Veticare will reduce cost of living and increase confidence that your companion animal can always have access to the veterinary care they need, regardless of your financial capacity. Veticare will ensure that injured wildlife can receive medical care. Veticare will help veterinarians and veterinary nurses by reducing negative interactions with clients as a result of veterinary treatment being costly, and ensuring they will be fairly compensated for providing care for all animals. This will aid in reducing stress and improving the mental health of those in the veterinary profession. Veticare will also address the shortage of veterinary professionals in Australia, which is putting pressure on current veterinarians, by improving up-skilling rates and working conditions to improve retention.

Key Features

• Reduce cost of living, for low income Australians, by subsidising household veterinary costs
• Support vets and enhance wildlife care, by reimbursing vets for costs incurred in providing treatment for wildlife
• Support animal welfare by subsidising veterinary costs for un-homed companion animals, for example, at animal shelters
• Manage companion animal populations by fully funding desexing and microchipping programs.
• Fund up-skilling and practical training of veterinarians, vet nurses and allied animal health professionals to improve workloads and well-being, ensuring that the industry is sustainable and able to effectively deliver Veticare services.

What impact will this have:

• Up to $1,000 per year of Veticare subsidy will be available to all people with an income that is either equivalent to or below the Australian median income. Similar to Medicare, there will be a standard schedule of fees which will be constructed in consultation with peak veterinary bodies. This will lower cost of living and reduce rates of animal surrender.
• We would set aside $2 billion per year to allow for the total cost of Veticare. This cost also includes the wildlife care, un-homed animal care, funding of desexing and microchipping programs, and support for increasing industry capacity. This funding would be drawn from savings yielded from implementation of our other Platform Points.
• Saving lives of companion animals and wildlife in a responsible and sustainable manner.
• Reduce the pressure on vets and vet nurses that is currently costing their careers, well-being and even lives.