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Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she will campaign for a historic fourth term as the underdog as she commits to strengthening integrity measures before next year's election.

Asked about recent YouGov polling published in The Courier-Mail that puts the LNP opposition marginally ahead in the two-party preferred race, Ms Palaszczuk conceded Labor had work to do.

"It means that we're definitely the underdog when it comes to the next election," she told reporters in Bundaberg on Wednesday.

"We have to fight every single day.

"The people of Queensland know me, they know that I care about them, they know that I'm absolutely focused."

Liberal National Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the state government was failing to act on promised integrity reforms following the landmark Coaldrake Review last year.

"The Palaszczuk government's only focus is seeing the sun rise on a fourth term in office (but) not letting the sun shine in to heal the integrity crisis," he said.

"It's very simple, Queenslanders deserve a government that's transparent and accountable, with a focus on delivering for our state, rather than covering up its own failures."

At the time, Ms Palaszczuk said she was taking "personal responsibility" to make certain the report's 14 recommendations were implemented, among them the proactive release of cabinet papers within 30 days.

The premier said there had been "substantial progress" on the reforms, and a second stage of legislation will be introduced to parliament next month.

Further changes to lobbying laws are likely to be included in the new bill.

"We've got some of the toughest lobbying regulations in Australia, Professor Peter Coaldrake looked at some options to make that tighter, and we are strengthening that," Ms Palaszczuk said.

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Pharmacy peak bodies have been accused of scaremongering on changes to prescription medicines.

Up to six million Australians will be able to pay less for medicines, with the government to allow people to buy two months' worth of subsidised medicines on a single prescription, rather than two separate prescriptions.

More than 300 medicines will be on the list, including treatment for conditions such as heart disease, cholesterol, Crohn's disease and hypertension.

Health Minister Mark Butler has dismissed concerns from the Pharmacy Guild the changes would lead to wide medicine shortages and compound existing ones.

"This is not going to change the number of tablets dispensed in a given period of time, it's simply going to mean that people can get two boxes at a time instead of having to get one box and come back twice as often," he said in Canberra on Wednesday.

"I really would caution against some of the scare campaigns being put by the pharmacy lobby group."

The medicines will be phased in during three stages, with the first on September 1.

Of the 325 medicines as part of the list, there were shortages for seven, the health minister said.

Mr Butler said the changes were estimated to save the government $1.2 billion over the next four years, with that money to be reinvested into community pharmacy health programs.

"Almost one million Australians go without a medicine or defer getting a script filled because of cost. We know that dropping the price of medicines is better for patients' compliance with their medicines that their doctor has prescribed," he said.

But Pharmacy Guild of Australia president Trent Twomey said the medicine shortage situation was worse than what Mr Butler was indicating, warning it could become more difficult for patients to get life-saving medication.

Mr Twomey said some pharmacies could also be forced to close because of cuts it would receive on dispensing fees from the government as patients came in for prescriptions less often.

"This is a $3.5 billion cut, of which (the health minister) only wants to give back $1.2 billion, because that's what the taxpayer's funding, but the pharmacist is wearing the complete rest of the cut," he said in Canberra.

"That's what going to send (pharmacists) to the wall and (the minister) doesn't seem to give a s***."

Mr Twomey said while the government had pledged to reinvest savings into pharmacy programs, it needed to get the medicine situation under control.

"This is supposed to be a government that cares, this is not how one operates," he said.

"You have to make sure that the core clinical function of dispensing is supported before we start looking at doing new clinical services."

Doctors will still be able to choose to write a prescription for a one-month supply for patients, rather than two.

Mr Butler said the changes would not impact on supply for the medicines on the list.

He said many countries made three months' supply available at a maximum.

"We've decided to go with two months at the moment. We think that's the right balance between the interests of patients and support for a strong community pharmacy sector."

Australian Medical Association vice-president Danielle McMullen welcomed the changes to prescriptions.

"At the time we're talking about so many cost-of-living pressures, this will really ease the burden on patients across Australia," she told Seven's Sunrise program.

"There are some situations of shortages in medicines at the moment but there will be a staged approach to this announcement to ease the burden on the shortages."

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Australia's inflation has most likely topped out and starting to moderate, but it's unclear if the fall will be enough to convince the Reserve Bank to keep rates on hold next week.

Inflation lifted seven per cent annually in the March quarter, but consumer prices as measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics are growing more slowly than in the December quarter when a 7.8 per cent yearly increase was recorded.

Quarterly inflation growth rose 1.4 per cent in the March quarter, which ABS head of price statistics Michelle Marquardt said was the lowest quarterly rise since December 2021.

"While prices continued to rise for most goods and services, many of these increases were smaller than they have been in recent quarters," she said.

The quarterly lift was driven by sharp rises in medical and hospital services, tertiary education, gas and other household fuels, and domestic holiday travel and accommodation.

Underlying inflation, which strips out large jumps and falls in prices, moderated from 6.9 per cent in the December quarter to 6.6 per cent annual growth through to March.

Consensus expectations were for a 6.9 per cent rise in headline inflation in the year to March and a 6.7 per cent lift in the trimmed mean.

The monthly indicator fell for the third month in a row from its 8.4 per cent peak, lifting 6.3 per cent in the 12 months to March.

The quarterly inflation numbers will set the scene for another finely balanced cash rate decision next week.

The Reserve Bank started hiking interest rates in May last year to bring down rising inflation, but it decided to hold steady at 3.6 per cent last month.

In recent communications, central bank officials have made it clear the board is prepared to hike again if the incoming data undermines its pathway to returning inflation back within its two to three per cent target range.

BIS Oxford Economics head of macroeconomic forecasting Sean Langcake said the data was broadly in line with the firm's expectations and the RBA's most recent forecasts.

Mr Langcake said headline inflation had likely peaked and goods prices were starting to cool, which would contribute to slower inflation over 2023.

"But we think there is enough momentum in core and services inflation to warrant tighter policy settings, and maintain our expectation for another rate hike in May," he said.

© AAP 2023