Senior Australians are being courted by the major parties as each side commits to extra health care benefits.
But the peak body representing older Australians wants more ambitious policies.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has promised an extra 50,000 older Australians will have access to the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card if the Liberal-National coalition is re-elected by increasing the income test threshold.
"They want that independence they've worked hard for and this will help 50,000 more Australians be able to have access to that certainty of the health care that they wish to have as they move into their senior years," Mr Morrison said in Geelong on Monday.
At the Commonwealth level, all cardholders will be eligible for cheaper medications and health care and may also be entitled to state, territory and local government savings.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese immediately matched the commitment on Monday, where he attended the Labour Day march in Brisbane.
Australian Opposition leader Anthony Albanese and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk attend the Labour Day march on day 22 of the 2022 federal election campaign, in Brisbane. Source: AAP / LUKAS COCH/AAPIMAGE
Mr Albanese said Labor would always support good policy ideas and ruled out increases to superannuation taxes or policy changes for self-funded retirees.
"We have no intentions of making any super changes ... we're making all of our policies clear, we're putting them out there for all to see," he said.
Asked whether he would consider allowing pensioners to keep more of what they earn without losing the pension, Mr Morrison said when such a scheme had been offered there had not been a big takeup.
"Those who have worked hard all their life and are on a pension or are self-funded retirees don't necessarily want to be forced back to work," he said.
Council on the Ageing chief Ian Yates said both parties must consider a review of the aged pension, private rental market assistance for pensioners and a seniors' dental and oral health plan.
"Oral health for older Australians is a real challenge and has all sorts of implications for their physical and mental health," he told ABC News.
"It was taken by Labor to the last election. We would like to see both parties commit to introducing a seniors' dental and oral health plan."
Labor, Coalition promise PBS expansion
Labor and the Coalition are also promising an expansion of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
The Coalition has committed to cutting the cost of medications by $10, while Labor is proposing a $12.50 cut.
Yet Labor may have to work harder to secure the older vote, as the most recent Roy Morgan poll shows the coalition ahead of the ALP 57-43 on a two-party basis among the 65 and older bracket.
Both parties are treading lightly around poll results as Labor campaign spokesman Jason Clare warned it was wrong about the 2019 election.
"We need to win seats, not polls, we need to win people's votes all across the country and we're going to," he told ABC Radio National.
Labor is leading the Liberal-National coalition by 53 per cent to 47 per cent on a two-party preferred basis, a Newspoll published in The Australian on Monday showed.
If realised, the Coalition could lose 10 seats at the 21 May election.
Asked if it was time for a change of government, the Newspoll of 1538 voters taken between 27 April and 30 April found 56 per cent agreed while 44 per cent said the Coalition should be returned.
But 45 per cent of respondents believe Mr Morrison would make the better prime minister, against 39 per cent for Mr Albanese.
A Resolve poll of 1408 voters published in Nine newspapers on Monday closely mirrored the Newspoll result, finding Labor leading on a two-party basis at 54-46.
Mr Morrison was ahead on the preferred prime minister measure at 39 per cent to 33 per cent.
Mother pleads with Scott Morrison at Eid event
The prime minister started Monday in western Sydney where he attended Eid prayers to mark the end of the Muslim observance of Ramadan in the marginal seat of Parramatta with Liberal candidate Maria Kovacic.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd attended the same prayers with Labor's candidate Andrew Charlton.
An Afghan mother made a tearful plea to Mr Morrison during the event, asking for help to fast-track visas for her family, which is under threat from the Taliban.
The federal government has set aside , and 5,000 places for family members.
PM aims to depoliticise possible rate rise
Mr Morrison sought to distance himself from a possible interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on Tuesday.
Following high inflation figures last week, the RBA is widely tipped to increase the official interest rate for the first rise since 2010.
However, the prime minister said such an increase would not be representative of the government's economic handling.
"So tomorrow, it is not about me. It is not about Mr Albanese... it is about Australians themselves and the decisions they are making," he told reporters near Geelong on Monday.
"The pressures on interest rates, I think, highlight ... just why the economy is so important this election."
Regardless of the result on Tuesday, the prime minister insisted a rate hike would have no bearing on the election.
"It is not about politics. What happens tomorrow deals with what people pay on their mortgages," he said.
The prime minister spent the day campaigning in the marginal seat of Corangamite, held by Labor by 1.1 per cent.
Greens promise cannabis reform if they win balance of power
The Australian Greens are promising to reform cannabis laws and push for a ban on new fossil fuel projects in Bass Strait if the minor party secures the balance of power at the federal election.
Cannabis laws needed reform after decades of punitive policy at the state and federal levels, the federal party said on Monday.
"Much of the rest of the world has moved on to legalise cannabis and it's high time Australia did the same," Greens NSW Senate candidate David Shoebridge said ahead of a policy launch in the NSW Northern Rivers town of Nimbin.
Regulation and taxation on legalised cannabis would make it safer for adults who use it, take money away from criminals and divert it to infrastructure like hospitals and schools, he said.
"When the government controls the supply and quality of cannabis, it is also able to provide health support for intervention or problematic use where needed," Mr Shoebridge said.
Some 36 per cent of Australians over the age of 14 have used non-medicinal cannabis, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data for 2019, with 11.6 per cent having consumed it in the previous twelve months.
Those people should not be considered criminals, according to the Greens.
Many people in the community use cannabis and a regulated industry could raise $4.4 billion in revenue, Greens candidate for Page, which includes Nimbin, Kashmir Miller said.
Under the Greens' plan, adults would be able to grow six plants at home for personal use or buy from cannabis retail shops.
Licences to produce or sell cannabis would go through an Australian Cannabis Agency, which would also act as the single wholesaler.
Advertising would be banned and the cannabis sold in plain packaging like cigarettes.
Those selling without a licence would still be open to penalty.
The party also wants a freeze on offshore gas exploration, including ConocoPhillips and 3D Oil's plans to drill northwest of Tasmania near King Island.
"To reach even the weak target of net zero by 2050, not one single new coal, oil or gas project can be built," Greens leader Adam Bandt said on Monday.
Mr Bandt said the 3D Oil project had the potential to release 545 million tonnes of carbon dioxide if the estimated 10 trillion cubic feet of gas in the permit area was burned.
"More pollution than all of Australia emits for a whole year," he said.
"The people of Tasmania don't want it, it endangers fisheries and coasts and it totally fails the climate test".
Mr Bandt called on Labor and the coalition to commit to stopping the project before the election on 21 May.
In February, the Morrison and NSW governments rejected a proposal to drill for gas in NSW waters off Manly and Newcastle following significant community opposition.
Labor also supported rejecting the exploration permit.
"If opposing a fossil fuel project due to community consensus was good enough for progressive NSW electorates then it's good enough for Tassie," Greens Senator for Tasmania Peter Whish-Wilson said.
"New Zealand, Greenland, Spain, Denmark, Costa Rica, France, Belize and Portugal have all implemented bans on new oil and gas exploration - there is no reason Australia shouldn't do the same."
ConocoPhillips Australia and 3D Oil's exploration permit is located west of King Island and covers 4960 square kilometres of the offshore Otway Basin.
ConocoPhillips Australia is the operator and holds an 80 per cent interest and 3D Oil holds the remaining 20 per cent.
