Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has confirmed he will help his kids with a housing deposit “at some stage”, while acknowledging many Australians won’t have that luxury.

Dutton stepped into the shoes of an aspiring home buyer on Tuesday as he spotlighted what he hopes will be a vote-winning housing policy.

Like many other parents, Dutton toured a newly built house with his young adult son.

The crisp two-storey family home on the outskirts of Melbourne represents the kind of housing the Coalition hopes to help young Australians buy.

“Like every parent, I despair at the thought of our kids not being able to get into housing,” Dutton said.

“Young families are putting off having kids, older Australians — parents and grandparents — are staying in the workforce longer to try and provide their kids with some money.”

For the second day in a row, Dutton brought his 20-year-old son Harry on the campaign trail.

On Monday, the younger Dutton said he was “saving like mad” for a home deposit — who has a multimillion-dollar property portfolio — his father dodged questions when asked if he would give his kids a leg up.

Pressed on the topic on Tuesday, Dutton drew a common link between himself and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese — who also has a son in his 20s.

“Our household’s no different to many households where we want our kids to work hard to save and we’ll help them with the deposit at some stage,” he said.

“But in many families … they haven’t got that luxury.

“The Prime Minister and I might be able to help our kids, but it’s not about us.”

Dutton took his election campaign to Maddingley in the north-west Melbourne seat of Hawke.

It is held by Labor’s Sam Rae on a 7.6 per cent margin. The Coalition hopes outer-suburban families — acutely affected by the cost-of-living crisis — will swing in its direction at the May 3 election.

The Coalition’s newly announced housing policy could be its biggest vote winner yet, after Dutton recently had to walk back other plans to cut public servants and end their work-from-home arrangements.

The plan would allow first-time buyers of new homes to deduct interest payments from their income taxes on the first $650,000 of a mortgage.

Dutton and the Coalition have bled support in recent weeks, with some speculating perceived associations between them and US President Donald Trump’s administration are putting off voters.

Recent polling for the Nine papers showed one in three voters are less likely to pick Dutton because of their views of Trump. Asked about that on Tuesday, Dutton steered away from the topic.

“This election … is a contest between Anthony Albanese and myself,” he said.

“It’s about the future of our country.”

Albanese and Plibersek at Labor’s campaign launch in Perth on Sunday. Photo: AAP

Albanese on Plibersek

Also on Tuesday, Albanese declared Tanya Plibersek an “important” member of his team, but declined to say if she would remain environment minister in a re-elected Labor government.

Albanese was quizzed on his relationship with Plibersek while campaigning in Hobart.

It follows the emergence of video at the weekend showing an awkward encounter between the pair at Labor’s campaign launch.

It also follows Albanese’s clear signal that other senior cabinet figures – Jim Chalmers, Penny Wong, Richard Marles, Don Farrell and Katy Gallagher – would keep their posts if Labor wins the election.

Plibersek held the education portfolio while Labor was in opposition, but was shifted to environment after the 2022 election.

“I expect Tanya Plibersek will be a senior cabinet minister. She’s an important member of my team,” Albanese said when asked on Tuesday about Plibersek, who holds the Sydney seat adjacent to his.

“But I’m not getting ahead of myself and naming all 22 – or actually, all 42 – portfolios on the frontbench … She’ll be treated exactly as everyone else. But, Tanya Plibersek will play an important role in my government. She’ll be a senior cabinet minister, as she’s continued to be.”

With a Labor majority appearing increasingly in reach on May 3, Albanese insisted his team was still cautious.

“We’ve got a mountain to climb,” he told ABC TV on Tuesday.

“It’s about halfway in the campaign today, it’s tough to win elections, that’s why no prime minister has been re-elected after serving a full term since 2004.”

Recent polls show Labor gaining momentum, widening the two-party preferred gap and putting majority government in reach as the Coalition campaign falters.

Labor is ahead 54.5 to 45.5 per cent according to Roy Morgan polling and 53.5 per cent to 46.5 per cent in a separate Resolve poll published by the Nine newspapers.

Dutton has positioned himself as the underdog.

“The Prime Minister’s already talking about a third term,” he said in reference to Albanese’s comments to The Nightly about serving a full second term and seeking a third following questions about his political future.

On Tuesday, Albanese said the past two decades of leadership had been “a revolving door” for both major parties.

“I’m not looking over my back. I’m looking forward. And we have an incredibly united caucus,” he said.

But he also sounded a note of caution.

“I don’t take anything for granted on May 3. And I don’t know what I’ll be doing on May 4. As I’ve said … I have a bit of a tradition of watching a Star Wars movie on May the 4th.

“But I’m trying to climb the mountain here. I’m trying to be the first prime minister since John Howard in 2004 – it’s been 21 years, we’ve had a revolving door.

Former Scott Morrison media chief turned consultant Andrew Carswell said it wasn’t too late for the Coalition to turn around its dire polling, with some 40 per cent of Australian voters remaining undecided.

“It’s gigantic, the biggest I’ve ever seen in an election context,” he said.

“Everything that we see on the ground in those key electorates, people want to be convinced, they haven’t closed themselves to the Coalition like they may have done in previous elections.

“They’re there to be convinced and what will convince them is the Coalition hitting that economic message every single day of the last three weeks.”

-with AAP