Bill Shorten is calling this election a referendum on education but it seems every time he hits the streets, voters want to talk about health.
On the streets of Rockhampton on Thursday, it was pathology worker Bernadette Noonan, 58, who fears patients will stop getting the tests they need thanks to Turnbull government cuts.
From July 1, bulk-bill incentive payments to pathologists will be cut, while similar payments for diagnostic services are also be slashed.
Pathologists warn patients will face co-payments of $30 for tests like Pap smears as a result.
"I'm very concerned because we have a high rate of elderly people that really, really need the tests that we do every week," Ms Noonan told reporters after meeting the opposition leader.
"If they have to pay, they'll have to just cut it out and it's really detrimental to their health."
The measure is expected to save the budget $650 million and the government insists there is no need for pathology companies to charge extra as a result.
Mr Shorten, flanked by wife Chloe, told Ms Noonan that Labor gets it.
"If you make it harder for bulk-billing in pathology, people who don't have a lot of money will have to make choices between paying the bills, the school fees or going to the doctor," he told her.
Ms Noonan, a self-confessed Labor voter, said health policy was crucial to her decision at the polls.
"I know where Labor stands on Medicare so that was a no-brainer for me," she told reporters.
On Wednesday, Townsville resident Patricia Dallachy took the opportunity to tell Mr Shorten how difficult it was for diabetics to access their medication, insisting she had tried every chemist in town with no luck.
Rockhampton falls in the central Queensland electorate of Capricornia, a crucial win for Labor because it's the coalition's most marginal seat in parliament.
It's held by Liberal-Nationals MP Michelle Landry by 0.8 per cent but before the 2013 election, it was held by Labor for 15 years.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Shorten declared the Labor party the real country party of Australia.
He said $1.8 billion of Labor's promised $3.8 billion boost for school funding would go to regional schools.
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