With five by-elections slated for July 28, the Coalition has been spruiking its achievements and vision for the country, including freshly legislated personal income tax cuts.
Mr Turnbull's claim is a fair call. Spending on health was higher in 2016-17 than in any other year since at least 1985-86. The final budget outcome is not yet available for 2017-18, but on the most recent estimate spending on health was higher again. However, that year's health funding was boosted by a number of one-off items in the budget, including nearly $1 billion in retrospective adjustments or top-ups for underspending on public hospitals in previous years, chiefly in 2015-16. Then, in 2018-19, the financial year now underway, the most recent estimate shows health spending will decrease slightly from the previous year — though it will drop by less than the 2017-18 top-up amount. Looking at this term of office overall, spending in each of the three years on health is or is estimated to be higher than the previous record set in 2015-16. This is also the case when measured in spending per person. The picture is similar for public hospitals: higher spending in both 2016-17 and 2017-18 — including the retrospective adjustment — and then a dip forecast for 2018-19. Again, this is also the case when measured in spending per person. However, the later numbers are only estimates and, as the adjustment in 2017-18 shows, they are open to change. One expert told Fact Check that the budget figures might be underestimates, and noted that spending on Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is not under the Government's control, but depends on patient demand. Taking into account differences in how the various data sources report spending, Mr Turnbull can justifiably say federal spending on both health and hospitals was expected to reach a fresh peak around the time he made the claim. But while that sounds impressive, "record spending" is a claim most governments could make. That's because funding almost always increases from the previous year. In fact, between 1985-86 and 2015-16, total health funding went backwards only once — or, in per capita terms, just four times. Between 1989-90 and 2015-16, total spending on hospitals by the Commonwealth decreased six times, or eight times on a per capita basis. Of these, the two largest decreases (2009-10 and 2012-13) came immediately after the largest relative increases.
Fact check: Is the Government spending record amounts on health and hospitals?
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