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John Howard has reminded party faithful to treat every seat as if it's at risk as he launched the Liberal candidate for his old seat of Bennelong.

The former prime minister famously lost his seat to Labor's Maxine McKew in the wipeout election of 2007 as the Liberals asked voters for a fifth term of government.

Tennis great John Alexander won it back in 2010 but the Liberal MP is retiring with party newcomer Simon Kennedy to run for the spot.

"I think Simon is an excellent replacement but sensibly he's working hard," Mr Howard said on Saturday while launching Mr Kennedy's campaign.

"You treat every seat as at risk: common sense proposition. But I think he'll win."

It comes as the Liberals face high-profile independent challengers in blue-ribbon seats where they are campaigning on issues like climate change and a federal corruption watchdog.

Mr Howard branded independents challenging the party's sitting MPs as "anti-Liberal groupies", which Independent MP for Warringah Zali Steggall labelled as "appalling sexist language".

Ms Steggall's Liberal party challenger Katherine Deves also remains under fire as her selection as candidate has raised concerns within the coalition and in the broader community.

Ms Deves has been a vocal campaigner to ban transgender women from playing in women's leagues, likening her protests to trying to stop the Holocaust.

But Mr Kennedy says Liberal party infighting and the controversial candidate had not cut through to the public, who remain concerned about housing affordability and overdevelopment in his electorate.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was campaigning on the government's economic record as the Coalition and Labor battle it out over fiscal responsibility and the cost of living.

Both parties have offered more cash splashes to woo voters, with the coalition pledging $20 million for more camping and fishing facilities while Labor wants to put $15 million into opening more language courses at weekend schools.

Mr Howard, himself a former treasurer, also attacked the Labor leader's economic credentials.

"Being in charge of a government is not easy. You can't make it up on the spot. You've got to understand what's involved, you've got to know at least roughly what the unemployment rate is," he said, referring to Anthony Albanese forgetting the rate.

Mr Howard said the slip up reinforced a perception that the Labor leader was weak on the economy and the public "saw those mistakes as symbolising an inadequacy for the job".

"If that slip of the tongue, as he tried to pretend it to be, had been made by somebody like Peter Costello, or Paul Keating ... it wouldn't have mattered, it wouldn't have missed a beat.

"Because people understood and knew that both of those men understood and knew a lot about the running of the Australian economy."

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles and Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers toured Brisbane with local candidates as Mr Albanese remains in isolation with COVID-19.

Labor continued its attack against the prime minister's handling of a Chinese security pact in the Solomon Islands.

"It definitely raises the increased prospect of Chinese military presence in the Pacific and that makes Australia less safe and that is because Scott Morrison wasn't doing his job," Mr Marles said.

But the Coalition is trying turn the attack back onto Labor, highlighting the deputy leader's previous comments on China.

Mr Marles confirmed reports he had shown Chinese government officials a copy of a speech he gave at a Beijing university in 2019.

"I made a speech in China where I criticised China and I wanted to make sure that the Chinese government were not at all surprised with what I was going to say," he said.

"The assertion made by the government is another desperate attempt to divert from their failings in the Pacific."

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Liberal frontbencher Jane Hume can't say if voters are worried about trans athletes in sport as the government closes ranks around its controversial candidate in the Sydney seat of Warringah.

Senator Hume told Sky that Labor was the only one raising the issue by attacking the candidate Katherine Deves, who has a long and recent history of transphobic comments.

The senator said sex discrimination legislation was clear on the issue, which doesn't bar sporting codes from creating women's only leagues, and the government had no plans to change those laws.

"Labor keep raising it over and over again because they're trying to disparage the candidate for Warringah," Senator Hume told Sky.

Labor's Clare O'Neil said she didn't know why the Liberals were talking about it then.

"I'm trying to understand why you think this is something that needs to be prioritised," Ms O'Neil said.

Major sporting codes have not raised concerns about trans women playing in women's leagues but the issue has come to the fore since the candidacy of Ms Deves.

She has called trans children "mutilated", compared her campaign on trans women in sport to opposing the Holocaust, and linked cross-dressing and gender transitioning to serial killing and sex offending.

Several Liberals, including NSW Treasurer Matt Kean, have called for Ms Deves to be dumped, as the candidate avoids public appearances after her comments surfaced.

Meanwhile, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says cost of living pressures are challenging many Australians as his government and Labor battle it out over their economic plans.

The federal treasurer wouldn't say if Australians were better off after three years of the Morrison government but pointed to low unemployment, higher economic growth and hopes of real wages growth in the future.

"No one would say it's easy now, what I'm saying is right now, it's challenging for many Australians," he told Nine on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Mr Frydenberg waved off concerns about the ballot order in his seat of Kooyong, with the treasurer seventh on the 11-candidate ballot while his high-profile independent opponent Monique Ryan took pole position.

"There's the luck of the draw when it comes to the ballot, you just accept it and you move on," Mr Frydenberg told ABC News.

Both parties have offered more cash splashes to woo voters, with the coalition pledging $20 million for more camping and fishing facilities while Labor wants to put $15 million in opening more language courses at weekend schools.

Elsewhere, Anthony Albanese is confident he will hit the ground running when he emerges from COVID-19 isolation next week, just in time for Labor's campaign launch.

The opposition's campaign has been dealt a major blow after Mr Albanese tested positive for the virus, with Labor frontbenchers stepping in for the next few days.

Instead deputy leader Richard Marles is touring Brisbane with local candidates and Labor frontbenchers.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will spend day 13 of the campaign in marginal seats on the NSW Central Coast, beginning on Saturday with a tour of the town of Terrigal.

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Josh Frydenberg says cost of living pressures are challenging many Australians as his government and Labor battle it out over their economic plans.

The federal treasurer wouldn't say if Australians were better off after three years of the Morrison government but pointed to low unemployment, higher economic growth and hopes of real wages growth in the future.

"No one would say it's easy now, what I'm saying is right now, it's challenging for many Australians," he told Nine on Saturday.

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek pointed to rising out-of-pocket costs for Australians to access a GP as she raised fears of future cuts to Medicare based off old comments from incoming health minister Anne Ruston in 2015 that the scheme was unsustainable.

"It's not a great record, the record speaks for itself," Ms Plibersek told ABC News.

Meanwhile, Mr Frydenberg waved off concerns about his placing on the ballot in his seat of Kooyong at the upcoming election, with the treasurer seventh on the 11-candidate ballot while his high-profile independent opponent Allegra Spender took pole position.

"There's the luck of the draw when it comes to the ballot, you just accept it and you move on," Mr Frydenberg told ABC News.

As the two parties butt heads over Australia's efforts to curb China's expansion in the Pacific, Mr Frydenberg said the Solomon Islands got a "full court press" from Canberra even as it enters a new security partnership with Beijing.

Labor has jumped on the new revelations of the new pact, with Ms Plibersek saying the Solomons had expected more from Australia on climate change which was a national security concern for the country.

Elsewhere, Anthony Albanese is confident he will hit the ground running when he emerges from COVID-19 isolation next week, just in time for Labor's campaign launch.

The opposition's campaign has been dealt a major blow after Mr Albanese tested positive for the virus, with Labor frontbenchers stepping in for the next few days.

Ms Plibersek said her leader was "tough".

"He'll be campaigning, whenever his health permits, from his home base in Marrickville," she told ABC News.

Labor is expected to campaign in NSW on Saturday during the second day of the opposition leader's isolation period.

Mr Albanese will isolate at his Sydney home, before Labor's campaign launch in Perth on May 1.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will spend day 13 of the campaign in marginal seats on the NSW Central Coast.

The Australian Electoral Commission on Friday finalised the ballot draw for all 151 lower house seats and eight Senate races ahead of the May 21 poll.

However, the commission referred former WA senator Rod Culleton to federal police for potentially making a false declaration on his nomination form.

Mr Culleton, who intends to represent the Great Australia Party, declared in his nomination he was not an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent.

The commission said it noted Mr Culleton was listed as an undischarged bankrupt on the National Personal Insolvency Index.

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