Labor takes down ‘This is Australia’ Medicare T-shirt meme on racism fears

A Labor Party Medicare boast has backfired spectacularly with campaign officials quickly deleting a social media post referencing notorious white supremacist rhetoric.

The meme, posted to the ALP’s official social media page on Monday, showed a T-shirt with an Australian flag and words reading: “This is Australia. We eat meat, we drink beer and we love Medicare”.

The post riffs on a notorious T-shirt sporting the words: “This Is Australia. We eat meat, we drink beer and we speak f**kin’ English”.

Museums Victoria holds that T-shirt as an example of racist and white supremacist rhetoric in Australia.

“The T-shirts reflect anxieties about foreign invasions and a xenophobia that has characterised public discourse in Australian colonies since the Victorian gold rushes of the 1850s,” the museum website states.

“The slogans on these T-shirts are racist and seek to define Australian identity by excluding ‘the other’ and by excluding anyone who dares to voice criticism.

“The slogans ‘If You Don’t Love It, Leave’ and ‘Support it or F**k Off’ are indicative of the latter sentiment.

“The slogan ‘This Is Australia we eat meat, we drink beer and we speak f**ckin’ English’ is aimed at Muslims in particular who have customs which ban alcohol and non-halal meat.”

ALP officials quickly deleted the post on Monday.

NewsWire has reached out to Labor for a response to the failed meme.

Medicare funding will form a core part of Labor’s pitch for a second term in government.

Labor established Medicare, Australia’s universal healthcare system, in 1984 and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged to invest a $8.5bn in the program to deliver an estimated 18 million additional GP visits each year alongside a lift in nursing scholarships and training for doctors.

The core of the investment will expand bulk billing incentives for all Australians and create new incentive payments for practices that bulk bill all of their patients.

“Labor built Medicare, we will protect it and improve it for all Australians,” Mr Albanese said last month on announcing the signature election policy.

“I want every Australian to know they only need their Medicare card, not their credit card, to receive the healthcare they need.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Senator Anne Ruston said Monday’s failed T-shirt meme showed Labor intended to run a “baseless Medicare campaign”.

“The fact is that it has never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor than under the Albanese Labor government,” she told NewsWire.

“Medicare bulk billing was 11 per cent higher under the Liberals and Australians are now paying 45 per cent more to see a doctor under Labor.

“Instead of fixing the crisis, Labor has been lying to Australians and spreading a shameless scare campaign.”

The Coalition has said it will allocate an additional $9bn in Medicare.