Leadership Quote by Adam Bandt

A five-word line that reads like a policy memo, but lands like an accusation: the system has decided teeth and minds are optional. Adam Bandt’s phrasing is deliberately blunt, almost slogan-flat, because the argument is meant to feel obvious. “Get” is doing heavy lifting here. It implies dental and mental health should already be included, and the only thing missing is political will. No technocratic hedging, no “explore pathways” rhetoric - just a demand that Medicare match how people actually experience health.

The subtext is economic as much as moral. In Australia, dental care is notoriously expensive and often pushed into private cover or out-of-pocket payments; mental health support is stretched, rationed, and frequently navigated through long waits and gap fees. When Bandt ties both to Medicare, he’s not only expanding a program - he’s challenging a two-tier health reality where pain is treated as negotiable if it happens in your mouth, and distress is treated as manageable until it becomes crisis.

The pairing is strategic. Dental is the politically legible example of “everyone knows this is broken,” while mental health carries the cultural weight of a society acknowledging anxiety, burnout, and trauma in public - yet funding it like an afterthought. Put together, they turn Medicare from a symbol into a test: if universal healthcare is the national story Australians tell about themselves, why do so many people still delay care until it’s unbearable? Bandt’s intent is to force that contradiction into the open and make it a budget decision, not a personal failing.