Abbott heads to Tassie, Rudd stays in NSW

Day four of the campaign trail is likely to see more questions on boats and taxes as Tony Abbott hits Tassie while Kevin Rudd remains in NSW.

(AAP)

Kevin Rudd is expected to start the day trying to woo voters in Sydney as Tony Abbott presses the flesh in Tasmania.

Thursday will be the second day in a row on the campaign trail that the prime minister has focused his efforts on the NSW capital, illustrating just how important winning the fight in Sydney is to Labor's chances.

Attention is likely to remain on the coalition's $5 billion cut to company tax, which Mr Abbott says is good for jobs and economic activity, but which Labor doubts they can afford.

There will be questions about Labor's boat policies. It says their hardline message is getting through - but boats continue to arrive and there are up to 15,000 people in Indonesia still waiting to come.