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News & Trends - Pharmaceuticals

Why isn’t public health a top election issue?

Health Industry Hub | May 6, 2022 |

Pharma News: A PwC survey of 1,000 Australians asked what would shape their vote during the upcoming election. Those surveyed named economic management, leadership and health as their top priorities.

Yet, according to media monitoring data, health is failing to cut through in the media coverage despite the country being in the midst of a pandemic. That health hasn’t been a priority makes the task of getting a message out in the media much harder for healthcare organisations, including medtech, diagnostics and pharma companies.

Professor Terry Slevin, CEO of Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) said neither party is talking about how they will cope with COVID-19 going forward or how they plan for future pandemics.

Consumers Health Forum CEO, Leanne Wells, said “CHF is seeking major leadership and announcements in primary health care reform as we head into the last stretch before the election.”

Media monitoring samples taken from three recent weeks of the election campaign (April 20 – 5 May) found Labor has consistently maintained the higher share of voice over the Coalition in traditional and social media.

Last week has the seen the focus switch to the cost-of-living crisis, with related terms such as “inflation”, “interest rates” and “mortgage” featuring prominently and these themes have remained the same over this week.

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When health is dissected as an election issue, the Coalition leads in terms of volume of coverage, owning 52% of the discussion. However, it also trends more negatively on sentiment at 36% and only 13% positivity, compared to Labor’s even split for negative and positive coverage at 22%.

The disparity in sentiment correlates closely to the key themes dominating health discussions on both parties. Labor is running on a traditional platform of aged care, Medicare and funding for hospitals, which pulls through in media coverage.

Conversely, the word “cuts” appears frequently in Coalition-focused health stories, while the Prime Minister’s misplaced “blessed” comment on not having children with disability drew fierce criticism. Actual policy announcements appear to have been lost in the noise, which will be a concern for the government.

Interestingly, the Coalition’s attack lines aimed at Labor for re-running the 2016 ‘Mediscare’ campaign have not carried into social media conversations. Conservative-supporting News Corp titles running quotes from key Coalition spokespeople have done most of the heavy lifting on this topic.

John Emmerson, Manager Director of London Agency, said it is surprising that COVID-19 has been a tepid issue so far this campaign.

“So far in this election health has been the dog that hasn’t barked. The pandemic has dominated our lives for the last two years, so it is surprising that reporting of the federal election hasn’t followed trends seen in state elections where the handling of the pandemic has been decisive in the final outcome.

“It’s far from over, but what we’re seeing are more traditional issues dictating the health discussion. This is probably welcome news for a COVID-weary electorate, but the health industry should note the pandemic dividend is only temporary and now might be the time to start preparing for what comes next.”


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