Greens leader Richard Di Natale has made a late pitch to conservative voters in Batman – the 20 per cent who voted Liberal in 2016 – urging them to preference the Greens ahead of Labor to protect retirees’ incomes.

On the last day of campaigning ahead of a byelection that the Greens are narrowly favoured to win, the minor party sought to capitalise on the backlash Labor has received over its proposal to recoup $59 billion from shareholders over a decade.

Dr Di Natale urged right-leaning voters in Batman to send Opposition Leader Bill Shorten a message about the tax plan by preferencing the Greens ahead of Labor.

“Those people who might be inclined to vote for one of the conservative parties here [or] might be inclined to stay at home, well here’s your chance to say what you think about Bill Shorten’s attack on so many people in this community,” he said on Friday.