Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Anthony Albanese will face off for the first time tonight at the Sky news-hosted leaders' debate in Brisbane.
Scott Morrison spent the day in the Liberal marginal South Australian seat of Boothby and announced a $50 million defence splurge.
However he was overshadowed by Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare announcing the Pacific nation had signed a security pact with China that will increase their presence in the region, against the wishes of the Australian government.
Opposition Leader Albanese spent a third day in Queensland, decked out in high viz touring a Toll facility, and hit out at the government's failure to stop the Solomon Islands-China deal, calling it "a massive foreign policy failure."
Labor foreign affairs spokesperson Senator Penny Wong also described it as "the worst Australian foreign policy blunder in the Pacific since World War II" and described Minister for the Pacific Senator Zed Seselja, who was charged with traveling to Solomon Islands to dissuade against the pact, as a "junior woodchuck".
Morrison defended his government, saying he would go to Solomon Islands at the first opportunity and that Australia would keep working with the country and it cannot tell the Pacific nation how to act.
Morrison also defended the Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves following anti-transgender statements she made, saying "Australians are getting pretty fed up with having to walk on eggshells every day, because they may or may not say something one day that's going to upset someone".
Meanwhile Albanese stated Labor would bid to host a UN climate summit in Australia, in partnership with Pacific nations, to repair Australia's reputation on climate change.
As the election ramps up so too has political advertising, with well-funded conservative right-wing lobby group Advance Australia pouring anti-Labor and anti-Greens ads onto Facebook and Instagram feeds, spending just over $25,000 in the past seven days on political advertising on those platforms.
In non-election news, NSW and Victoria will end the requirement for household contacts of people with COVID to isolate.
