Anthony Albanese says he is amazed lifting the minimum wage is not a bipartisan issue, as Scott Morrison accused him of being a "loose unit on the economy".
The Labor and Liberal leaders will face off in the third and final debate on Wednesday night, with the cost of living and lifting wages to be key issues.
Visiting the seat of North Sydney, Mr Albanese said Labor supported a rise in the minimum wage which kept wages above inflation, currently 5.1 per cent.
The prime minister, who was in the NSW Hunter region ahead of the 21 May election, won't put a figure on the rise saying it is a matter for the Fair Work Commission.
Mr Albanese said it was a case of Australians currently earning $20.33 an hour who wanted an extra $1 an hour.
"I'm the Labor leader, but I'm amazed that this is not a bipartisan issue," he told reporters.
"This is a government that ... did a budget just a short while ago, whereby they made changes to petrol, they gave a $250 handout, saying there is a cost of living crisis.
"Well, there is a cost of living crisis and people are doing it tough and that is why there needs to be action [on wages]."
Mr Albanese said his comments were consistent with the Reserve Bank saying one of the handbrakes on the economy was a lack of wages growth.
Mr Morrison said a wage increase tied to the 5.1 per cent inflation figure was an ill-thought-out policy and attacked Mr Albanese for being a "loose unit" on the economy.
"It's like throwing fuel on the fire of rising interest rates and rising cost of living," Mr Morrison said.
"If you want your interest rates to be skyrocketing, as a result of what Anthony Albanese is suggesting ... he's your guy.
"He thinks he can run around at this election saying he can increase people's wages and at the same time, see cost of living pressures fall. It just doesn't work like that."
The prime minister said wages policy needed to be carefully considered and was best left to the independent umpire.
Mr Albanese rejected arguments a wage rise in line with inflation would result in interest rate hikes, saying the prime minister was being "loose with the truth".
"This is a guy who never looks to bring people together, who never looks for unity, is always just looking for wedges and always looking for division," he said of Mr Morrison.
Coalition minister Jane Hume said the best way to increase wages was to put downward pressure on the unemployment rate.
"When there is low unemployment, employers think differently," she said.
"Around (one) million people just in the last couple of months of last year changed jobs and they changed jobs for a pay increase of somewhere between eight and 10 per cent. That only happens when unemployment is exceptionally low."
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said wage growth over five per cent - or an increase to the minimum wage of $42 a week - was unsustainable.
"There are hundreds of thousands of small businesses and for many of them this would be a backbreaker, it's not sustainable for them to be asked to pay this," he told Sydney radio station 2GB.
The ACTU has revised up its annual wage review claim from five to 5.5 per cent, which would lift the annual minimum adult wage rate to $42,384.84.
Fiona Martin denies confusing challenger with another Asian-Australian
Liberal MP Fiona Martin has denied confusing her Labor challenger with another Asian-Australian woman in a fiery election debate on a Sydney radio station.
Sally Sitou, the daughter of Chinese parents who fled Laos after the Vietnam war, is Labor's candidate for the marginal western Sydney seat of Reid, which is currently held by Dr Martin.
During an election debate on 2GB on Wednesday, Dr Martin seemed to confuse Ms Sitou with , who was running for Labor preselection in the seat of Fowler before Kristina Keneally was parachuted in.
The two women were engaged in a fiery exchange when Dr Martin claimed Ms Sitou was only running in Reid because she had been "kicked out" of Fowler by Ms Keneally.
Ms Sitou responded: "Now she's just making things up. I mean, that's how ridiculous this debate has gotten."
Ms Sitou later addressed the issue on Twitter, demanding an apology.
"Earlier today in a candidates’ debate, my opponent Fiona Martin accused me of having previously contested preselection in Fowler," she said.
"I have never sought to run for Fowler. I live in Reid, my son goes to school in Reid, and I am excited by the opportunity to represent my community.
"My opponent either has me confused for a different Asian-Australian, or she is deliberately misleading people. Either way, she should apologise."
But Dr Martin has denied she confused Ms Sitou with someone else.
"[I] was referring to media reports that Ms Sitou was in the running for the state seat of Cabramatta in 2018," she told SBS News.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported in June 2018 that Ms Sitou was among "at least 12 people" who were "touted as a possibility" to replace sitting member Nick Lalich, should he decide to retire due to the ill health he was experiencing at the time.
Federal Labor candidate for Reid Sally Sitou visits the Papilio Early Learning Centre in North Strathfield on 27 April 2022. Source: AAP / BIANCA DE MARCHI/AAPIMAGE
Pollings shows Josh Frydenberg may lose his seat
As the election draws nearer, new polling shows Labor sitting comfortably ahead of the Liberal-National coalition.
The Roy Morgan poll shows the ALP has a lead of nine percentage points from the coalition on a two-party preferred basis.
The ALP is up 0.5 per cent from a week ago, with a 54.5 per cent lead to the Coalition's 45.5 per cent.
So far just under 650,000 people have cast their ballots at early polling booths.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is on the way to losing his Melbourne seat of Kooyong to independent candidate Monique Ryan, according to a new poll commissioned by The Australian.
The poll shows the treasurer, who was widely expected to be the next Liberal Party leader, is trailing behind Dr Ryan 47 to 53 on a two-party preferred basis.
Additional reporting by AAP.
