Peter Dutton has promised tax-deductible mortgage interest payments for first home buyers and a one-off $10 billion tax cut, as he and Anthony Albanese threw caution to the wind and pledged another $12 billion in competing cost-of-living and housing measures ahead of the May 3 election.

Both leaders spoke one hour and 4000km apart at their respective election campaign launches on Sunday. Albanese, in Perth, returned fire with a one-size-fits-all $1000 tax deduction for workers and a promise that all first home buyers will be able to enter the property market with just a 5 per cent deposit from next year.