Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been confronted with a tricky question on the campaign trail – asked about potentially dumping a frontbencher who was standing right behind him.

It came as the Coalition and Labor campaigns shared territory in the key battleground of western Sydney on Friday.

Dutton was in the Labor-held seat of Parramatta in the morning, pumping petrol in Epping to spruik his plan to halve fuel excise as a cost-of-living measure.

As he fronted the media, he was asked about reports in the Nine newspapers that Bridget McKenzie and Barnaby Joyce are among those who face demotion to the backbench if the Coalition wins the May 3 election.

“How could you dump somebody like a Senator McKenzie, who’s a fantastic shadow minister, was a great minister in government and will be a great minister in the next Coalition government as well?” Dutton said, as McKenzie stood directly behind him smiling and winking.

“All of that’s for another day.”

The papers report that the future of the Nationals frontbenchers – who also include deputy leader Perrin Davey, trade spokesman Kevin Hogan and resources spokeswoman Susan McDonald – are all contingent on how many seats a winning Coalition had after the election.

On more comfortable ground, Dutton attacked Labor’s income tax cuts, which passed Parliament ahead of the election being recalled and he has vowed a Coalition government will repeal. He said the July 2026 start date was too late.

“Families need support right now, so that’s where I think this election will be fought,” Dutton said.

Western Sydney is a key battleground for the Liberals as they target the mortgage belt and lower-to-middle income earners with promises of cheaper power bills on top of lower fuel prices.

But Dutton has refused to release modelling showing how his plan to pump more gas into the energy grid to lower prices will bring cheaper power bills, saying it will come soon.

He has also ruled out providing a dollar figure on how much people will save.

Later on Friday, Dutton is due to attend a western Sydney forum alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday.

Happy times for Albanese

Albanese had an easier start to Friday, getting mobbed by schoolchildren on a visit to Cabramatta Public School in the electorate of Fowler, which is being contested by Labor candidate Tu Le.

Screaming with excitement, about 500 children rushed to surround Albanese as he arrived in the school’s covered outdoor learning area.

He shook hands, gave high fives and hugged one child before lifting another into the air.

Students said they were excited to meet Albanese, who was accompanied by Education Minister Jason Clare.

Fowler, an ultra-marginal seat, is held by independent MP Dai Le, who snatched it from Labor at the last federal election in May 2022.

Earlier, Albanese unveiled a funding deal for a Hills district hospital in a bid to woo voters. Federal Labor will put up $120 million for maternity services at the new Rouse Hill Hospital, if it wins on May 3.

The money will go toward birthing rooms, a maternity inpatient unit and post and pre-natal maternity services at the hospital, which will support communities in Blacktown, the Hills Shire, Cumberland and Parramatta.

That will be on top of the $700 million the NSW Labor government has already committed for the development – the first major adult hospital to be built in western Sydney in more than 40 years.

“Western Sydney is one of our fastest growing areas,” Albanese said.

“We will deliver $120 million to deliver birthing and maternity services at the new Rouse Hill Hospital so mums-to-be in Western Sydney can give birth closer to home.”

The $120 million in funding was accounted for in the Albanese government’s federal budget, announced last month.

-with AAP