Greens leader Adam Bandt says he would push for a billionaire tax in order to fund dental care under Medicare if his party holds a balance of power following the election.
The Greens say its dental plan, costed at $77.6 billion over 10 years, or about $8 billion a year, would be funded by taxes on billionaires and large corporations.
It wants a six per cent tax on the wealth of Australia's more than 130 billionaires and a corporate "super profits tax", which would force businesses to hand over profits after they make $100 million.
"The Greens will make Clive Palmer pay more tax so you can fix your teeth," Mr Bandt said during an address to the National Press Club.
“Dental care must be universal. It is a human right."
Mr Bandt said the minor party was on track to hold the balance of power after the election and would demand an end to gas and coal projects.
He fronted the National Press Club on Wednesday where he outlined his pitch for voters to help his party increase its influence in the parliament.
During his address, he also revealed that hanging in his office is a picture of a coal-fired power station, which he said was a reminder of the need to support these workers.
The framed photo of the LaTrobe valley power station was given to the Greens leader by its workers, which Mr Bandt says signifies the party's support for coal and gas workers.
"I have assured these communities that coal and gas workers are not the enemy. We are all in this together," Mr Bandt said.
"Our enemy is the climate crisis. The enemy is fuelled by coal and gas. Mining and burning coal and gas are killing people."
Using his first official address since the election campaign started, Mr Bandt outlined the minor party's pro-climate, pro-social welfare policies, confident the Greens would hold the balance of power after the federal election.
"No more coal, no more gas. When we are in the balance of power after the election in the Senate and the House and have kicked the Liberals out, this will be our key demand," Mr Bandt said.
"(Predictions) put us on track to be the biggest third party in the Senate ever, to be the biggest ever Greens party room and to be the most powerful third party in the Parliament."
Mr Bandt is confident about the party's prospects at the 21 May poll, claiming the Greens could pick up three new Senate seats, including one in Queensland.
The Greens are currently polling at 14 per cent of the vote in the Sunshine State, but Mr Bandt said there was potential to win a Senate seat off One Nation.
While there has been a focus on teal coloured independents (those part of the Climate 200 group) challenging high-ranking Liberals, Mr Bandt welcomed the challenges being mounted by the pro-climate independents.
"They are drawing attention to the climate inaction of Liberal and Labor," Mr Bandt said.
"The more the climate is in the news, the better, and it makes a power-sharing parliament more likely."
Mr Bandt also voiced his discontent over a question from a journalist asking him to identify the wage price index — a measure of changes in wages over time.
"Google it mate," he responded.
"If you want to know why people are turning off politics it's because what happens when you have an election that increasingly becomes this basic fact-checking exercise between a government that deserves to be turfed out and an opposition that's got no vision."
The question follows Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese being questioned on Monday and failing to recall Australia's unemployment rate and the Reserve Bank cash rate.
He later apologised for the error saying that he was "human" and accepted responsibility for the mistake.
Mr Bandt said politics should be about "reaching for the stars" and "offering a better society" and not about "these questions".
"I would hope at this election you can lift the standard and turn it into a genuine contest of ideas," he said.
The Greens' dental plan builds on a $5.8 billion pledge the Greens took to the 2019 election, which would have provided Medicare-funded dental care to all young people, aged pensioners, full benefit recipients and concession cardholders.
At that election, the Greens scored 10.4 per cent of the national primary vote and Mr Bandt retained the party's only lower house seat of Melbourne.
