The Canberra Liberals have pledged $240,000 for the purchase of more public defibrillators around the city and a heart attack awareness and education program.
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Opposition Leader and health spokesman Jeremy Hanson will announce the campaign promise on Sunday, which will include funds for an additional 24 publicly accessible defibrillators across Canberra.
The ACT currently has 29 St John's Ambulance defibrillators in Civic, Belconnen, Parkes, Barton, Acton, Deakin, Narrabundah, Weston, Kambah, Tuggeranong, Campbell, Kingston and the airport.
Eight defibrillators will be rolled out each year through to the first half of 2020, costing $90,000 overall.
The remaining $150,000 would be spent on a public awareness campaign, designed to educate people about the warning signs of a heart attack.
Run in conjunction with Heart Foundation ACT, the party's modelling shows the education program would have a fixed annual cost of $50,000 between 2017-18 and 2019-20.
Mr Hanson said staff close to the public access defibrillators would be trained in their use, while the wider public would be advised about the importance of knowing CPR and calling triple zero as quickly as possible.
"Hundreds of Canberrans suffer heart attacks every year and the difference between life and death is often how quickly first aid can be applied," he said.
"This two-pronged program will aim to save the lives of Canberrans suffering heart attacks by providing defibrillator equipment in more locations, thereby minimising response times and increasing awareness."
Locations for the new defibrillators have yet to be determined.
Mr Hanson said the Liberals would work with St John's Ambulance ACT to decide on placement of the devices.
The government installed defibrillators at five ACT ovals last year, adding to those at Manuka Oval, Canberra Stadium and Stromlo Forest Park.
Heart disease is the biggest killer of Australians, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
In 2014, some 20,173 people died from heart disease in Australia, making up 13.1 per cent of the total deaths in the country that year.
The percentage of heart disease-related deaths has dropped since 2005, when it made up 18 per cent of all causes of death.
The next most prominent cause of death, dementia, was responsible for 11,965 deaths during 2014, according to the statistics.
ACT statistics were slightly lower than the national average, with only 10.2 per cent of deaths in 2014 due to the underlying cause of heart disease.
Circulatory system diseases, including heart disease, amounted to the cause of 27.9 per cent of deaths in the ACT during the same period.
