Not knowing the price of a carton of eggs could fry Peter Dutton’s election chances as he denies being out of touch with voters on cost-of-living concerns.
The opposition leader and prime minister were both asked to name the price of a dozen eggs during a final leaders’ debate as rising prices put pressure on household budgets.
While the typical cost is about $8 for a carton, Mr Dutton offered up $4 as his response during the Sunday night debate, but on Monday he evaded questions on whether his response on egg prices meant he was not across electorate concerns.
“The point that most families have made to us is that the cost of everything has gone up,” he told reporters from the NSW Hunter region.
“It’s not just food and it’s not just electricity, it’s insurance. It’s the cost of everything under this government that continues to rise.”
Both leaders had been looking to capitalise on their performance in the fourth and final debate as they started a blitz of marginal seats.
Mr Dutton began the day campaigning in Paterson near Newcastle, while Anthony Albanese hit the bellwether seat of Robertson on the Central Coast before continuing his tour of marginal Sydney electorates.
The prime minister said the cost-of-living response in the debate showed Mr Dutton was not across detail.
“Peter Dutton is putting all his eggs in one basket and he has no idea what the cost is,” Mr Albanese said.
“People are struggling to find eggs on the supermarket shelf. And we know that inflation is a real issue, the cost of living.”
A panel of 60 undecided voters gave the contest to Mr Albanese, with half backing the prime minister, a quarter in favour of Mr Dutton and the remainder still unconvinced by either man.
Polls have been pointing towards a Labor victory, with the latest Newspoll showing the government leading the coalition 52 per cent to 48 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis.
As major parties use the final week of the election campaign to emphasise key differences, a unity ticket was reached on addressing the scourge of domestic violence.
Labor and the coalition both pledged to spend $20 million to set up a women and children’s trauma recovery centre, which would provide crisis accommodation for those fleeing domestic violence.
The matching pledges came a day after rallies were held in the area against gendered violence, following the alleged murder of 19-year-old Audrey Griffin at the hands of a stranger while on a night out.
Mr Albanese said more was needed to be done to stamp out domestic violence after the killing of 24 women in Australia so far in the year.
“We are not doing well enough as a society, this is a whole-of-society problem,” he said.
Making his funding pledge just minutes after the prime minister’s event, Mr Dutton said the spending commitment would provide much-needed support in the area.
“A government I lead will be focused on delivering real change so that families, women and children are safer and we work toward reducing the impact of family and domestic violence,” he said.
Mr Albanese also offered condolences to the family of Ms Griffin, calling her death “tragic and horrific”.
The funding for crisis support from domestic violence comes as YouGov polling showed female voters were more likely to back Labor.
The polling showed 31 per cent of women would give their primary vote to Labor, compared to 28 per cent for the coalition.
With just five days before election day, 2.39 million people have already cast their ballot at a pre-poll centre, representing about 13 per cent of all electors.
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