Malcolm Turnbull has closed the gap on Bill Shorten as the election campaign hits the halfway point.
After a week that included positive economic news, the coalition's stocks in the latest 7News-ReachTel poll climbed two points to 50-50 in two-party terms.
However, asked who had performed better over the first half of the campaign 51.9 per cent of voters favoured the Labor leader.
An average of the latest polls is also very tight, giving Labor a 50.2-49.8 per cent two-party edge over the coalition.
Repeated on polling day that result would most probably return the Turnbull government by a narrow margin, losing about a dozen seats to Labor.
Mr Turnbull spent Friday campaigning in South Australia, where the Liberals fear upper and lower house seats could be lost to the Nick Xenophon Team.
NXT is polling five per cent nationally but is believed to have the backing of up to one in three voters in SA.
Mr Turnbull dismissed questions about the precise timing of his 10-year corporate tax plan delivering an economic boost.
"We can have an argument ... about how much economic growth and how many jobs will come from reducing company tax, but there's no question it will result in more investment and it will result in more jobs," he said.
The prime minister took aim at the opposition leader, who in 2011 spoke in parliament in favour of a corporate tax cut as helping boost investment and productivity.
However, Mr Turnbull himself told the ABC's 730 program in December the problem with a corporate tax cut was its "affordability", which would be an "enormous charge on the budget".
Mr Shorten told reporters in Tasmania, where he pledged $44 million for tourism, he backed a tax cut for small businesses with annual turnovers under $2 million.
But there were better ways of spending $50 billion.
"I choose to invest in Medicare, I choose to invest in schools, I choose to stand up for our pensioners," Mr Shorten said.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen cited a new report by the OECD as backing Labor's strategy to put more money into schools, post-school training, road, rail and the national broadband network instead of big tax cuts.
"Additional spending on clean energy projects, education, skills and telecommunication would help to support future growth and the capacity of the economy to deliver higher living standards," the OECD report said.
On the benefits of tax cuts, the Global Economic Outlook report said: "The effect of lower corporate income taxes on inequality is less clear, which can limit their attractiveness, despite the likely productivity gains. Inequality may rise."
The campaign will step up a notch in the coming fortnight with the close of nominations on June 9, the ballot paper draw on June 10 and start of early voting on June 14.
