Malcolm Turnbull has sharpened his attack on Bill Shorten's asylum seeker policy, claiming people smugglers will use Labor's plan to abolish temporary protection visas as a "marketing ploy" to resume their operations.
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The Prime Minister also closed the door – yet again – on the prospect of Tony Abbott returning to the frontbench if the Coalition is re-elected on July 2, while warning that a British exit, or Brexit, from the European Union would deliver a "very big shock".
With nine days to go until election day and both parties deep in negative territory to win over undecided voters with competing scare campaigns over boats and Medicare, Mr Turnbull zeroed in on Labor's longstanding opposition to TPVs, which ensure asylum seekers in Australia have only limited work rights and are not permitted family reunions.
Labor decided at its national conference in 2015 to adopt the government's policies of turning back asylum seeker boats attempting to come to Australia when it is safe to do so, and to maintain the policy of offshore processing of asylum seekers who arrive by boat that was introduced by Kevin Rudd ahead of the 2013 election.
But it confirmed it would dump the TPVs reintroduced by the Abbott government in 2014, because they "keep people in a permanent state of limbo". The first Rudd Labor government previously axed TPVs in 2008.
In the final days of the election campaign, with Labor on track to win eight to 10 seats according to party strategists, the government is highlighting this point of difference.
Mr Turnbull said this meant, in effect, the opposition had abandoned one of the three key pillars of the Coalition's asylum seeker policy, while highlighting that Labor candidates and MPs had spoken out in opposition to the hardline approach to immigration policy.
"Labor has already said that they will abandon, abolish temporary protection visas. That will be used as a marketing ploy, as a marketing plan by the people smugglers, they will say if you get to Australia and there's a Labor government, don't worry, you will be able to stay permanently," he said in the marginal seat of Corangamite, in Victoria.
"That is a golden opportunity for them to be marketing and we see evidence of that marketing already. Of course, in terms of turn-backs, the question is, does Labor have the will to do it? Their policy says that they retain the option of turning boats back. The real question is do they have the will?"
"We saw what happened under Kevin Rudd. He said he would do it but [the] truth is Labor does not have the same policy as the Coalition on border protection because of the three pillars, they avowedly have abandoned one of them."
Mr Shorten has played down the policy differences between the two major parties over asylum seeker policy during the campaign – despite candidates breaking out and questioning the hardline approach Labor has adopted – and has pointed out the policy to abolish TPVs has been public since July 2015.
"People smugglers should know that on July 3rd, whoever wins this election, you are not back in business, full stop," he said last week.
Mr Abbott's told Sky News on Wednesday night that he was "keen to serve" after the election, but played down the prospect of promotion.
"I can only say what I said before, I have a very capable ministry. It is a younger ministry, it is a relatively new ministry in many respects and the ministry that I will lead after the election, if we win, will be the same as I lead today," he said.
