Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is defending new Labor attack ads aimed at Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, saying it hasn't breached a promise to run a positive campaign.
The two television advertisements began being broadcast on Wednesday night, with one painting Mr Abbott as a "negative" leader who will hurt families through billions in spending cuts.
The other features a mum preparing a meal for her children and asking, "what are you hiding Mr Abbott?".
Speaking to reporters in Darwin on Thursday, Mr Rudd was asked if the advertisements breached his pledge to run a positive campaign.
"What I said was we would run ads which were based on policy," Mr Rudd said.
"Those ads are based on policy."
The prime minister said the Liberal party had its guns trained on Labor and the government was fighting a "nightly barrage of advertisements".
"Running at a ratio of 10 to one, I'm advised," he said.
Coalition campaign spokesman Christopher Pyne says Mr Rudd daily declares at press conferences the politics of negativity is over before launching a negative attack on the opposition.
"Kevin Rudd's cognitive dissonance is staggering," he says in a statement.
