Albanese and Dutton take the gloves off as scare campaigns go into overdrive

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Labor and the Coalition are scaling up their negative campaigns in a dramatic move to sway voters in the final day of the federal election, clashing over healthcare and energy while also waging a social media fight over tax.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has gone on the offensive with a bid to secure a majority in parliament and defy predictions that he will be forced into minority government, signalling Labor’s growing confidence it will hold onto power.

Labor candidate for Longman Rhiannyn Douglas and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a visit to the Morayfield Medicare Urgent Care Clinic on Friday. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton fought back on Friday with a warning to voters about the pressure on living standards after three years of Labor, while issuing a personal vow that “life will be cheaper” if Australians raise him to the nation’s highest office.

The competing campaigns included Labor messages on social media to “save Medicare” despite Dutton’s assurance that the health service was safe, while the Coalition spread fears about higher taxes despite Albanese rejecting their claims.

Albanese stepped up his message about the cost of living by listing Labor policies including income tax cuts, energy bill relief, childcare subsidies, spending on Medicare and the construction of urgent-care clinics.

But the prime minister shifted to an attack on Dutton and the Coalition when asked at a campaign stop in Brisbane about his case for a second term.

“I mean ... they are just not ready for government,” he said of his opponents.

“Australia deserves better, and I’ll give them better.”

Dutton urged voters to remember the financial pain of the past three years – a period that included a fall in household incomes due to inflation – and promised swift help with a cut to fuel excise as well as a $1200 tax offset next financial year.

“Families need support now, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he said while campaigning in Perth.

“We’re going to restore the dream of home ownership, and we’re going to invest into defence so that we can be a safe country into the future.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, joined by Liberal candidate for Moore, Vince Connelly, visits a fuel station in Perth.Credit: Getty Images

Labor has emerged with an edge over the Coalition in the final stages of the election, with published opinion polls showing more support for the government, but both sides declared the result could be close when final votes are cast at 6pm on Saturday.

In a new sign of concern about the Coalition campaign, some Liberals privately conceded that Dutton faced an immense challenge in winning a majority and pinned their hopes on driving Labor into minority government.

Albanese dismissed the claim he would be forced into a deal with the Greens or independents to remain in office, a key theme of Dutton’s attack when polling at the start of this year showed a steep fall in the government’s primary vote.

“What I’m intending to do is to see a majority government elected,” he said.

Senior Labor figures have privately countered the idea of an agreement with the Greens akin to the negotiation reached in 2010 when Julia Gillard was prime minister, noting that the smaller party would have limited options.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has ruled out supporting Dutton as prime minister in a hung parliament.

While Albanese and Dutton used their public appearances on Friday to assure voters they had positive visions for the country, the negative campaigns grew in volume and impact at a key point when many disengaged voters are paying more attention to the election.

Dutton claimed Albanese would change the tax rules on negative gearing and highlighted the government’s stalled proposal to tax unrealised capital gains in superannuation funds worth more than $3 million.

The opposition leader also warned of a hidden Labor agenda to bring back the Indigenous Voice to parliament after it was defeated in the referendum of October 2023, a significant victory for Dutton when he opposed the forum for First Nations.

“They have a plan to introduce by legislation a Voice,” Dutton said in Perth.

Albanese countered this less than two hours later in an interview on the ABC. Asked if he would legislate a Voice, he said: “No”.

The prime minister has also ruled out changes to negative gearing, noting that the same accusation was made against him at the last election, and he has hit back at the Coalition claims about unrealised capital gains by saying the changes would only affect 0.5 per cent of super account holders.

The Coalition has rejected Labor claims that Medicare would be at risk under a Coalition government, pointing to Dutton’s commitment earlier this year to match the government’s $8.5 billion injection into the health service.

While the Coalition has questioned the government policy to set up more urgent-care clinics to offer bulk-billed services and ease pressure on hospital emergency departments, it has not said it would scrap the existing centres – a key Labor claim.

Labor social media accounts have stepped up the “save Medicare” message and targeted Dutton in his own seat, reprising a message that helped Bill Shorten as Labor leader at the 2016 election.

In one message, Labor tells voters in Dutton’s electorate: “You have the power to kick out Dutton and save Medicare.”

Albanese began Friday in Brisbane and visited two Coalition seats in a bid to gain ground and increase his thin majority in parliament, signalling Labor’s confidence about holding its own seats and going on the offensive in the final days of the campaign.

Asked whether he was playing “mind games” against Dutton by visiting the opposition leader’s home seat of Dickson, the prime minister said: “No, we’re trying to win a seat.” The Coalition holds Dickson on a margin of 1.7 per cent and the Labor candidate, Ali France, is making her third attempt to defeat him.

Albanese travelled to Tasmania to campaign in the seat of Braddon, which the Liberals hold on a margin of 8 per cent – signalling, again, the Labor plan to defeat Dutton in seats he might consider to be safe.

Dutton travelled further on Friday, in a decision that took up hours of his day, by starting in Adelaide and flying for three hours to Perth before spending just as long on the return flight to the east coast, ending the day in Melbourne.

The opposition leader drew cheers from supporters on Thursday night during a visit to Sturt – a marginal seat held by the Liberals since 1972 – and visited a food market on Friday morning in the seat of Makin, held by Labor on a margin of 10.8 per cent.

In Perth, he visited Tangney, a marginal seat held by Labor and seen as a key target for the Coalition.

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