Scott Morrison has taken to calling Bill Shorten the "very cranky bear" but the opposition leader morphed into another popular children's book character in Perth on Monday.
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Mr Shorten took his election campaign to a childcare centre where he read classic children's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
The reading soon reached the ears of Mr Morrison, also campaigning in the West Australian capital.
"Bill Shorten's going to be a very hungry caterpillar chomping into your wallet, chomping into your wallet, to pay for his spend-a-thon," the prime minister told reporters.
Mr Shorten will try to reject this assertion as he faces off with Mr Morrison in a debate at 7pm AEST on Monday.
"I'm really looking forward to a positive debate outlining competing visions for what we could do to help the Australian people," Mr Shorten told reporters.
He is likely to face a grilling over his plan to change franking credits, with punters who have submitted questions for the debate singling the policy out as a major concern.
The most recent Newspoll shows support for the coalition increasing, with 51 per cent to 49 on the two-party preferred vote.
The poll and debate come after the first two weeks of the campaign, where Mr Morrison focused heavily on the economy and criticising Labor's tax plan.
Mr Shorten has justified his changes to the tax system by saying the money would go towards services such as education and health care.
He spruiked his latest childcare announcement at the Perth early learning centre, which may have been what earned him a hug from three-year-old Sidney.
Labor's plan includes increasing subsidies so child care is free or almost free for low-income families, as well as a 20 per cent pay increase for early educators.
"It means so much to us as educators," Emma Brosnan told Mr Shorten and deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek.
Ms Brosnan has been in the industry for 11 years and has seen colleagues move on to other careers because of the low pay.
Mr Shorten was in the seat of Stirling, which is being vacated by retiring minister Michael Keenan.
While in Perth Mr Shorten also promised to invest $75 million to discovering mining resources and to make the South West region of WA a "renewable energy zone" if he wins the election.
Labor will try to hold its five of 16 WA seats and is hoping to gain others, though the coalition is eyeing Cowan which opposition MP Anne Aly holds by a margin of 0.7 per cent.
Attorney-General Christian Porter's seat of Pearce, which he holds by 3.6 per cent, is expected to be in fierce contention at the election.
Australian Associated Press
