The Victorian Government has announced it will create free dental clinics if it wins the next state election.
Victorians go to the polls on 28 November.
Dental care is not covered by Medicare in most cases.
In a statement, the Government said: “Tens of thousands of Victorians can’t afford to go to a dentist – and so many of them are in pain, every single day.”
Context
An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare study released in 2024 showed close to 90,000 hospitalisations for dental conditions in 2022-23 could have potentially “been prevented with earlier treatment”.
It also showed half of Australians aged 15 and over didn’t visit the dentist in 2022-23.
The Greens have long campaigned for dentistry to be added to Medicare.
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Currently, only children who receive certain Government payments, or whose parents or carers do, can have some dental treatments covered by Medicare.
Election promise
If re-elected, the Victorian Labor Government says it will set up 10 free dental clinics in the state.
Melbourne would have seven and the rest of the state would have three, in regional areas where there is a gap in demand.
“They’ll deal with the most urgent cases first, including dental pain, swelling, or people who have had an accident,” the Government said.
Victorian Labor told media about this plan on Friday afternoon, with the caveat that it couldn’t be announced until 5am on Saturday.
This means TDA was not able to reach out to the Opposition for comment before publication, as is our normal practice for any Government policy announcement.
