An RSL conference and the deaths of at least three people in floods led to a temporary pause in hostilities in the election campaign.
Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten were in Melbourne on Monday for the RSL centenary conference, at which they both emphasised the need for greater support for veterans and their families.
The conference came as news broke of two people losing their lives in floodwaters in NSW and another in the ACT, while fears were held for others in Tasmania.
Thanking volunteers for their efforts, Mr Turnbull said there had been no calls for federal assistance at this stage but the government stood ready to help.
Mr Shorten said on Twitter the storms had done "terrible damage" and taken lives.
"Our love to their families, our thanks to emergency services," he wrote.
The two leaders used the RSL conference to lay out their plans to help homeless veterans, improve health services and get more of them into the workforce.
"We have often been better at honouring the memory of our dead than offering decency and support to the living," Mr Shorten said.
The latest Newspoll shows Labor and the coalition at 50-50 in two-party terms, but the coalition leads in primary vote terms 40-35, with the Greens on 10 per cent and "others" on 15 per cent.
Mr Turnbull told reporters in Melbourne a vote for Labor, the Greens or independents risked the "chaos and instability" of the Gillard minority government.
"The only way to be sure that there will be a stable federal government committed to a national economic plan that will deliver stronger economic growth and more and better jobs is to vote for the coalition," he said.
Broadcaster Derryn Hinch, who has formed his own political party and is running for a Victorian Senate seat, says it could be described as the "Shakespearean election".
"People are saying a pox on both your houses," he said.
The Liberal party's release of a campaign video in which Mr Turnbull praises his single-dad Bruce comes as polls show the prime minister's personal rating falling and voters see him as out of touch.
However, the prime minister defended the video, saying: "It is important to honour your parents."
"Fathers rock. And so do the mothers."
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