The Coalition is sharpening up its economic pitch to rural and marginal seat voters with a $678 million plan to fully seal the 2720-kilometre “Outback Way” linking critical minerals rich central Australia to Queensland and WA, as well as support for forestry workers in Tasmania and other politically contested regions.

Pivoting from the government’s recent heavy focus on more boutique obsessions such as religious discrimination laws, Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce will blitz marginal seats in the Northern Territory and Tasmania by challenging Labor over who will create more jobs and growth.