On Monday, less than two weeks out from polling day, a sick prime minister coughed and spluttered through another press conference, where he got to say his mind-numbing "jobs and growth" slogan just once. Punctuated throughout, Turnbull said the word "Medicare" 15 times.
And Labor press aides, watching from Western Australia, were tickled pink.
To them it was proof that the ramped up Medicare attacks on the government were working. They had hijacked the media cycle. Instead of "jobs and growth" the PM was forced on to Labor's turf.
This is all part of Labor leader Bill Shorten's last ditch attempt to win the election. He's committed the last 10 days of the campaign to convincing Australians that Malcolm Turnbull wants to sell off Medicare.
That Medicare backdrop.
At Labor's campaign launch on Sunday, Shorten's speech focussed heavily on the public health system. In front of a "save Medicare" backdrop he repeatedly pointed to former prime minister Bob Hawke and said Hawke's old campaign slogan was now his: "Medicare. Stays."
But ... was Medicare ever going to go?
To work that out you need to go back to 2014. Buried in the Abbott government's first Budget was $500,000 to develop a proposal for a "commercially integrated health payment system".
Sensing how toxic the Medicare debate had become, on the weekend Malcolm Turnbull totally ruled out its partial privatisation. He even went and got some special signs made up, affixed with his signature.
Liberals are responding to Medicare attack with posters #ausvotes Signed guarantee from PM Turnbull
That's it right? Issue put to bed. Well, no. Bill Shorten visited a medical centre in Perth on Monday, raising again and again and again the prospect of Malcolm Turnbull selling off Medicare.
Labor even dug out a sign from the previous election about school funding (which turned out to be a broken promise), to throw some shade on Malcolm Turnbull's Medicare commitment.
So, is the scare campaign working? Well if last night's Q&A is any guide ... YES. Malcolm Turnbull spent the first 30 minutes of the show answering questions about health policy and, you guessed it, Medicare.
