SYDNEY (Reuters] – Australian Prime minister Scott Morrison pledged on Saturday to show more empathy if he was reelected, even though his government is trailing the Labor Party a week ahead of a general elections.

Australians will vote on May 21. Recent polls show that Morrison’s Liberal National coalition is on course to lose to center-left Labor. This would bring an end to nine years of conservative government.

Morrison’s standing among voters has plummeted since mid-2020. He admitted Friday that he was a bulldozer, but promised to change his mind after the election.

The same theme was repeated on Saturday when he told reporters during the Melbourne campaign trail that it was important to him as prime minister to get the job done. However, he also promised that if elected, he would “explain and explain my motives and express my concerns to help people empathise much more”.

Morrison’s management of bushfires which left 24 dead and thousands homeless and his reaction to the shortage of COVID-19 vaccinations as well as his responses to rapid antigen testing and COVID-19, are two of Morrison’s weaknesses.

Morrison replied to a question regarding why he didn’t tell voters his plans to change until the end of the campaign.

Anthony Albanese, Labor’s leader, campaigned in Darwin on Saturday. He announced that if elected, it would cost A$750m ($520 million), to improve Australia’s universal health care system.

Labor has promised to create a Strengthening Medicare Fund in order to increase the scheme’s effectiveness and fix the crisis it said was occurring with general practitioners all over the country.

Albanese explained to reporters, “Universal Healthcare is something that Labor created. Labor will always defend and Labor’ll always strengthen it.”

The party sees its protection of Australia’s cherished Medicare system as a key differentiator between it and the government, which has campaigned strongly on claims of superior economic management and national security.

($1 = 1.4411 Australian dollars)