It popped up on the Department of Health’s website at about 8.30pm last night — the release of the nation’s Primary Health Care 10 Year plan.

I still can’t work out whether the 10 years is a reference to the amount of time it’s taken to get to the point of publication (it seems more like a lifetime) or, as Greg Hunt argues, this is the time covered by the reform blueprint. 

If you had looked at the accompanying media release, the numbers were spinning big again. The plan apparently has $1.7 billion attached to it.

In reality, it’s just smoke and mirrors employed to fuel a little excitement as the federal election looms. Most of the money has been spent in response to the COVID-19 pandemic rather than on the plan itself.