Labor finance spokesperson Katy Gallagher has revealed Labor’s plan to trial Medicare urgent care clinics has not been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office, contradicting leader Anthony Albanese.
Gallagher tweeted that, “for the avoidance of any confusion”, the policy had not been “formally costed by the PBO”, although Labor’s estimate that it would cost $135 million over four years was “based on work done by the PBO”.
Katy Gallagher has contradicted Anthony Albanese on Labor’s costings.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Albanese said on Wednesday, responding to media questions about the urgent care plan’s $135 million price tag – which translates to $675,000 a year across 50 urgent care clinics open 14 hours a day: “This has been fully costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office.
“One of the things I’m being careful to do is all of the policies that we’ve put out are fully costed,” the opposition leader said.
Gallagher’s revelation is damaging to Albanese, who is already under pressure over his failure to name the correct unemployment rate, and will fuel the Coalition’s attacks on Labor’s ability to manage the economy.
The independent PBO provides detailed costings of election commitments at the request of political parties, enabling the public to rely on the dollar amounts politicians say they will spend.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age asked Labor to clarify which of the policies it has announced in the first week of the election campaign – including $2.5 billion for aged care, $5.4 billion for child care and $31 million for regional mental health – have been costed by the PBO.
A Labor campaign spokesperson declined to answer, saying only that “all of Labor’s policies and costings will be released before the election”.
Labor’s urgent care clinics not costed by PBO, Gallagher reveals
Source: Philippines Alive
