Sunday Age editorial supports Labor dental plan

The Sunday Age today published an editorial supporting the ALP commitment to establish a national dental program which would directly address the treatment needs of an estimated 650,000 people on dental waiting lists around Australia.

The editorial accompanied a news story 'Smile - it's free dental care', in which Shadow Health Minister Nicola Roxon reportedly said that helping the states clear the 650,000 people currently on state government waiting lists had to be part of the solution to the dental crisis.

"Those waiting lists need to be cleared and we will provide assistance to the states to do that," she said. "We can't just set up a Commonwealth system to complement the state system without acknowledging that this is a crisis.

"They are all the same people to us — ordinary Australians who need dental care and we see it as our obligation to help them."

Costings for this Labor initiative are yet to be published.