Just as he was about to talk to Hunter Valley locals about one of the region's most dangerous roads, Bill Shorten ended up comforting a woman and her two-year-old son who were involved in a head on collision behind his entourage.
The opposition leader's car was pulling off the side of Cessnock Road on Thursday afternoon for a media event about the notoriously dangerous narrow strip in Testers Hollow when a car behind his entourage swerved and crashed head-on into another car.
Mr Shorten spent half an hour comforting the woman and her son in his Comcar as the other female driver was treated for head injuries and taken to hospital where she's stable.
He later drove the woman and her son home, having suspended Labor's main campaign events for the afternoon.
Labor candidate for the local electorate of Paterson, Meryl Swanson, who was in the entourage, said Mr Shorten had been "outstanding".
"It's often when a person's true character is shown in a situation like this. He was sensitive and very reassuring," she told reporters.
The Labor leader had earlier announced the party's biggest policy of the campaign to date - restoring indexation of the Medicare Benefits Schedule from January 2017.
Doctors say the freeze extended by the coalition government in the May budget would reduce the availability of bulk billing and cost patients up to $20 more for each GP visit.
"Having failed three times to introduce its GP tax - due to Labor's opposition in the Senate - the Liberals imposed a GP tax by stealth, freezing the indexation of the rebates paid to doctors," Mr Shorten said.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Labor could not afford to do it.
And in any case bulk-billing rates by GPs were tracking at about 84 per cent.
"We are spending more money than ever on health and the most important thing is that Australians know that every dollar we spend is fully funded," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the government would stick by the freeze as outlined in the budget.
Mr Turnbull visited a chemical tank factor to talk up the government's corporate tax cut and support for exporters through trade deals.
He received some positive news in the form of the jobless rate for April staying steady at 5.7 per cent, with a 10,800 increase in the number of people employed.
Labor and the coalition will get Treasury's latest advice on the economy and budget when the Pre-Election Fiscal Outlook is released on Friday.
The two leaders were due to attend a western Sydney event on Thursday night.
