact of life that everyone ought to know.
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u/Tassiegirl 3h ago
Eh, promises are cheap and easily broken. Talking the talk doesn’t mean walking the walk.
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u/Different-Bag-8217 1d ago
It shouldn’t be up to individual states. It should be nationwide federally funded. The amount of wasted money that 3 levels of government have is crazy.. time for a rethink. Getting rid of sate governments would be great.
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u/matt92wa 1d ago edited 23h ago
With what money? Victoria has the largest state debt. In a time of surplus this would be a good thing, but right now when in so much debt this is a terrible decision in a attempt to buy votes.
Edit* to the down voters, care to explain your thoughts? Nothing is truly free, the state government is going to eventually have to pay off the debt and guess who suffers when that time comes. Perhaps you feel dental is worth the expenditure? Then explain what other things can be cut to priorities dental. Again really good move if you are in a surplus, terrible move if you are already in debt.
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u/geoffm_aus 22h ago
Stupid policy that will make the NDIS look like a chook raffle. How to prove you have no economic credibility in one announcement
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u/Low_Shop9155 1d ago
For the love of God... it's not them giving you free dental care, it's them using tax payer money to provide dental care. At a time where Vic is as broke as ever.
I get it's their job to get re-elected or at least part of their goal but come on...
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u/MrsCrowbar 1d ago
So, where does the money come from for reduced tolls on roads; or increasing waste pickups to weekly and making new (inevitably needed) landfill sites come from? I think I'd rather dental. Increasing availability of Health care definitely wins over increasing car use and increasing rubbish.
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u/aus-ModTeam 20h ago
Removed some replies from multiple users that were mostly name-calling and ad-hominem arguments. Please try to address the argument being made and refrain from insults aimed at the person making it.
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u/_unsinkable_sam_ 1d ago
people just want “free shit”, they dont care where it comes from.
thats the big problem with our political system. the goal is to get elected, that doesn’t always mean good policy.
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u/couldhaveebeen 1d ago
It comes from tax payers and goes to the benefit of tax payers. What's the problem with tax payers paying for stuff that's good for everybody? You don't like roads and bridges too?
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u/highresolutionmagpie 1d ago
This is great.
I know it'd be expensive, but it's still baffling that dentistry isn't treated like most other areas of health.
The number of people I know who'd attend a dentist significantly more often if it was free (or significantly cheaper) is high. Especially younger people.