Peter Dutton will embark on a last ditch attempt to turn voter sentiment around in the final week of the election campaign in a blitz of dozens of seats across the country.
Just days out from the May 3 vote, the opposition leader will visit up to 28 key electorates, mainly held by Labor, as he makes his bid for majority government.
Mr Dutton will on Sunday evening go head-to-head with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the fourth and final leaders’ debate, to be held by Seven.
Polling throughout the five-week race has consistently shown Mr Albanese cement his lead as preferred prime minister over Mr Dutton, as the coalition began to increasingly trail Labor on a two-party preferred basis.
The coalition needs to gain 21 seats to secure a majority, and believes this election is winnable, as Mr Dutton fights for every vote.
The opposition leader will start the final push in Labor heartland in Melbourne’s west at a rally with hundreds of party faithful.
He will then begin crisscrossing Australia, where he will spruik the coalition’s promised cost-of-living relief measures, economic management and national security message.
Mr Dutton’s campaign pace in the last week has gained speed, as he visited up to three states a day.
In the Victorian battleground, Mr Dutton will attempt to wrest Goldstein, Kooyong, Aston, Dunkley, Gorton and Hawke from Labor.
In NSW, the opposition leader will target Mackellar, Paterson, Dobell, Bennelong and Gilmore.
In WA, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland, the coalition will go for Bullwinkel, Boothby, Lyons and Moreton among others.
The election stops will include high visibility events and strong crowds as the coalition maintains it is still in the fight, and that voters have the appetite for change.
The two leaders have already previously clashed three times, with two of the debates held in western Sydney, where political analysts believe the election could be decided.
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