Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has found an ally in Barnaby Joyce over his criticism of Welcome to Country ceremonies, with the Nationals MP saying they’re ‘overdone’ and shouldn’t be part of Anzac Day.

Controversy erupted on Friday when a small group of far-Right hecklers booed the Welcome to Country at a dawn service in Melbourne.

Appearing on Channel Seven’s Sunrise program alongside Tanya Plibersek on Monday morning, Joyce agreed with the Environment Minister that “no one has a right to scream out anything” at an Anzac event.

But the former Nationals leader added, “I do think they’re overdone”.

“I think people are starting to feel awkward at them and awkward goes to anger at times – that is something we don’t want.”

Joyce said he certainly did not want to be “welcomed back to my own hometown”.

“I think veterans have a real and genuine concern. If they’ve signed on the dotted line to die for this nation, they don’t believe they need to be welcomed to it.”

Plibersek agreed with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that it was up to individual organisations whether they included a Welcome to Country at events.

“I  enjoy it and I really don’t see it’s any skin off anybody’s nose to show that respect,” she said.

Both Albanese and Dutton condemned the Anzac Day interruptions, but during the fourth and final pre-election leaders’ debate on Sunday night, Dutton said there was “a sense across the community that [the ceremony] is overdone”.

“It cheapens the significance of what it was meant to do,” the Opposition Leader argued, adding they should not be part of Anzac Day services or sporting events.

 “It’s dividing the country, not dissimilar to what the Prime Minister did with the Voice [referendum].”

Dutton repeated the criticism on Monday, telling reporters on the campaign trail: “Listening to a lot of veterans in the space, Anzac Day is about our veterans…  I think the majority view would be that they don’t want it [the Welcome to Country] on that day.”

On its website, RSL Australia says it supports the acknowledgement of Country before official services on Anzac Day “in recognition of Indigenous Australians as the first peoples of Australia”.

Campaign blitz

Both leaders are looking to capitalise on their performance in the debate as they embark on a blitz of marginal seats.

Dutton began Monday campaigning in Paterson, near Newcastle, where he evaded questions about whether his response to a debate question about egg prices meant he was not across electorate concerns.

While the typical cost of a carton of eggs is about $8, Dutton offered up $4 as his response during the debate.

“The point that most families have made to us is that the cost of everything has gone up,” Dutton told reporters on Monday.

“It’s not just food and it’s not just electricity; it’s insurance. It’s the cost of everything under this government that continues to rise.”

The Prime Minister kicked off his final-week of the campaign in the NSW Central Coast seat of Robertson, a bellwether electorate that could predict the election winner.

The community of Robertson has recently been shaken after 19-year-old Audrey Griffin was found dead following a night out.

A stranger, Adrian Noel Torrens, was charged with her murder. He was later found dead in his prison cell.

Locals on Sunday held a march protesting gendered violence just a few minutes away from the location of Albanese’s event.

Labor and the coalition have both pledged to spend $20 million to set up a women and children’s trauma recovery centre, which would provide crisis accommodation for those fleeing domestic violence.

The Prime Minister offered his condolences to Audrey Griffin’s family and friends, and called for a “whole of society” response to violence against women – with specific reference to the role of men.

“One death from violence against women is too many and this is just an enormous tragedy,” he said.

The seat of Robertson is held by Labor on a 2.2 per cent margin. It has been a bellwether electorate since 1983, having voted with the government for the past 15 elections.

Although Albanese was welcomed by the community workers who hosted his announcement, blue-clad Liberal supporters lined the road outside the press conference with signs spruiking the opposition’s fuel excise cut, and were met with several spirited honks from passing drivers.

Millions of Australians have already voted, casting doubt over the extent to which any last-ditch efforts will impact the election outcome.

The odds are generally tipping in Albanese’s favour, with a Newspoll published on Monday showing Labor leading the coalition 52 per cent to 48 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis.

–with AAP