Fiscal responsibility is the name of the game according to Jim Chalmers

The Shadow Treasurer said the issue was at the forefront of many voters' minds recently.

"As it stands right now, people who want to talk to me about their concerns are almost entirely focused on the cost of living," Mr Chalmers said.

"Costs of living are going through the roof, and their real wages are going backwards, so they're falling behind.

"It's easily the biggest, most prominent issue in people's minds around our community."

Although cutting the fuel excise has been the subject of much discussion in recent days, Mr Chalmers said the ALP would allow the Federal Government to take the lead on the issue but did not rule out support for such an initiative.

"It's a bit hard to preempt what they [the Government] might announce and the cost of it," he said.

"We want to be really responsible with the budget and so it matters what they come forward with.

'If it's good for working families, good for the budget and good for the economy, then we'll look favourably at it."

Instead of seeking to cut prices at the pump, Mr Chalmers said a Federal Labor Government would help working families in other aspects of their lives.

This includes standing by the Stage 3 tax cuts, estimated to cost the government over $180 billion.

"Where there have been opportunities to provide cost of living relief for people, whether it be via the tax system or the childcare system of via energy policy, we have found responsible ways to do that," he said.

As for people reliant on income support, such as those receiving Centrelink Payments or a Disability Support Pension, Mr Chalmers said Labor was yet to formalise its policy.

"You have to weigh up all of the various ideas that are put forward, including those around income support, to try and work out your priorities," he said.

"We can't undo all the damage that's been done over the last decade in one year or even one term of a Labor government.

"Issues around income support are very important, but we need to weigh them up against all the other legitimate proposals, so we haven't come to a conclusive view on it."

Instead, Mr Chalmers said any future ALP government would prioritise its existing commitments to energy policy and childcare, but there were other issues he hoped to address.

"If we were to win the election, my priority would be implementing the budgeting for the commitments that we made in this term of opposition but also rebuilding after the floods. So that's going to be an immediate priority," he said.

Another issue was support for Medicare, although Mr Chalmers said he could not share too many details about the policies being considered.

"We will strengthen Medicare, one of the key commitments will be to strengthen Medicare, but we're in the process of finalising our health policy, and I don't want to preempt that," he said.