The Labor leader will remain in marginal Queensland seats, areas where Labor will need to make up ground if it wants any chance of forming government.

Meanwhile, Scott Morrison will continue to campaign in crucial marginal seats in Western Australia.

Albanese used the ninth day of the campaign to spruik a $38 million funding pledge over three years to Disaster Relief Australia, a veteran-led organisation assisting communities after natural disasters.

The funding would allow for the organisation to have 5200 more volunteers join the ranks, along with helping to cover recruitment, training and equipment.

The announcement comes off the back of the opposition leader attacking the prime minister for his handling of the Black Summer bushfires and the recent floods in Queensland and northern NSW.

“Over the last three years, Australia has watched Scott Morrison refuse to take responsibility and go missing in action when natural disasters have struck,” Albanese said.

“Now, as communities recover from devastating floods, Scott Morrison has politicised flood recovery, caring more about who flood victims voted for than what help they need.”

Defence Minister Peter Dutton rejected claims Queensland flood victims were receiving less income support than residents of Lismore in northern NSW.

Meanwhile in Perth, Morrison told mining industry leaders the budget and economy would be put at risk by Albanese’s “flip-flopping” over support for the resources sector, which he said, provides the revenue to pay for the services provided to all Australians.

“Now is not the time to risk our $2.1 trillion economy with someone who doesn’t understand our economy, let alone having a plan for it and cannot stand up to the Greens who want to shut you down,” he said.

The prime minister also remains under pressure to dump controversial Liberal canddiate for the Sydney-based seat of Warringah, Katherine Deves, ahead of the Thursday cutoff for electoral candidates to put their hands up.

Deves has apologised for a number of anti-transgender tweets and comments and maintains the support of Morrison, but NSW Treasurer and Liberal moderate Matt Kean says she is not fit for office or aligned with the values of the party.

“I am the first to say people sometimes say things they later regret but let me be very clear, these are recent and consistent statements this candidate has made,” he told the ABC.

“This is not a one-off, drunken Twitter rant. This is not a statement made at university 30 years ago. This is a series of consistent positions held over a long period and in recent times.”

Kean rejected that allowing Deves to stay a Liberal meant there was a place for hurtful comments within the party.

“We need to continue to stand up and call out this kind of language, this kind of bigotry. It should have no place in our community and no place in a mainstream political party,” he said.

“A big part of (Liberalism) is allowing people to be themselves – that’s what I’m saying we should be standing up for as Liberals, not the intolerance from this candidate.”

Liberal moderate Trent Zimmerman has reportedly appealed to senior members of the prime minister’s office to have Deves dumped.

Kean believes the controversial candidate is hurting the chances of Liberal moderates, including Zimmerman and Wentworth MP Dave Sharma, of being re-elected.

But fresh polling shows both Labor and the coalition losing primary votes after the first campaign week.

Newspoll results published in The Australian on Monday night show 36 per cent would vote Labor, down one point from 37 per cent on April 10.

The coalition’s primary vote support fell by the same margin, dropping from 36 per cent to 35 in the same period, to April 18.