Anthony Albanese visited his fourth Medicare urgent care clinic of the campaign at Bridgewater in the Tasmanian electorate of Lyons, which Labor holds on a 0.9 per cent margin over the Liberals.
The prime minister again reached for his trusty Medicare card as he drew on his personal experience with the public health system during his humble upbringing.
"(Urgent care clinics) have been an enormous success across the country," he told reporters on Tuesday.
"Some 1.3 million Australians have got the care they need when they need it with just this little bit of green and gold plastic here: their Medicare card."
The clinic in the Hobart exurb of Bridgewater is one of 87 the government has opened since the last election, with another three promised in Tasmania.
Mr Albanese latched onto comments made earlier in the campaign by Susie Bower, the Liberal candidate for the battleground seat, who could not confirm the clinic would remain bulk-billed if Peter Dutton won the election on May 3.
"That's the Liberal Party philosophy," he said.
"Well, Medicare is free."
Mr Albanese recounted how his mother, who lived in public housing, was afforded the same care after suffering an aneurysm as would have been given to billionaire Kerry Packer.
"Whether you're an invalid pensioner or a billionaire, you get the health care you need when you need it because you're Australian," he said.
"That's Australian values. That's why we don't want the Americanisation of our healthcare system."
The coalition has largely backed Labor pledges on health, including a $8.5 billion boost to Medicare and a lower cap on medicine costs.
Its leaders have previously accused the government of trying to repeat Labor's infamous "Mediscare" campaign from the 2017 election.
Labor's candidate, Rebecca White, is a familiar figure in the battleground electorate.
She was formerly the state Labor leader and stepped down to contest the federal seat in place of retiring incumbent Brian Mitchell.
The nature of Mr Mitchell's resignation has come into question after the former member received a $115,000 payout reserved for candidates that fail to win preselection, despite endorsing Ms White to run in his stead.
Asked if she thought the payment was appropriate, Ms White brushed off the question.
"That's independent of me, I had nothing to do with the arrangements," she said.
"You have two people putting forward their nomination and I was successful in the preselection."
26°C