Libs Medicare campaign response questioned

Liberal West Australian Senator Dean Smith says the question of whether his party responded adequately to Labor's Medicare election campaign needs to be answered.

Senator Smith told ABC radio in Perth on Tuesday that the scare campaign should not have come as a surprise to the Liberals, "and in a way, perhaps some of our earlier budget measures left us vulnerable on issues around Medicare".

"Did we respond as effectively as we should have to that campaign and did we respond early enough? Now that is a question that needs to be addressed that I think will be addressed much more thoroughly once we've got the clear outcome of the election," he said.