The leaders will be grilled by three senior political journalists in the hour-long debate, which contrasts to the town hall-style people’s forum held in western Sydney this month.

Mr Turnbull could face pressure over poor results for the government in the latest 7News-ReachTel poll, which has Labor leading for the first time during the campaign.

Mr Shorten can expect grilling on Labor’s backflip over the schoolkids’ bonus, which he championed for months before officially dumping it last week.

While individual electoral contests see the parties targeting winnable seats, turning campaigning into a grassroots exercise, the national campaign is most influenced by the performances of the party leaders, writes Peter van Onselen.

11.42am:“Who can disagree wtih doctors?”

The Opposition Leader has welcomed a new advertising campaign from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners who are lobbying against the government’s proposed freeze on Medicare payments.

“Australian doctors know that if Mr Turnbull is elected on July 2, 14.5 million patients will have to pay more to go and see the doctor.

“Who can disagree with the doctors when they say they want to prioritise the nation’s health against people’s wealth?”

11.40am: Shorten “doesn’t know” if Schoolkids was costed

Mr Shorten has been unable to say if Labor submissted its Schoolkids bonus plan for costing before he dumped it.

“I don’t know, I would have to go and check with my financial people,” he said.

“In an ideal world we would like to help families with the cost of sending their children to school,” he said, adding that it was a “hard decision” to adopt the Liberal cut.

11.20am:“Healthy workforce, healthy economy”

Bill Shorten at the University of Canberra for an announcement about the broadcasting of women's sport. Picture: Jason Edwards

Mr Shorten has defended his suggestion that spending on Medicare contributes to economic growth, saying a healthier workforce will contribute to the budget bottom line.

“A healthy workforce is a benefit to every business owner in Australia,” Mr Shorten said.

“What Medicare delivers is a healthy workforce, greater emphasis on primary care, and less costs to employers. All of this contributes to the bottom line of economic growth.”

He also said Australia benefited from not having a two-tiered healthcare system like in the United States, which would force employers to pay for health insurance.

He also defended his position on corporate tax cuts, which he described yesterday as “useless” and “hopeless”.

“Mr Turnbull has chosen to spend $50 billion in tax giveaway to big business. I have chosen to spend $49 billion to make sure we have the best Medicare in the world and the highest achieving schools in the region,” he said.

“In a perfect world, if Mr Turnbull hadn’t tripled the deficit, if he hadn’t endangered our triple-A credit rating, if they hadn’t mismanaged the economy, one could contemplate tax cuts in the corporate world.

“The truth of the matter is we have to deal with the facts as they are, not the way Mr Turnbull would wish they were.”

11.15am: Labor’s “hypocrisy” over Trump

Labor MPs’ stalwart defence of Bill Shorten over his criticisms of Donald Trump suggests there is widespread “hypocrisy” when it comes to Australian MPs passing comment on US presidential candidates, says Trade Minister Steven Ciobo.

The Opposition Leader last week roared into US politics by deriding Mr Trump’s views as “barking mad”, prompting Malcolm Turnbull to accuse Mr Shorten of stoking “resentment and ill will” among Americans towards Australia.

However the shoe was on the other foot in February when Mr Ciobo accused Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton of spreading union-backed “misinformation” about the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said at the time it was “standard diplomatic practice that you don’t give a running commentary on the domestic politics of another country”.

“Mr Ciobo seems to think it’s okay to risk Australia’s incredibly important relationship with the United States to score a cheap political point,” she told Fairfax newspapers at the time.

Mr Ciobo today told ABC TV: “If hypocrisy exists … then it exist us on both sides.

“My point more fundamentally is this: the election campaign Australians are most interested in is the July 2 campaign here in Australia, and the vision that each of the respective parties has with respect to the future of our country.”

10.35am:Canberra United academy team gives Shorten a demo

10.10:Burke defends negative gearing

Labor’s finance spokesman Tony Burke has defended the opposition against accusations it has no plan to drive economic productivity, insisting the opposition’s negative gearing and school funding promises will foster economic growth.

“When you for one close down the loopholes … so that the benefit from negative gearing, as a simple example to start with, we shift the benefits for the tax concession to that part of the property industry that actually creates jobs in construction,” he told ABC’s Insiders.

“In the same way the changes that we’ve been making in making sure that we have a proper investment in education; that’s not only school education, that’s in university as well, it’s in higher education, it’s in making sure that you have a better skilled work force.

“Now bizarrely in this election campaign, the Liberal Party have wanted to argue that somehow there’s no productivity improvement for having a better trained and skilled work force. Now, I don’t think anyone would believe that would stack up.”

10.05am: Labor’s $21m to ABC for women’s sport coverage

Bill Shorten is at Canberra University this morning to announce a $21 million funding boost for the ABC to increase coverage of women’s sport.

The funding will increase the amount of women’s sport on television and digital platforms by about 500 live hours over the next four years- about two-and-a-half hours a week.

The funding is expected to be used to acquire the rights to female sporting competitions currently under-represented that are not covered by commercial stations.

This could include the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, the Women’s Hockey World Cup and Champions Trophy, the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup and the WNBL or the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

The funds may also be used by the ABC to develop a dedicated women’s sport website on its digital platform iView, covering international women’s teams like the Southern Stars, Opals, Matildas, Diamonds and the Hockeyroos.

9.55am:Albo’s “sole ambition” to serve Shorten

Anthony Albanese says his “sole ambition” is to be a minister in Bill Shorten’s future government, deflecting questions about his own leadership ambitions.

“I have an ambition to be a minister in a Shorten Labor government – that’s my sole ambition,” he told Sky News’s Australian Agenda.

Asked how Bill Shorten’s leadership could survive a defeat at the polls, Mr Albanese predicted Labor’s “hard work in policy” in opposition would lay the groundwork for a “the framework for a long-term Labor government that would see me out”.

“I expect that we will win the election. That’s what we’re working towards every day. We’re not in this to lose; we’re in it to win,” he said.

In Labor’s 2013 leadership contest, Mr Shorten won the right-dominated caucus vote convincingly 55-31, but the wider membership backed the left-wing Mr Albanese 60-40 per cent.

When the two scores were weighted equally against each other, Mr Shorten had 52 per cent of the vote and was consequently elected leader.

9.45am:Bronwyn Bishop interview on Sky

Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop has scheduled a live television interview at 8pm on Thursday evening - her first since exiting politics - with Sky News’s David Speers.

The veteran Liberal politician, who is joining Sky News as a political commentator, has previously flagged her intention to publicly give her account of her ousting as speaker at the behest of Tony Abbott.

Mrs Bishop said: “I look forward to proffering the kind of insight and analysis that can be gained from thirty years in politics fighting for the principles of free enterprise and the philosophy of individualism. There will be plenty to talk about and challenges for those who dare to think both during the election and beyond.”

Mrs Bishop, who was once touted as a potential party leader, was defeated at preselection by Liberal moderate Jason Falinski.

9.40am:Vote for Libs “to abolish capitalism”

A vote for the Liberals will be “a vote to abolish capitalism” if the party strikes a preference deal to support a “hard Marxist” Greens candidate in Sydney’s inner-west, says Anthony Albanese.

The Liberal Party is considering directing preferences to the Greens in Mr Albanese’s seat of Grayndler. In exchange the Greens would not recommend preferences in other seats, boosting the Coalition’s chances.

“It would be extraordinary if they do, and if they do I will have a very clear message that a vote for Malcolm Turnbull is a vote to abolish capitalism,” Mr Albanese, the opposition transport spokesman, told Sky News’s Australian Agenda.

“I have got to say, when I’ve been doorknocking in Balmain and Rozelle and Annandale there aren’t many people who when I knock on their doors say ‘the biggest issue for me is, are you going to abolish capitalism?’”

Mr Albanese drew attention to Greens candidate Jim Casey’s previous statements rejecting capitalism as a member of th Trotskyist International Socialist Organisation.

“This is someone who in a video posted by the Greens themselves – so they’re quite proud of it – said he would prefer a Tony Abbott government above a Bill Shorten government essentially because you get better demonstrations,” he said.

“It’s a very old-fashioned, hard Marxist view of the world which says if you just depress people they’ll rise up against the system; I believe in lifting everyone up.”

9.00am:Bronnie to join Sky

Bronwyn Bishop is starting a new career - as a political commentator on Sky News.

The former member of Mackellar, whose 30 year political career took a nose dive after what became known as Chopper gate, makes her debut this week, joining Sky News political editor David Speers on his programe Speers Tonight on Thursday, the Herald Sun reports.

Ms Bishop has followed Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff Peta Credlin to the new channel.

8.35am: Greens launch Qld campaign

The Greens will launch their Queensland federal election campaign in Brisbane today.

Leader Richard Di Natale will be joined by Queensland Senator Larissa Waters and candidate Andrew Bartlett at the event.

It will be held at the EcoCentre at Griffith University’s Nathan campus.

8.20am: Government to inject $60m to Sporting Schools

A program aimed at combating obesity by getting school kids more active will get a $60 million boost if the Turnbull government is re-elected.

The funding injection takes the total investment in the government’s Sporting Schools Program to $160 million. More than 5000 schools have taken part since the program started a year ago.

It delivers sporting activities before, during and after school. Almost two-thirds of Australians are overweight, including one in four children.

Health Minister Sussan Ley says just one third of them under 13 are getting the one hour of physical activity recommended each day. The program will be extended to years seven and eight and encourage more participation from young women.

“Our kids don’t need to become the next sporting superstar but the coalition wants to ensure they have every opportunity to be active and play sport, which builds important skills for life,” Ms Ley said.

“By investing in children’s health now and getting them physically active and enjoying sport, we are building a healthy community for Australia’s future.”