Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has dismissed election attacks from Labor as a “sledge-a-thon”, while rejecting claims his policies mirror those of US President Donald Trump.

Launching his campaign in his home city of Brisbane on Friday, Dutton said the Coalition had a positive plan while the government would run a scare campaign for the May 3 election.

Asked if comparisons to Trump by Labor were a compliment or an attack, Dutton said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was pursuing a negative campaign.

“The ads are out there, the sledge-a-thon is on by the Prime Minister because he doesn’t have a good story to tell about his three years in government,” he said.

“You can expect the personal sledges, I am not interested in that. I am interested in our positive plan to help Australians … deal with the cost-of-living crisis that Labor has created.”

Dutton used his address to reiterate policies from his budget reply speech on Thursday, including a halving of the fuel excise for a year, setting up an east coast gas reserve and cutting the migration intake.

He urged voters to think of hip-pocket concerns when casting their ballots, but also backed plans to repeal tax cuts legislated by Labor.

“We have to act responsibly, and we can’t pretend that we’ve got limitless money. Governments only have taxpayers’ money. It needs to be spent efficiently,” he said.

“We need to provide support, but to do it in a fiscally responsible way.

“Australian families need relief now, and we must do better. And there is a better way, and the Coalition has an achievable plan to get our country back on track.”

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

The Coalition must make a net gain of 19 seats to form government in its own right.

History is against Dutton, however, with no government being voted out after a single term since 1931.

Dutton also denied he was backing away from a planned nuclear policy, which would involve seven reactors built across five states from the mid 2030s.

He said the Coalition’s proposed east coast gas reservation, which would set aside the energy resource for domestic use, would bring immediate power bill relief.

“It’s important that we honour our overseas export contracts, but equally, it’s important to make sure that we can take care of Australians first, and that’s what we’ll do,” he said.

“We’ll lower the prices of gas as a result of that, and not just for households, but for manufacturers and for supermarkets right across the economy, and that will help with the problem of inflation.”

Albanese pledges certainty and hope

Earlier, Albanese promised a re-elected Labor government would bring certainty in uncertain times, as he began to lay out his case for a second term.

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.

“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.

-with AAP