Free GP appointments would be one of the key negotiating points for the Greens if Labor is forced into minority government at the next federal election.

The Greens have established a “Robin Hood” election pitch saying they would tax “excessive” corporate profits to the tune of $514 billion over a decade, in order to pay for the party’s election plan.

As part of that plan, 1,000 healthcare clinics would be built over a period of four years, each containing a general practitioner, dentist, registered nurse and psychologist who patients could see without any out-of-pocket expense.

Health spokesperson Jordon Steele-John said the party had repeatedly heard during its doorknocking efforts that health costs had become as important to voters as climate and housing, and establishing free GP visits would become a central pillar of the party’s election campaign.

“When you go and actually talk to people, they will bring up straight away the struggle of cost of living … and increasingly, to know where you will get the money to actually get the healthcare you need,” Senator Steele-John said.

“When we were, for instance, doorknocking in Maitland, we had a number of community members [discuss] that they cannot find a bulk billing GP, they cannot afford the cost to be able to cover the gap.

Greens-commissioned Parliamentary Budget Office costings put the 10-year bill at $54 billion to establish the clinics, as well as triple bulk billing incentives and improve junior doctor pay — which form the other parts of the Greens’ plan.

The ambitious policy would see 250 clinics built in the first year, with at least six to be built in each electorate — and ultimately one in seven of all current general practitioners working in those clinics as salaried doctors in order to staff them.

The party says the number of practices offering bulk billing has collapsed and a new model of care is needed.

“We want to make sure people across the country are able to go to their free local healthcare clinic and get the care they need without worrying about any out-of-pocket expense,” Senator Steele-John said.

Greens eye seats to target with health election pitch

The party has openly stated it will use the policy and other parts of its “Robin Hood” campaign to target seats like Perth in WA, Wills and Macnamara in VIC, Richmond in NSW and Sturt in SA.

All but Sturt are held by Labor.

If Labor were to be forced into minority government, the Greens say the policy would be “on the table and pushed” in any deal-making it did.

Labor would need to lose a total of four seats at the coming federal election to be forced into minority government.

Labor’s 58 urgent care clinics, which provide bulk-billed urgent health care through existing general practices, have cost the government $358.5 million over five years to establish.

The Greens would have to build 20 times more facilities, offering a wider array of services, at close to 100 times the cost.

“If [the election pitch] results in a higher level of support for the Greens at the ballot box, that’s fantastic and we shall use that negotiating position to advance these outcomes at the negotiating table,” Senator Steele-John said.

“But my priority and motivation here is actually to sound the alarm: the Australian public needs access to free local GPs.”

First four years would cost $3.7bn, but estimates ‘highly uncertain’

The Greens asked PBO to model the costs to establish 1,000 clinics each staffed with 25 GPs, nurses, dentists and psychologists, with a start date of July 1, 2025.

PBO said its costings were “highly uncertain”, but estimated that would cost about $3.7 billion in the policy’s first four years, and about $31.7 billion over the decade; covering the planning, building, initial staff and operation of the clinics if they proceeded as laid out by the Greens.

Given the establishment of clinics promised by the Greens would outpace construction time, clinics in the early years would also require rented spaces while permanent locations were fitted out, PBO said.

However, PBO noted its costings did not consider broader impacts, such as the significant diversion of staff from hospitals, general practice, dentistry or other sectors that could be created.

It said the clinics would employ roughly one in seven GPs and one in 10 dentists in Australia, and while it had not modelled the consequences of that, expected they would be “significant”.

With the Greens plan proposing two psychologists in each clinic, roughly one in 20 registered psychologists would be employed in the public clinics.

To help find additional staffing, the Greens have also proposed an additional $100 million a year to ensure pay parity for trainee GPs, to help retain junior doctors in the system instead of those staff heading into specialisations.

Senator Steele-John said the party also expected more doctors to return to general practice if they did not also have to operate a small business to do so.

“If we put this public option on the table, not only are you providing GPs with an opportunity to work in a salaried environment with the benefits and protections of a salary, the way we have crafted the initiative is we have pegged the pay to the average pay of a GP across the country … so they will be guaranteed they will receive the same amount of pay,” Senator Steele-John said.

And an extension of Labor’s tripled bulk-billing incentive payment to all people, rather than just children under 16, pensioners and concession card holders, would make GP access through private clinics easier.

Labor’s tripled incentive payment to GPs was budgeted at $3.5 billion in its first four years, while the Greens say extending that would cost roughly another $5.8 billion in its first four years.

In a statement, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said it “applauded” the measure to triple bulk billing incentives and improve junior doctor pay. 

“Patients who don’t qualify for bulk billing incentives are paying more out-of-pocket because Medicare rebates are nowhere near the actual cost of providing care,’ RACGP president Dr Nicole Higgins said.