Labor will promise to end the remaining freeze on Medicare rebate indexation by July if it wins the coming election, as the major parties muscle up for budget week and the looming federal campaign.

Labor’s promise, which carries a price tag of $213m, comes as the Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos on Sunday indicated tax cuts for low- and middle-income earners were likely in the April budget, arguing that tax relief would be a counter-offer from the Coalition to the opposition’s focus on boosting wages for low-income earners.

The Coalition also announced a $496m package for medical facilities in Victoria for cancer treatment, hospital infrastructure, mental health services and medical research.

Bill Shorten will confirm on Monday Labor will end the remaining freeze for 100 GP items – including family counselling, urgent after-hours care, mental health care and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island health checks – within 5o days if he wins the election in May.

In a separate announcement, the opposition will also promise $14m for Environmental Defenders Offices which have been subjected to budget cuts under the Coalition, with the funding to be allocated to nine EDOs around the country.

With the New South Wales state election now resolved, and the budget just over a week away, the major parties have now assumed a campaign footing. Labor plans to roll towards the campaign by intensifying focus on Scott Morrison’s record as treasurer, pointing out cuts to services on his watch.

With the federal Coalition fearing it could lose up to half a dozen seats in Victoria, the government has begun to target the problem state with infrastructure announcements and new spending.

The $496m medical package, released on Monday, includes $80m for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, of which $25m is for cellular immunotherapy treatments, and $30m for medical research facilities at St Vincent hospital’s Aikenhead centre.

Morrison said the investment “will be life-changing for so many of our sickest Australians, including many children battling cancer”.

In a statement, Shorten said health funding would continue to be a major focus of Labor’s election offering in 2019. “Every day Morrison’s Medicare freeze stays in place is another day that families are paying higher out-of-pocket costs to visit the doctor,” the Labor leader said.

“If I’m elected prime minister, I won’t waste any time stopping Morrison’s cuts to Medicare. His Medicare freeze will end in my first 50 days”.

With the budget in sight, the government has been pointing to the likelihood of tax cuts, with Sinodinos on Sunday suggesting relief for Australians on low and middle incomes.

There is also speculation the Coalition might offer voters a one-off pre-election payment to boost consumption at a time when growth in the economy is faltering.

In a pre-budget interview with Guardian Australia at the weekend, the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, did not rule out bringing forward the income tax cuts currently scheduled to take effect in 2022, which would cost about $8bn a year. But stage two of the already legislated tax cuts, which begin in 2022, is directed at taxpayers earning over $90,000.

On Sunday Sinodinos said with the union movement out arguing for a boost to the minimum wage, “you can get an equivalent effect through a proper tax cut for low- and middle-income earners, so we’ll be saying that until our policies kick in to help to lift wages even further, the way to do this is through tax cuts focused on low- and middle-income earners”.

Frydenberg has confirmed the budget will point to a surplus in 2019-20, and he said the surplus would be accompanied by “responsible targeted spending”, including infrastructure investments to boost productivity growth, and funding for the disability royal commission.

The treasurer said the economy was performing well but added there were risks to the outlook, including concern about lower house prices spilling over to building approvals and to softer household consumption.

Frydenberg noted falls in dwelling investment had detracted from growth in the December quarter. He said the drought was affecting agricultural production, and the impact of the Queensland floods had not yet registered in the economic data.



