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Fighting to #savetheCDBS - the progress so far

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Australian Dental Association
Australian Dental Association
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2 May 2016
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1 minute read
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  • Advocacy
  • Oral health

Even though the government has announced a replacement for the CDBS, the campaign to retain the existing scheme continues with a firm focus on ensuring the dental needs of Australia's children will continue to be adequately met.

On 14 March this year, the federal government indicated that it planned to close the Child Dental Benefits Schedule (CDBS), a program designed to deliver dental care to many of the most disadvantaged children in Australia.

Claiming that the scheme had failed to live up to expectations and that funds could be better used elsewhere, the Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley implied that the scheme was under review, a status echoed by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull  who told Parliament that "We are working on dental reform and as part of that it is only natural that the Government considers the effectiveness of current programs …”   

Immediately on receipt of this news, the ADA swung into action, launching a range of measures designed to make it clear to the government that the CDBS, which two public assessments had deemed to have been successful in realising its aims, was a vitally important public dental health care scheme that must be retained.

The campaign has included:

- The launch of a #savetheCDBS petition via change.org

- The enlisting of the ALP, who devised and developed the CDBS, to fight for its retention

- A Digital Kit containing a range of materials for dentists, allied healthcare professionals, practices etc to use through the media, social media and to make representations to their MPs.

- A program of media appearances at various practices around the country by Labor MPs such as the Shadow Minister for Health Catherine King and Assistant Shadow Minister for Health Stephen Jones.

- An active program of lobbying government and opposition/crossbench MPs and engendering community support to #savetheCDBS

This proactive approach has yielded some impressive results to date.

The fight is by no means over, despite the Turnbull Government having announced a replacement to the CDBS, the Child and Adult Public Dental Scheme (caPDS) which presents a significant decline in spending per person, the ADA believes the current scheme is successfully meeting the dental needs of the 3.4 million eligible children from low-income families and should not be discarded.

The next step, with the budget being handed down tomorrow night, Tuesday 3 May, is meetings with key politicians and a push to generate more signatures on the petition, which everyone is strongly urged to sign.