Treating pancreatic cancer hasn't improved much in decades but Labor is promising $20 million to drive world-class research for a cure.
It's part of a $125 million research funding promise that Bill Shorten says will help Australia's research sector improve cancer survival rates.
Labor is also promising billions of dollars to reduce out-of-pocket costs for millions of medical scans, including for cancer.
"I want to say today, the government are not my enemy - cancer is my enemy. What we want to do is fight cancer," Mr Shorten told reporters in Ryde on Friday.
Pancreatic cancer patient Paul Stokes' father died of pancreatic cancer two decades ago, and now he's getting similar treatment to the one his father got.
"One of the big shocks for me was obviously the diagnosis, but also the fact that things haven't really moved on in the last 20 years," he told Mr Shorten at a medical clinic.
Mr Stokes said he was worried about his children having to pay for constant tests to see if they got the same disease.
Mr Shorten said Australia was in an "unedifying arm wrestle" about health funding.
"This country shouldn't use money as an excuse not to do something," he told Mr Stokes.
"Why should I apologise for wanting to properly fund health?"
The Labor leader said pancreatic cancer will be Australia's second biggest cancer killer in five years - killing almost as many people each year as breast cancer.
Mr Shorten made his first public appearance on the election campaign with a visit to the Sydney markets to talk about his small business investment guarantee with flower sellers and vegetable growers.
Flower grower Wayne Inglis chatted to him about import rules for flowers, which he says have flooded in from overseas due to recent free trade agreements.
Mr Inglis said he wasn't too fussed about who was prime minister, as long as they conserved money and strengthened the economy.
"I always believe, if you've got a good strong economy then everything is going to fall into place," Mr Inglis told reporters.
Another grower had a long chat with Mr Shorten and told him his negative gearing policy was the wrong call at the wrong time.
The opposition leader got a mixed reaction from the voters he met - two women shook his hand but later told AAP they had no idea who he was.
But another voter, Ben, said he'd vote for Mr Shorten because of his promises to make cancer treatment cheaper.
