Labor has pledged $2.3 billion to slash the cost of cancer treatment by offering millions of free scans and consultations to prevent Australians being "impoverished" by the steep cost of fighting the disease.
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Opposition Leader Bill Shorten promised a dramatic expansion of Medicare to cover the out-of-pocket costs for 145,000 people who are diagnosed with cancer every year and must pay thousands of dollars for tests and medicines.
Mr Shorten revealed the healthcare plan while opposing the second and third stages of the Morrison government's latest income tax cuts, while backing a tax offset worth up to $1080 for 10 million workers from July 1.
The moves clear the way for a policy fight on health and the economy as Prime Minister Scott Morrison prepares to call the federal election within days.
The Labor stance rejects about $140 billion of the government's $158 billion tax cuts from Tuesday's budget, leaving enormous scope to propose alternative tax cuts, redirect the money to spending programs or post bigger budget surpluses.
Mr Shorten used his budget reply on Thursday night to promise greater tax relief than the Coalition for 3.6 million workers earning up to $48,000.
He also promised $1 billion for apprentices and training in another instalment of Labor policies to expand technical and further education, including upgrades to TAFE colleges.
In announcing the Medicare expansion, Mr Shorten told Parliament on Thursday night: "If someone you love has cancer, you'd sell the roof over your head if it would help".
"You'd sell the shirt off your back, but you shouldn't have to.
"You pay your taxes to Canberra. You pay your Medicare levy. If I am elected prime minister, I'm going to make sure the health care system is there for you when you need it most."
The policy funds up to 6 million free medical scans and 3 million specialist consultations with no out-of-pocket costs for existing and future cancer patients, costing $2.3 billion over four years.
It includes $600 million for free X-rays, ultrasounds, mammograms, computed tomography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.
It also includes $433 million for free consultations with oncologists and surgeons, turning these services into bulk-billed Medicare items so patients would no longer have to cover up to 40 per cent of the cost under current rules.
The most expensive part of the plan is a "guarantee" that every cancer medicine recommended by experts will be subsidised by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Mr Shorten told Parliament he had seen the impact of breast cancer on his mother, Ann, who died in 2014.
"Cancer is frightening, it's isolating, it's exhausting," he said, adding that he and his wife, Chloe, had seen "dear friends" suffer from the disease.
"For so many people, cancer makes you sick and then paying for the treatment makes you poor," he said.
"And that's a fact that I think a lot of Australians would be surprised to learn."
Labor estimates that one in four women diagnosed with breast cancer pay more than $10,000 over two years for scans and tests while some men with prostate cancer pay more than $18,000 for treatment.
Mr Morrison urged voters to reject Mr Shorten's promises as every Labor claim was based on "lies and taxes" because the Opposition's policies placed a higher tax burden of about $200 billion on Australians over 10 years compared to Coalition policies.
"That's what Bill Shorten's about – telling lies about what the government has done and funding anything he talks about with higher taxes," Mr Morrison said.
"And that's why people don't trust Labor when it comes to managing money."
Mr Shorten's new commitments on TAFE offer $430 million in new funding on top of $570 million in early commitments to encourage apprentices to learn a trade and require more employers to hire them.
The new funding includes $330 million for a scheme called Apprentice Incentives, giving employers who take on an apprentice a payment of $8,000, up from $4,000 under earlier Labor policies.
The policy also offers $2,000 to new apprentices to help cover some of the costs of their education.
Another $100 million of the $430 million will go to a building fund to upgrade TAFE campuses, doubling the amount Labor had previously set aside for this purpose.
The Labor policies follow the government's $525 million skills package on Tuesday, a contentious scheme because it relied on funds reallocated from other parts of the technical education budget.
Mr Shorten accused Treasurer Josh Frydenberg of a "pea and thimble trick" to repurpose old funding.
Labor estimates there has been a decline of 150,000 in apprenticeships during the Coalition government and argues that its latest funding commitments will reverse the slump by helping 150,000 apprentices.
