Coalition leader Tony Abbott has used the Liberal Party's formal election campaign launch in Brisbane to try and build momentum in the lead-up to the September 7 poll.
He's reiterated his plans to scrap the carbon tax, cut waste, stop the boats and generate two million new jobs over the next decades.
Mr Abbott has told party faithful this election is the most important in a generation.
He says only a Coalition government can get the economy moving again with its positive plan for the future.
Mr Abbott has appealed to mainstream Australia, calling for unity and an end to divisions between workers and employers, the rich and the poor, foreign workers and Australians - which he says is the result of six years of Labor government.
Mr Abbott has called on Australians to harness the benefits that come from the nation's diverse multicultural society.
And he's called on voters to commit to lifting the living standards of Indigenous Australia.
"Starting next year, I will work to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution - something that should have been done a century ago - that would complete our constitution rather than change it. As long as I am in public life, I will continue to spend a week a year in a remote Indigenous community as I've done over the past decade. Because if they're good enough for people to live in, they should be good enough for a prime minister to stay in. And in Indigenous communities, no less than in every Australian community, the kids should go to school, the adults should go to work, and the ordinary law of the land should be upheld."
Mr Abbott has announced an incoming Coalition government would index eligibility thresholds for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card so that more self-funded retirees will have access to cheaper medicines.
As well, an incoming Coalition government would commit an additional 200 million dollars to dementia research.
And the Coalition leader leader has made a play for some of Labor's core voters promising to boost apprenticeships with HECS-style loans.
Describing them as tradie loans, he says they would be offered over four years to apprentices in areas of national skill shortages to help buy tools and equipment, and for other expenses.
There would be a 20 per cent discount for those who complete their training, but instalments would stop immediately for those who drop out of their training.
Mr Abbott says this is not something for nothing.
"This will be available to the 60,000 mostly young Australians who next year will start learning the trade skills that are in short supply - the electrical, plumbing, carpentry, cooking, welding and mechanical apprenticeships - that only half of them, on current figures, will finish. This is a hand-up - not a handout - for people who will meet our skills needs for the next 40 years. Choosing a trade, no less than going to university, is a good way to make something of your life."
Nationals leader Warren Truss spoke to the gathering, saying a Coalition government would build a stronger economy and a better Australia.
He's pledged to work for all Australians and says the mismanagement of the economy and the country must stop.
Mr Truss says he's confident that the best years for the nation are ahead but warns a true new way forward can only come with a change of government.
"Now, that change is about Australia being unshackled to achieve its full potential providing Australians with better opportunities and better living standards. It's about more jobs, and better jobs, greater job security; the ability to create new and lasting careers; it's about bequeathing to the next generation a better Australia than the one we inherited."
Meanwhile, Kevin Rudd continues to declare he is the underdog in this election campaign, and opinion polling backs this up.
Deputy Leader Julie Bishop says she agrees the writing is on the wall for Labor and has been from the start.
"On day one I was in Corangamite. The Labor candidate was handing out leaflets, the cameras were rolling, and a man came up to him and said 'You Labor?' he then turned around, pulled down his track pants, bared his buttocks to the world and said 'well, Labor can kiss my...' Next day the Geelong advertiser reported the first crack has appeared in Kevin Rudd's campaign."
