Bill Shorten and Scott Morrison make their final pitches to the nation - as the Labor leader says the 'door is ajar' for real change
- Bill Shorten will make the case for a 'vote for change' in his final major address
- The Labor leader is set to give the speech at Blacktown's Bowman Hall in Sydney
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison will give his final major speech in Canberra
Bill Shorten will make the case for a 'vote for change' in his final major address of the election campaign.
The Labor leader is set to give the speech at Blacktown's Bowman Hall in Sydney's west, with the finish line on Saturday's election tantalisingly close.
It's the site Gough Whitlam delivered his 'It's Time' address at the start of the 1972 election campaign which was the first time Labor won government in 23 years.
Meanwhile the prime minister Scott Morrison will be at the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday to make his final major speech of the five-week campaign, and is expected to focus on economic growth.
Bill Shorten (pictured with his wife Chloe in Perth) will make the case for a 'vote for change' in his final major address of the election campaign
The key theme for Mr Shorten's speech is 'vote for change', with the address not expected to heavily hark back to Mr Whitlam.
Instead it will show this election, like 1972, is a generational decision for voters.
Mr Shorten will argue a new generation, in a new decade has a new decision and 'the door stands ajar'.
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Climate change will be a major feature of the speech.
Mr Shorten will also warn of the risks posed by a coalition of chaos, a Morrison-Palmer-Hanson minority government.
He will urge Australians to vote for a united and stable alternative with a vision for the future.
Meanwhile the prime minister Scott Morrison (pictured with his wife Jenny in Sydney) will be at the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday to make his final major speech of the five-week campaign
Mr Shorten will be joined by Labor's leadership group, western Sydney MPs and hundreds of supporters.
Mr Whitlam's 1972 speech began a tradition of him beginning with the words first delivered by wartime Labor prime minister John Curtin: 'Men and women of Australia!'
It's understood Mr Shorten chose the location because he wanted to speak at a place that means something to Labor and Australia.
The opposition leader campaigned in Perth on Wednesday, targeting Attorney-General Christian Porter's seat of Pearce.
At a TAFE campus in the northern suburbs electorate, which the Liberals hold by 3.7 per cent, Mr Shorten urged apprentices to vote Labor.
He pointed to climate change and tool subsidies.
Labor also focused on industrial relations, promising to create a new authority sitting alongside the Fair Work Commission to deal with wage theft claims of up to $100,000.
Mr Morrison is expected to focus his pitch on the coalition's central theme of economic growth.
'My message is this: now is not the time to turn back,' he is expected to say.
'Now is the time to get on and keep on with the work of building our economy by backing in the choices Australians are wanting to make every day and to enable them to plan for their future with confidence.'
The prime minister will also take aim at Labor's alternative 'big taxing, big spending' agenda.
'This week is about focusing Australians on that choice and the price of that choice.'
As of Wednesday morning, about 27 per cent of enrolled voters or 4.5 million people had either sought a postal ballot or lodged a pre-poll vote.
It's widely predicted the record of 31 per cent set in 2016 will be beaten before the polls open on Saturday.
