Scott Morrison concedes not all of his policies had been fully accepted by voters, as one of his Victorian MPs said the prime minister's unpopularity was likely to harm her chances of re-election.
Mr Morrison brushed off concerns he was unpopular in Melbourne and parts of Victoria, after Liberal MP Katie Allen said voters were not happy with the prime minister.
Ms Higgins represents the Melbourne seat of Higgins, a must win electorate for the coalition, with the Liberals only holding it by 3.8 per cent.
Speaking on Melbourne radio station 3AW, Mr Morrison said he didn't claim to be perfect as leader.
"When you're prime minister, you've got to be strong, you've got to be resilient ... I accept that not every decision that I've taken over the last three years has met with everybody's agreement," he said.
"We don't claim to be perfect. But what we do claim is the results of our economy, the results of our national security and the plan for the future."
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has challenged the prime minister to call the election as soon as possible.
"I feel like putting in a phone call to the prime minister if he doesn't know where the Governor-General lives, and offer him a lift," he told reporters in Adelaide.
"This absurdity of not having the election called so that they can continue to spend taxpayer funds on election ads that are in the name of the government, but they're really about promoting the Liberal National parties ... call the election, let the Australian people decide."
The prime minister accused Mr Albanese of "wanting a quick little election" to escape the scrutiny of voters.
"At least Bill Shorten was up front with people about what he was going to do," Mr Morrison said.
Labor deputy leader Richard Marles hit back, saying the coalition had doubled Australia's debt before the pandemic began and branding the budget's "stand out stat" as being nine years of stagnant wage growth.
"We've had record low wage growth in Australia. That's because under this government productivity has fallen through the floor," he told the Nine Network.
"Cost of living is a real issue - the crunch is there because wages are stagnant. That's why we're taking measures like making childcare more affordable, making TAFE free, trying to lower power bills.
"At the end of the day, we have to get wages going."
Meanwhile, the prime minister is awaiting the result of a special leave application to the High Court by expelled NSW Liberal member Matthew Camenzuli.
Mr Camenzuli is challenging the federal executive's ability to intervene in the selection of NSW Liberal candidates for the election, due to be held on May 14 or 21.
A federal panel comprising Mr Morrison, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and former party president Chris McDiven stepped in to save ministers Sussan Ley and Alex Hawke, and backbencher Trent Zimmerman from being dumped as candidates.
The High Court will decide whether to allow special leave to hear the application at 4pm on Friday.
© AAP 2022