A re-elected Labor government would bring certainty in uncertain times, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says, as he begins to lay out the case for a second term in office.

Australians will go to the polls on May 3 after Albanese visited the Governor-General on Friday to dissolve parliament.

He said the election would be based on his track record on cost-of-living issues.

“The world today is an uncertain place, but I am absolutely certain of this: Now is not the time for cutting and wrecking, for aiming low, punching down or looking back,” he said in Canberra on Friday upon calling the election.

“This is a time for building – building on our nation’s strengths, building our security and prosperity for ourselves, building an Australia where no one is held back and no one is left behind.”

Albanese said he intended to serve a full term as leader if he won May’s election. He has also again ruled out a coalition with the Greens, should there be a hung parliament.

Issues on health are expected to dominate the election campaign, with Albanese pulling out a Medicare card several times during Friday’s opening pitch.

He also drew on the fact his late mother, who was an invalid pensioner, got the same level of treatment in public hospitals as billionaire Kerry Packer.

“We need the Australian way. The Australian way is that we look after each other … they’re the Australian values. That’s what I’ll fight for,” he said.

“Peter Dutton last night gave a budget reply that was all about fear. It’s all about fear. What I want is a campaign that’s about policy substance, that’s about hope and optimism for our country.”

The election call came days after the government handed down its federal budget on Tuesday. It gave modest tax cuts to all Australian workers, which were legislated on Wednesday but won’t come into effect until July 2026.

Albanese seized on the fact the Coalition had pledged to repeal the cuts if it wins the election.

“The biggest risk to all of this is not what’s happening elsewhere in the world,” he said.

“The biggest risk to Australia’s future is going back to the failures of the past, the tax increases, and cuts to services that Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party want to lock in,” he said.

Labor has 78 seats in the House of Representatives. If it loses three seats or more, it would not be able to form majority government.

-AAP