After days of working petrol bowsers and touring construction sites, Peter Dutton has turned to teddy bears as he tries to soften his hard-man image.
The opposition leader and former policeman has long been known as the "attack dog" of the coalition, having overseen Australia's tough Operation Sovereign Borders immigration policy as a minister.
But with an election scheduled for May 3, Mr Dutton has not been afraid to embrace his softer side.
Mr Dutton headed to the inner-city Melbourne seat of Macnamara on Wednesday, when he pledged $6 million in funding for children's safety charity the Alannah & Madeline Foundation.
While touring its headquarters, he helped pack pyjamas, toiletries and a teddy bear into one of the charity's "buddy bags", which will be given to a child fleeing a difficult situation such as domestic violence.
"Very cute, you do amazing work," the opposition leader said.
Throughout the campaign, Mr Dutton has tried to recast his "tough guy" past to position himself as a protector of children and women: vowing to crack down on crime, bolster bail laws and deport non-citizens guilty of serious offences.
"I went to many crime scenes where children have been victims and many households where - from the outside - everything looked perfectly intact," he said.
"Kids should be living without trauma ... to see any of those instances where children are harmed or sexually assaulted or in a domestic violence situation (is hard)."
Later in the morning, he spoke with a young family at a new housing development in Melbourne's east as part of a plan to spruik the coalition's housing policy.
"Their story is typical of many Australian families," Mr Dutton told reporters.
"They're in rental accommodation, but they don't believe they can own a home. They've given up on the dream of home ownership.
"What we intend to do is restore that dream."
The plan would allow first-time buyers of newly built homes to deduct interest payments from their income taxes on the first $650,000 of a mortgage.
Throughout the week, he has also paraded the policy with his 20-year-old son by his side in a nod to young Australians' housing concerns.
Mr Dutton is likely to return to his attack-dog persona when he faces off against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a debate on Wednesday night.
It will be the second of four leaders' debates and could represent the opportunity he needs to regain ground after a rocky start to the campaign.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
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Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)
