Schoolkids in one of Australia's fastest-growing and most diverse regions have been urged to "dream big" as the prime minister campaigns for his own lofty ambitions.
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See subscription optionsMaking his pitch for a second term, Anthony Albanese headed to western Sydney on Friday, dropping into Cabramatta Public School to the sound of screaming children.
The prime minister was mobbed in the school's covered outdoor learning area as he campaigned in the electorate of Fowler, where Labor's Tu Le is trying to unseat first-term independent Dai Le.
He shook hands, gave high-fives and hugged a child before lifting one pupil into the air.
Students at the school told reporters they were excited to meet the prime minister, who was accompanied by Education Minister Jason Clare.
Meeting children from grades 5 and 6, Mr Albanese said their parents would want more for them than the generation before, as was the "Australian way".
"When I was your age, there was just me and my mum, and we lived in a council house in Camperdown, in (Sydney's) inner west, and no one would have believed that I could be the prime minister," he said.
"But in Australia, you can be anything you want to be, if you study hard and work hard.
"Study hard, dream big."
Dai Le snatched the ultra-marginal seat from Labor at the 2022 federal election.
Former Labor senator Kristina Keneally was parachuted in to contest the electorate, despite Tu Le - a lawyer and daughter of Vietnamese refugees - having won the backing of the retiring Labor MP.
Labor suffered a swing of more than 15 per cent.
Asked if it was arrogance and a major mistake to have passed over Tu Le, Mr Albanese replied: "Yes."
"That's not the first time I've said that was an error," he said.
"I thought it was an error. It wasn't my decision."
With western Sydney a key battleground, Mr Albanese said the "gun candidate" was a potential cabinet minister.
He said voters had a choice between an independent who had to "wait for decisions to be made" or a key player in a Labor government.
The prime minister also addressed the Daily Telegraph's western Sydney forum at the Blacktown Workers Club.
Earlier, Mr Albanese unveiled a new funding deal for a Hills district hospital in a bid to woo voters.
Federal Labor has pledged up $120 million for maternity services at the new Rouse Hill Hospital if it wins the May 3 election.
The money is on top of the $700 million the NSW Labor government has already committed for the development - the first major adult hospital to be built in western Sydney in more than 40 years.
It was Mr Albanese's first visit to western Sydney for the election campaign, while Opposition Leader Peter Dutton made the area one of his first stops.
Australian Associated Press
