Union volunteers out in force for election

Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O'Neil has vowed to keep pressure on in marginal seats during the federal election campaign.

ACTU President Michele O'Neil leading the 'Change the Rules' rally.

ACTU President Michele O'Neil says unionists are doorknocking in marginal Queensland electorates. (AAP)

Unions have launched a marginal seat blitz on Queensland as the prime minister campaigns to save crucial contests in the state.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions used the first weekend of the federal election campaign to knock on doors in key seat across the country.

In Queensland, unionists targeted Petrie, Capricornia, Forde and Herbert.

Scott Morrison campaigned in LNP-held marginal seat of Petrie on Sunday morning, as he made his first foray into Queensland during the five-week race.

The ACTU has dumped its campaign to "put the Liberals last" and fallen into line with Labor preferencing One Nation at the bottom of how to vote cards.

ACTU president Michele O'Neil said doorknockers wouldn't discuss preferences.

"It's a conversation about issues and a conversation about how important it is to get rid of this government," she told AAP.

In Western Australia, ACTU doorknockers have targeted Canning, Swan and Pearce, while in NSW, they were out in Robertson on the Central Coast.

The Victorian seats of Corangamite, Deakin and Dunkley were also visited by union volunteers.

Ms O'Neil said voters were worried about rising inequality under the coalition.

"They're angry about casualisation and about their wages not keeping up," she said.

The ACTU president said there was an appetite for change, but unions would not let up during the five-week campaign by continuing talking to people.

"That's the most powerful thing we can do," she said.

One Queensland MP potentially in trouble is Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who apologised after accusing his Labor opponent Ali France of using her disability as an excuse not to move into the electorate of Dickson.

Ms O'Neil said Mr Dutton had attacked someone with a disability who was standing up for others.

"To try and score a cheap political point on the back of her disability is as an absolute disgrace," the ACTU president said.


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Source: AAP


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