Former Labor minister Tom Kenyon has defended using his taxpayer-funded office budget to distribute a pamphlet the Opposition describes as “basically Government propaganda”.

Kenyon, who quit the frontbench after last year’s election but remains Labor’s whip, has confirmed a leaflet distributed to thousands in his electorate listing services “Labor is delivering at Modbury Hospital” was funded from his global office budget.

But he insists it’s merely intended to inform voters and not to spruik his own re-election prospects.

“I wouldn’t classify that as an outrageous party political pamphlet,” he told InDaily.

“It’s not in any way political, to be honest, apart from the mention of the Labor Party.

“It mentions Labor once; I can see the point that it’s got ‘Labor’ on it, but it’s one mention and it’s not ‘the Liberals are terrible and Labor is the greatest’.”

Kenyon said the mailout was “providing information about what services will be available”.

“There’s a lot of information floating around and people need to know (Modbury’s) staying open,” he said.

“There’s a bit of concern in the community that the hospital Emergency Department might be closing and some confusion about what services will be included and what won’t, so I’m trying to clarify that as well.”

But Opposition Health spokesman Stephen Wade said the leaflet was “peddling Government propaganda rather than addressing local concerns”.

“I don’t think it should be paid for by taxpayer funds … If it’s factual information that means people are better informed, that’s what Government advertising is for,” he said.

“This is just spin … It fails to address the questions local people are asking, and provides a veneer of assurance but the words actually provide no guarantee about future surgical services.”

The Liberals say a similar leaflet was also put out by Labor backbencher Frances Bedford, whose mailout was also publicly funded. But Bedford says her leaflet is substantially different, with a pictorial focus on the hospital, rather than herself.

“To clarify for people that Modbury is not closing, we put out a brochure and it was paid for through the global allowance,” she said.

Bedford said it was important to counter Opposition scare tactics about the hospital’s future.

“It’s actually not closing, the accident and emergency are not closing, and we need people to know they can go there,” she said.

Under the Government’s Transforming Health plans, Modbury Hospital would continue to provide “24-hour emergency care for the local population”, but “life-threatening emergencies” would be handled at the state’s three largest hospitals, the closest being the Lyell McEwin.

Bedford said the leaflet was “not about spin”, arguing it was laughable to be accused of Government propaganda when she was a constant thorn in the side of former Health Minister John Hill, seeking assurances about Modbury’s future.

Kenyon argues it’s “important people have confidence in the hospital” and that “you can still go down and get seen”, but concedes the prominent focus on himself was hardly a coincidence.

“Obviously I would never put out anything that’s designed to damage my electoral chances,” he said.

“There are plenty of people doing that, I don’t need add to the list.”

He said there were around 12,000 leaflets, with the total printing and distribution cost likely to total around $2500.

“I’m actually pretty conscious of where things come from and what we use our allowances for,” he said.

“We don’t fund campaign material out of our electoral allowances.”

He said this was “a pretty vanilla information provision leaflet” and “not nearly as political as some of the stuff” Opposition MPs have put out, citing a newsletter by fellow north-eastern suburbs member and Liberal whip John Gardner, which railed against Labor’s “hurt families, broken promises, debt and deficit” under the guise of providing “2014-15 Budget Facts” (pictured below).

“It’s a fairly straightforward analysis of the Government’s budget,” Gardner responded.

“It’s entirely legitimate news, apart from the reference to the Labor Party itself. I would have thought there’s no question about it and the use of the Labor Party in that context is shorthand for the Government, I guess.”

He said there was a mandated limit “on how much political stuff you put in it”.

“As a rule of thumb, I do about 70 per cent local and 30 per cent broader issues,” he said.

“Ultimately I want our newsletters to be informative and put things into a context that’s relevant for people in our electorate…MPs have to make their own judgments about what their community would find suitable and appropriate, within the guidelines, obviously.”