Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten changed their original plans for the day and inspected flood-recovery efforts in New South Wales.
But the party machine still creaked on as the countdown continues towards pre-poll voting, opening in a week.
Bill Shorten has launched a 10-year economic plan that includes matching the Turnbull government's promise to bring the budget back to surplus in 2021.
However, the Labor leader concedes budget deficits will be larger over the four-year estimates period while hundreds of billions of dollars in government debt will be paid down in a more responsible way.
