TRANSCRIPT:
It was a rock star welcome for the Prime Minister, as he arrived at Labor's official election campaign launch at the Perth Convention Centre in Western Australia.
He had a message for voters as well as the party faithful, that Labor was the steady hand.
"This is not a time to risk Australia's future by going back to the failures of the past. This is not a time for cutting and wrecking. This is a time to keep building - and to keep building with Labor."
The Prime Minister has also used his campaign speech to paint the Opposition Leader as Trump-lite.
"Our plan to build Australia's future isn't about borrowing ideologies or copying policies from anywhere else - or anyone else. It's about building on what has always been our nation's greatest strength: the Australian people."
The Coalition has struggled to shake its association with US President Donald Trump, whose escalating trade war has rocked markets and dominated headlines.
The day before the campaign launch, Senator Jacinta Price said in a speech that the Coalition wanted to "make Australia great again" - a comment the Opposition Leader brushed off.
REPORTER: "Do you back your senator's comment this morning?"
DUTTON: "I want to get rid of a bad government, that's what I want to do. The biggest influence of my political life has been John Howard. I'm incredibly proud of what Jacinta has done in saving our country from the Voice, because that would have destroyed the social fabric of our country."
But it was an economic message that was front and centre at the Coalition's campaign launch, held at the Liverpool Catholic Club in the Labor-held seat of Werriwa in western Sydney, with Peter Dutton receiving an equally enthusiastic reception, and former Prime Ministers Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott and John Howard in the front row.
The launch placed a clear emphasis on families in Australia's outer suburban mortgage belts.
Much of Mr Dutton's message centred on painting Labor as untrustworthy, and unable to cope with managing Australia's finances.
"This is a pivotal election that will shape our future, a rise or fall moment for Australia. At this election choose your Liberal or National candidate so that we can course correct the country under a new Coalition government. Australians, let's make sure that we can get this great country that we love back on track."
With cost of living pressures a key issue for voters, both major parties have chosen housing as one of their centrepiece campaign launch policies.
Peter Dutton has pledged to allow first home buyers to deduct mortgage interest payments from their taxes should he win the election, a promise that will apply to first-time buyers of newly built homes and limited to the first $650,000 of a mortgage.
"That restores the dream of home ownership for young Australians so that they can get on to the property ladder and that they can have that security as they raise a family."
Labor's housing policy focused on deposits and supply.
Anthony Albanese has said home buyers would need only a 5 per cent deposit on a mortgage under a second term Labor government, with the ALP stepping up to guarantee the other 15 per cent.
Mr Albanese has also promised to build 100,000 new homes, which would be reserved for first home buyers only.
"No competition from property investors, just a fair crack of young Australians. We have seen this work in South Australia. We will bring it to the national level."
Both sets of policies have already attracted strong criticism from the Greens.
Greens leader Adam Bandt says cracking down on investor tax handouts and capping rents are the real solutions to the nation's housing affordability woes.
"Labor and Liberal are still spending 176 billion dollars on tax handouts to wealthy property investors that are putting housing prices out of reach of millions of renters around this country. Until we tackle those billions of dollars, then under Labor your mortgage will still be huge. Under Peter Dutton it will be even bigger."
Pre-poll centres will now open just over a week after the launches as preparations continue for the main event on May 3.
This election is expected to involve the most complete electoral roll since Federation with 18 million people set to cast a ballot, or 98 per cent of those eligible.
Up to half of voters are expected to cast their ballots early.
