The federal government has vowed to open an extra 50 clinics by the end of June 2026 if it secures a second term, with polls showing the gap narrowing between the major parties ahead of the upcoming election, which could be called within days.
The $644 million plan aims to deliver extra clinics in every jurisdiction, however, while Labor has released a list of target areas the final sites would be decided independently.
The government has opened up 87 of the urgent care clinics during its first term in office.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the additional clinics would take pressure off hip-pocket health costs.
"If you provide more bulk billing doctors in more suburbs and towns, it means less stress for families, and it means less pressure on household budgets," he told Sky News on Sunday.
"When we take that pressure off family budgets, we also take pressure off emergency departments."
Medicare Urgent Care Clinics offer free care by GPs or nurses for non life-threatening conditions or injuries, and were initially set up to take pressure off public hospitals.
Of the 50 new clinics, 14 are expected to be built in NSW, 12 in Victoria, 10 in Queensland, six in Western Australia, three each in South Australua and Tasmania, with the ACT and the Northern Territory also getting an extra facility per territory.
Treatment is offered for minor injuries - Â cuts, basic fractures, burns, suturing and bandaging and foreign objects in ears nose or throat; or minor illnesses - bronchitis, rashes, gastro, first trimester pregnancy bleeding or ear, nose, throat and eye infections.
One in three patients are under 15.
"This announcement of 50 additional urgent care clinics, if we are re-elected, will provide the urgent care people need - and all you will need is your Medicare card, not your credit card," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
The announcement comes as a RedBridge-Accent tracking poll published by News Corp on Sunday shows the coalition's lead has been cut in the past fortnight from 52 per cent to 50.5 per cent, against Labor on 49.5 per cent, on a two-party-preferred basis.
While the election is due to be held by May 17 at the latest, there is speculation the federal poll could be called by the prime minister within a matter of days.
Despite the poll showing improvement for the government, Dr Chalmers said there were other issues to centre on.
"There was a poll that had the gap narrowing between the major parties today, but (it's) really not my focus," he said.
"What we've seen in the last couple of weeks in the economy when it comes to the numbers is we've seen inflation coming down, now we've seen unemployment very low, interest rates have been cut."
The treasurer said preparations were still being made to hand down a federal budget on March 25.
However, the budget could be scrapped altogether should an election be called before that date.
Dr Chalmers said any decisions on the timing of when Australians will head to the polls was with the prime minister.
"If people are looking for hints about a fourth budget from this government, the hints are in the first three it will be defined by responsible economic management.," he said.
"We'll keep fighting inflation, we'll keep trying to make our economy more productive and dynamic."
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