Coalition frontbenchers say the party is still in the race and that its fortunes can change between now and voting day on May 3.
The opposition under leader Peter Dutton has been trailing in successive polls after beginning the year in the hot seat to form government — a dip in its popularity that was in part attributed to the Coalition's unpopular plan to force public servants back to the office "five days a week", which was interpreted as a nationwide order to end work from home.
Speaking on Sky News, frontbencher Bridget McKenzie said polling was only one part of the story.
"There is very much a difference between what's being published, publicly published, and what we're seeing and hearing on the ground," Senator McKenzie said.
"And so, I mean, 14 days to go, it's an eternity in politics, and we know that a lot of the community hasn't really switched on to the federal election campaign."
On ABC's Insiders Coalition frontbencher Michael Sukkar agreed.
"We are in it to win it. I can assure you there is no-one on our side waving a white flag," Mr Sukkar said.
The shadow housing minister also used the interview to hose down a colleague's suggestion that the party's dumped work-from-home policy was a good idea.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor campaign spokesman Jason Clare claimed comments made by another senior Coalition MP had revealed that the party planned to revive its work-from-home (WFH) policy after the election.
Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume, who first announced the Coalition's WFH policy, told Nine Newspapers that it "was a good policy that hadn't found its appropriate time".
Mr Clare seized on those comments to claim the Coalition was hiding its intentions, labelling its plans "Dutton dressed as lamb".
On Sunday, Mr Sukkar asserted that the WFH policy was dead.
"We've made very clear we have left that behind," Mr Sukkar said.
"We have heard very clearly and absolutely on behalf of taxpayers we have got to get the best possible public service. I think that requires the best possible people, and I would expect that that requires flexible working arrangements."
Further NDIS reforms a 'distant future'
Mr Sukkar, who is also the Coalition's shadow minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, this morning also spoke of his concerns that the scheme to fund supports for people with significant disability remained too expensive.
The NDIS was rewritten last year with bipartisan support because it had rapidly grown into one of the most expensive line items in the federal budget — growing in cost at a rate of more than 20 per cent each year.
Mr Sukkar said the NDIS was still growing in cost at a rate above 10 per cent each year, but he said the department had been confident in briefings given to him that it would reach its target of 8.4 per cent annual growth.
The shadow NDIS minister did not say whether he believed that was still too high, but suggested it would need revisiting in the future.
"You are asking me about things in the distant future," Mr Sukkar said.
"We have a funding envelope now for the next four years. That is quite ambitious, though, I might say, to get growth down from where it is at the moment."
Mr Sukkar noted that both the opposition and government had worked together to reform NDIS funding, and that he had worked carefully to ensure it did not become a "political football".
He added that some key parts of that reform, including foundational supports to be run by the states, for people with disability outside the NDIS, were yet to be settled and had reportedly reached an impasse in negotiations with some states.
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