Prime Minister Scott Morrison has linked his potential political comeback to economic growth coming back to regional centres.
Launching a major steel plant expansion in Whyalla in South Australia, Mr Morrison labelled it the "comeback city" on the same day a poll showed the coalition was likely to lose the next election.
"I've got a keen interest in comebacks, I've got a keen interest in the turn-around story we're seeing here in South Australia," Mr Morrison told a crowd in Whyalla on Monday.
The latest Newspoll has the coalition on 45 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, compared to Labor's 55 per cent.
The major investment into the Whyalla plant will use solar energy to make steel, prompting Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to say a future Labor government will make sure the environment and the economy work together.
"In Canberra, we will make sure when we build railways in Australia we buy Australian steel, when we build defence equipment in Australia we buy Australian steel," he told the crowd.
Mr Shorten also promised to strengthen anti-dumping laws to make sure foreign businesses can't dump steel in Australia at below what it cost to produce.
"We dig it up here, we manufacture it here, and we keep the profits and jobs where they belong at home," he said.
