Anthony Albanese has defended his credentials to lead the nation and the level of ambition in his policy platform, as he faced a mid-campaign grilling on ABC's Q&A program.
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Mr Albanese has also denied he made a stumble when he was unable to list the six pillars of his party's NDIS policy on Thursday morning, an incident which overshadowed another day on the campaign trail.
The Labor also hit out at the "gotcha" questions from journalists which have tripped him up during the campaign, saying it was among the reasons people felt alienated from politics.
During a one-hour appearance, Mr Albanese said he believed the Murugappan family should be allowed to return to the Queensland town of Biloela, ruled out changing the date of Australia Day and said he supported a referendum on becoming a republic - but not before First Nations people were recognised in the constitution.
The Labor leader appeared on the ABC debate program on Thursday night with a little over a fortnight to go until the May 21 election.
Labor has taken a far leaner bundle of policies to this election after voters rebuked Bill Shorten's ambitious agenda in 2019.
But the "small target" approach has put some voters offside.
One audience member asked Mr Albanese what hope there was voters who felt as though the major parties were arguing over who gets to "rearrange the deckchairs" on the Titanic.
Mr Albanese said Labor was putting forward a "very serious offering", singling out his policies on climate action, fee free TAFE and cheaper childcare.
The Labor leader also pushed back at suggestions he wasn't qualified to lead the nation having not held an economic portfolio during his time in government. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pushed the line throughout the campaign.
Mr Albanese pointed out that none of the three men who had taken Labor from opposition into government since World War II - Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Kevin Rudd - had not held an ministerial portfolio.
Mr Albanese served as infrastructure minister and for a three-month period in 2013 was deputy prime minister.
"One of the really weird things about the government's position on this ... is that somehow infrastructure isn't an economic portfolio ... it absolutely is."
Mr Albanese suffered another campaign stumble on Thursday morning, when he couldn't name the six points in Labor's NDIS plan while under intense questioning the travelling press pack.
One of Mr Albanese's advisors handed him a policy brief midway through the press conference, allowing him to list of the six pillars.
Having owned up to his unemployment rate gaffe on the first day of the campaign, Mr Albanese was asked during Thursday night's program if he would concede that it was a mistake to not know details of the NDIS plan.
But he refused. He argued that he was able to explain the policy's central point, but wasn't provided with the opportunity to expand.
"One of the things that puts people off politics, I think, is the sort of 'gotcha' gameplaying," he said.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
