A re-elected Labor government will beef up its paid parental leave scheme by giving new dads a fortnight's paid leave, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced.
From July 2012, eligible fathers will receive two weeks' leave paid at the federal minimum wage, currently $570 a week.
Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, Ms Gillard predicted the federal election would be an "absolute cliffhanger".
"In three days' time Australia could wake up with Mr (Tony) Abbott as the prime minister of this country," she said.
"It is a very, very real possibility and so a very, very real risk for Australian families."
Ms Gillard said her government strived to allow people to be all they could be with its plan for the economy.
"It's not about insider politics, nor is it about the alleged political strategies that we see so much commentary," she said.
The prime minister also poked fun at her mispronunciations of the opposition leader's name.
"We've spent time in this election campaign on the perceived political strategy of me not saying 'Mr Abbott' but saying 'Mr Rabbitt' - what a cunning, cunning plan that must have been."
Ms Gillard said insider politics should not distract the government from providing political leadership.
"Offering the right judgment, the better plan and real vision," she said.
Ms Gillard ridiculed Mr Abbott's view on high-speed broadband, saying he seemed only enamoured with the discovery of the suite of possibilities offered by Facebook.
"You can only imagine his excitement when he finally finds YouTube," she said.
By contrast Ms Gillard said she understood what Labor's national broadband network meant for the economy, the health system and "our way of life" by delivering jobs, growth and new opportunities.
The prime minister also took aim at planned coalition cuts to the taxpayer-funded Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Ms Gillard said Labor planned to boost the superannuation guarantee and cut fees while Mr Abbott had once said superannuation was "one of the biggest con jobs ever".
Labor could offer "with certainty" the promise to bring the budget to surplus earlier than expected, because it hadn't added anything to the budget bottom line in the campaign, she said.
Ms Gillard poked fun at the coalition's costings, released on Wednesday.
"After turbocharging the spend-o-meter with a billion dollars a day in uncosted election spending, we really don't know when or even if Mr Abbott will bring the budget back to surplus, despite the bad comedy we saw offered up yesterday by (opposition finance spokesman) Andrew Robb and (opposition treasury spokesman) Joe Hockey," she said.
By rejecting Labor's minerals resource rent tax, the coalition denied Australians a greater share of their national inheritance.
"What kind of folly is this?" she said.
"Rejecting $10 billion of agreed revenue for our country."
Ms Gillard attacked Mr Abbott's plan to personally make the call to turn around asylum seeker boats, saying she would never interfere in the chain of command.
"I've got great confidence and respect in border protection and naval commanders to exercise their operational discretion when faced with danger.
"My judgment will always be to back them."
By contrast, Mr Abbott would "bark orders from HMAS Parliament House" forcing highly-skilled defence personnel to rely on Canberra when they were most under pressure.
Ms Gillard said she was offering comprehensive plans for health care and broadband.
"I present you with my vision for Australia and on Saturday in the tightest of contests I ask you to reject the risk to your family's future posed by Mr Abbott and to endorse my positive plan for our nation," she said.
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