The Victorian Greens say Labor’s eleventh-hour promise of a handful of free dental clinics shows that Labor only acts on the cost of living when it faces electoral wipeout – and confirms that growing Greens power is doing more to fix people’s teeth than a decade of Labor health ministers combined.
The announcement follows years of Greens campaigning to make dental care free, including using their leverage in the last federal power-sharing Parliament to secure free dental care for children – a policy Labor also resisted until it had no choice.
It follows the same pattern as Labor’s recent capitulation on cheaper public transport: deny it for years, call it unaffordable, then quietly steal it once the Greens make it a political liability.
The Greens say the lesson is unmistakable: Labor does not lead, it is dragged – kicking and screaming, budget line by budget line – by people who organise, build pressure, and vote Greens.
The Greens are demanding Labor fund and start delivering the clinics immediately, not dangle them as an election bribe and quietly shelve them the moment the votes are counted. But they also need to commit to actually fixing the public dental system they already run and have been neglecting for 12 years.
If Labor refuses to act now, the Greens say that will confirm what everyone already suspects: this is a cynical pre-election con, not a genuine commitment.
As stated by Victorian Greens health spokesperson Dr Sarah Mansfield:
“The only major improvement to dental affordability this century has come from the Greens- Medicare-funded dental care for kids.
“This isn’t leadership, it’s damage control. Labor didn’t wake up one day and discover a dental crisis – we’ve been shoving it in their faces for years while they made excuses. The only thing that’s changed is their polling.
“Victorian Labor already have public dental clinics – but they’ve been neglecting them for 12 years. Labor’s record on dental is tens of thousands of people in pain sitting for years on waiting lists, a shortage of public dentists because they aren’t paid properly, and a mountain of debt for anyone who can’t wait. Twelve years in office and that’s the legacy – until we made them do better.
“People need help now, not just if Labor manages to hang onto power.
“It’s a start – but with only enough places for a stadium’s worth of Victorians, getting an appointment will be harder than scoring Taylor Swift tickets. Tax the banks properly and we could fund a free dental clinic in every suburb, not just enough for one MCG crowd.
“Get ready for weeks of Labor copying Greens policies to try to defuse us before polling day – just like federal Labor’s 20% student debt cut, or Queensland Labor’s 50 cent public transport.
“We’re not stopping here. If Labor thinks one panicked announcement buys them absolution, they’re wrong – we’ll keep the pressure on until we have a proper public dental system for all Victorians, rents are frozen and public transport is permanently free.”
