The prime minister has beefed up his unofficial election campaign with a visit to an outback cattle station.
With Australians set to cast their votes some time before May 17, Anthony Albanese has embarked on a marginal seat marathon through Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
The Lake Nash property in the Territory's Barkly Tableland was his final stop on Wednesday, where he took the opportunity to highlight the economic benefits of China ending suspension of Australian beef exports.
"As a direct result of that, exports have gone back stronger to even where they were beforehand and now, over the coming 12 months in 2025, will exceed $2 billion," Mr Albanese told reporters.
"This provides a life blood for employment here in the territory."
Diving into the political calendar shortly after new year was unusually early and while Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young understood the rationale, she noted there were still two parliamentary sitting weeks before the end of the government's first term.
"There is unfinished business for this parliament," she told reporters in Canberra.
An environmental law overhaul, which the government initially slated for completion in 2023, has not yet passed after "nature positive" legislation was scrapped at the last minute when the prime minister overruled his environment minister to scupper a deal with the Greens.
Labor is also yet to finalise its schools funding commitments or changes to political donations and it is unclear whether it will release a long-awaited response to a report on gambling advertisement before the election.
The prime minister's tour resumed on Wednesday morning in Cairns, located in the seat of Leichhardt held by retiring Liberal MP Warren Entsch on a 3.4 per cent margin.
"At the next election, people will have a choice between Labor - committed to addressing cost-of-living pressures while building Australia's future - or (Opposition Leader) Peter Dutton, who will cost Australians more," Mr Albanese told the ABC.
He later headed west to Mount Isa, before journeying to the remote community of Alpurrurulam on his 12th visit to the Northern Territory since taking office.
Most of the NT is encompassed by the seat of Lingiari, held by Labor MP Marion Scrymgour on a razor-thin 0.9 per cent margin, and the government will have to fight to hold on after their territory counterparts were demolished by the Country Liberal Party at the 2024 election.
Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has said the prime minister's cross-country blitz "smacks a little bit of desperation" but the government knows it cannot be complacent.
"We don't take any outcomes in the election for granted," Treasurer Jim Chalmers told ABC radio.
"The election will be very tough, it will be very tight.
"People are under very substantial pressure and they often express themselves politically."
Mr Albanese will continue to make announcements in WA on Thursday, where he is expected to appear in Kununurra in the state's north.
As the cost of living continues to rise, Australians are directing their discontent at the major parties.
Polling predicts neither Labor nor the coalition can form a majority government, which could offer an opportunity for minor parties and independents to exert their influence.
"The stakes are really high," Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told ABC radio.
"We are living in a world where our climate is getting worse, our environment is on the brink of collapse."
Though the Greens party went backwards at the 2024 Queensland state election, it received its strongest federal election result at the 2022 contest and the senator says recent polling has been favourable.
She urged Mr Albanese not to "cower" to the mining industry when he continues his trip into WA.
