Victorians would be able to walk into a dental clinic and receive free checkups and treatment under an Australian-first proposal the Labor government will take to the November state election.

The premier, Ben Carroll, will announce the plan – Labor’s first major election commitment – at a rally on Saturday to mark fewer than 100 days until Victorians go to the polls.

Carroll will say a re-elected Labor government would spend $230m to open 10 public dental clinics across the state, where oral care clinicians would be able to provide free checkups and treatments, including fillings, root canals and extractions.

Carroll described the plan as “structural cost-of-living support” and a national-first intervention by a state government.

“Only Labor will deliver free dental care for all Victorians,” he said in a statement.

On Saturday, Caroll told reporters the government was aiming to have the 10 clinics open by the middle of 2027.

The health minister, Ingrid Stitt, has described the plan as the dental equivalent of the state’s urgent care clinics, where people can “turn up and get the care you need”.

“Getting dental care shouldn’t be determined by your bank balance or where you live,” Stitt said.

Following the announcement, an opposition spokesperson said the government’s “mismanagement of our health system” meant the median waiting time for public dental care in Victoria was seven months, compared to one month in NSW, according to Productivity Commission data.

“Labor can’t staff the dental services we already have, yet want Victorians to believe they can suddenly provide free dental care for seven million people,” they said.

Asked about high vacancy rates among dentists on Saturday, Stitt told reporters the government would have more to about “the workforce component of this election commitment”.

The Victorian Greens said the announcement of a “handful of free dental clinics shows that Labor only acts on the cost of living when it faces electoral wipeout”.

“It’s a start – but with only enough places for a stadium’s worth of Victorians, getting an appointment will be harder than scoring Taylor Swift tickets,” said health spokesperson, Dr Sarah Mansfield.

The Victorian Council of Social Service (Vcoss) welcomed the announcement, but called on the government to ensure “that these services are designed to reach low-income Victorians first and foremost”.

Vcoss CEO Juanita Pope said unaffordable dental costs had led to people “raiding their future retirement savings … or simply deferring the economic pain of a trip to the dentist while putting up with the inevitable physical pain.”

Walk-in basis

Under the proposal, seven of the public dental clinics would be located in Melbourne and three in regional Victoria, in areas where there are gaps in services.

The clinics would be open from 9am to 9pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on weekends and would operate on a walk-in basis, with priority given to people with the most urgent needs, including those experiencing dental pain or swelling or who have had an accident.

Asked on Saturday if the clinics would means test arrivals, Carroll said “we will be focusing on those people that don’t have private health insurance that need the care that they need”.

Once fully operational, the government said they would treat more than 100,000 Victorians a year.

The state’s urgent care clinics were similarly unveiled just three months before the 2022 Victorian election as part of a joint announcement with New South Wales.

On Saturday, a spokesperson for the NSW health minister, Ryan Park, said the government “would like to see more detail on the Victorian model but it’s not something we’re actively considering right now”.

The federal government also began contributing funding to the clinics and expanded the rollout.

Asked on Saturday if the Victorian government would seek federal funding, Carroll said: “No, this is a statewide initiative.”

Dental costing Australians big

Across most of Australia, free or low-cost dental care is currently only available to specific eligible groups such as children and young people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and those with concession cards.

In Victoria, $239m was allocated in the 2026-27 budget to dental, including the Smile Squad program in public schools.

But Medicare does not cover dental care for most adults, leaving millions of Australians to choose between dipping into their wallets or skipping treatment.

According to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) data, Australia spends more than $12bn on dental services. About 61% of that cost falls to the individual, health insurance funds cover 19%, and the federal government 11% and state governments 8%. There has also been a sharp rise in applications to access superannuation early to fund dental treatment.

Guardian Australia reported in 2025 that people struggling to afford dental bills were delaying or skipping treatment, while untreated tooth decay was increasing and record numbers of Australians were presenting to hospitals for dental procedures.

Later that year, during the federal election, the Greens campaigned heavily on their plan to expand Medicare to cover dental services for adults, which was costed at $195bn over 10 years. The party went backwards at the election but continues to pursue the policy.

Federal Labor backbenchers have also previously expressed support for putting dental treatment into Medicare and it remains in the party platform.

In Victoria, Labor sources are hopeful Carroll’s announcement will shift the party into campaign mode after weeks spent seeking to differentiate himself from his predecessors, Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan, including by calling a royal commission into the construction sector and pausing the passage of work from home legislation.

However, sources have said the dental policy was developed under Allan and her team.