Medical researchers and a publicly-funded advertising campaign are being enlisted to win Senate support for the government's revamped Medicare co-payment plan.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited a research institute on Wednesday, a day after announcing he had backed down on the $7 GP co-payment removing another of his policy "barnacles".
The policy will be replaced by a $5 cut in Medicare rebates for doctors which they could then recoup from patients other than concession card holders and children.
Savings to the budget will go towards a new medical research fund.
Mr Abbott said the "misinformation" being spread about the changes made it all the more important to run a public information campaign.
"What people will get from us when it comes to information - it will be fair and the spending will be frugal," he said.
Doug Hilton, president of the Australian Association of Medical Research Institutes, says the compromise policy will still allow researchers to deliver better treatments while protecting the vulnerable from higher costs.
"We really hope that the crossbench senators and the Australian community get behind this initiative," he said.
Researchers have launched a petition and online campaign to put pressure on senators to support the legislation and regulation needed to implement the changes.
Crossbench senators have expressed caution about the changes with only one, Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, firmly committing support.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says Labor will oppose what it calls the GP tax.
"No amount of painting over the barnacles changes bad policy," he said.
The policy would turn already overworked GPs into "honorary tax collectors", he said.
Liberal senator Ian Macdonald, who opposed the initial co-payment plan, said it showed the need for Mr Abbott to road-test new policies with his own MPs rather than rely on Canberra-based bureaucrats and advisers who were not always right.
"Coming on top of the redrawing of the paid parental leave proposal, this announcement shows we have a government that listens and understands," Senator Macdonald said.
With the mid-year budget review due next week, Mr Abbott said the coalition was working through ways to improve other policies.
Asked whether one of Mr Abbott's policy "barnacles" should be allowing his MPs a free vote on gay marriage, Mr Shorten said: "This is a government who is stuck firmly in the past. They should do that as a matter of principle."
Mr Abbott also on Wednesday backed down on his opposition to the international Green Climate Fund, pledging $200 million to be taken from the foreign aid budget.
Mr Shorten said the about-face showed Mr Abbott was not so concerned about climate change but "protecting his government against political change".
Opinion polls have shown Labor leading the coalition since the May budget and Mr Shorten leads Mr Abbott as preferred prime minister.
Coalition party strategists fear controversial federal budget measures could hurt the chances of retaining government in Queensland and NSW at state elections due by the end of March.
