Bill Shorten bid for a "bolder and more equal" Australia in his last major speech before the federal election on what prime minister Scott Morrison derided as a "coronation tour".
While Mr Morrison appeared before the media at the National Press Club on Thursday, the opposition leader spoke at a rally of Labor supporters two days before what his party hopes and the polls suggest will be an election victory.
Mr Shorten said Labor is united, ready to govern, and has a series of major reforms to roll out in the first term of a government under his leadership.
"The door to a better, bolder, and more equal and exciting future stands ajar. Do we have the capacity to push through it?" he told the rally in Blacktown on Thursday.
"The chance for a smarter, more progressive Australia is before us."
But Mr Morrison isn't giving up as he accused Mr Shorten of being the first opposition leader since 1993 to avoid the scrutiny of the traditional pre-election press club appearance.
"It's about submitting yourself to scrutiny ... election campaigns are not coronation tours as some seem to think," he told the National Press Club
While he described the Labor rally as a "self congratulatory process", Mr Morrison was confident the government would defy the polls.
"This will be a close election. That is not something, I think, anyone was writing two months ago, six months ago, eight months ago," he said.
Ramming home his attacks on Labor's tax and spending plans, the prime minister talked down the opposition's bolder policy ambitions.
"I think Australians are not looking for big-spending, big-taxing programs dressed up as vision. That's no vision," Mr Morrison said.
"What they're looking for is something that's real, something that's credible, something that's achievable and is being achieved."
Mr Shorten said "vote for change" more than 20 times in his speech in the same hall where Gough Whitlam delivered his 1972 "It's time" address.
He rolled through the list of Labor's policies to end negative gearing, make childcare cheaper, axe franking credit refunds, and put more money into schools and hospitals.
"I promise we will send a message to the world that when it comes to climate change Australia is back in the fight," Mr Shorten said.
"We will take this emergency seriously."
Mr Morrison focused on the Liberal principles he believes Australians care about.
"I want all Australians to keep more of what they earn. Because I believe that they are the answer to a stronger economy in this country," he said.
With one day of frantic campaigning left, a lot of Australians have already voted and tuned out - about five million have lodged their vote or applied for a postal ballot.
The coalition released its election costings almost a week after Labor, revealing a plan to save $1.5 billion from the public service over the next four years.
Some government agencies like the ABC, SBS and security organisations will be exempt from the extension of the efficiency dividend, which will remain at two per cent for a further two years before dropping.
Both leaders will target Queensland seats on Friday.
Australian Associated Press
