Housing and crime spearhead Dutton's pitch in key seats

Crime and cost of living are the central pillars of Peter Dutton's pitch to voters as he angles himself as a tough leader willing to take action. Login or signup to continue reading The opposition leader used a visit to Melbourne's north in the outer suburban electorate of McEwen - held by Labor on over five per cent - to spruik his cost-of-living relief measures at a newly built house in Donnybrook. He then visited Hawke, as the Liberals work to pick up about half a dozen seats around Melbourne.

Fulbert Xavier, who migrated with his family from India in 2018, worked two jobs and took years to save for a deposit. Interest rate rises over the past few years has made paying the mortgage more stressful as he struggles to pay bills. Over tea and biscuits, Mr Dutton assured the family cost of living would be easier under the coalition as he spruiked his pledge to reduce power prices.



An instant cut to the fuel excise saving commuters 25 cents a litre on petrol would also aid Australians struggling to keep up with bills, he added. "Their story is similar to the story of millions of Australian families, they're just under the pump," Mr Dutton told reporters on Wednesday. The opposition leader and former Queensland cop has also made crime a central pillar of his two-day Melbourne blitz, including hosting a roundtable with victims.

He denied crime was purely a state issue, saying the Commonwealth had a role to play including border control to stop drugs and illegal tobacco, which has spurred gang-related violence in Melbourne. He flagged leveraging federal funding to force states to take a tough-on-crime approach, including for nationally consistent knife laws. "We can provide funding opportunities and we can incentivise state governments to pass laws," he told ABC Radio.

Law and order were primarily issues in the outer suburbs and were exacerbated during times of economic hardship, which was pertinent in Melbourne's outskirts and "adds to Labor's pain", pollster Kos Samaras told AAP. The coalition is also promising to boost infrastructure in the outer suburbs, announcing a $1.5 billion funding injection to be matched by a future Victorian Liberal government to fully fund an airport rail link.

The airport is in Hawke, an electorate slowly becoming more marginal, but it was still optimistic for the Liberals to knock off the more than seven per cent margin, election analyst Ben Raue said. If Victoria started to swing towards the Liberals, Hawke could swing further, he said. "Victoria was integral for the coalition with more seats in play than other states and that, I think, will be decisive on election night," Mr Dutton said.

Mr Dutton's final stop in Melbourne on Wednesday included a $6.2 million funding promise for a Headspace mental health centre in Hawke to expand capacity, as the Liberals focus their attack on the electorate after smelling blood in the water. It's part of the Liberals $400 million mental health package as it uses the area to attack the government for inaction as Labor makes health a centrepiece of the election.

The coalition also committed to $18 million for the Jewish Arts Quarter project targeting the inner Melbourne electorates of Goldstein and Macnamara, which it's trying to win back from independent Zoe Daniel and off Labor respectively. Australian Associated Press Daily Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update.

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