At Labor's official campaign launch in Brisbane today, Ms Gillard said the plan, which would take effect from July next year, would mean patients seeking medical advice would not have to leave their communities for consultations. She said Labor's planned high-speed broadband network would bring video conferencing to the after-hours GP helpline and allow better remote advice on family medical issues. "This is the future of healthcare," she said, accusing Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of ripping more than $1 billion from hospitals when he was health minister. "We inherited Mr Abbott's cuts, not enough trained GPs," she said. "If you are asking yourself the question, 'why can't I get a doctor's appointment today?' look to Mr Abbott's cuts because they're the reason why."

The package includes $250 million for online consultations, providing about 495,000 services over four years for rural, remote and outer metropolitan areas. There will also be financial incentives for GPs and specialists to deliver the online services at a cost of $56.8 million and an expansion of the GP after-hours helpline at a cost of $50 million. Labor would also spend $35 million to support training for health professionals using online technologies. "By harnessing the benefits of modern technology, we will connect people in rural, regional and outer-metropolitan Australia up to health services they would otherwise have to travel long distances to receive," Ms Gillard said. Ms Gillard also targeted the Coalition on its traditional home ground - the economy and jobs.

Abbott attacked on economy, asylum seekers In a confident oratorical effort, Ms Gillard recalled her father's determination to find work when he emigrated with his family to Australia. "When we first came to this country, times were tough," the Welsh-born Prime Minister said. "Dad had to knock on many doors to get a job." Ms Gillard wondered what would have happened to the family had there been no jobs on offer, a sentiment she carried into the latest global downturn.

"It's ... the devastation that can flow from the absence of work that guided us when the global financial crisis threatened this country," she said. The economy had emerged from the downturn in a strong position, with more jobs, Ms Gillard said. Mr Abbott's latest plan to personally decide whether asylum seeker boats should be turned around was a "nonsense", Ms Gillard said. As Prime Minister he would have border patrol crews call him on a hotline so that he could make the call about turning them around. Ms Gillard said Australians would see through this plan.

"Just imagine it, the commander of one of our patrol boats, out on the high seas," she said. "What Mr Abbott wants that commander to do is to take their eyes off the safety of their crew, take their eyes off the ocean, take their eyes off people smugglers, go inside the cabin and give him a call. "Then, presumably, from the safety of Kirribilli [House in Sydney] as he watches luxury yachts go by, Mr Abbott is going to provide some advice to that commander about how to stop the boats." Ms Gillard first thanked former prime minister Bob Hawke, who introduced her, and then turned to her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, who arrived earlier with outgoing Defence Minister John Faulkner. "Can I acknowledge, too, Kevin Rudd who is with us today, a man of great achievements with great achievements to lie in the future for our nation. Thank you Kevin," she said.

The Prime Minister also acknowledged former Labor prime ministers Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating who were not able to attend the launch. Ms Gillard wrapped up her speech with reference to Labor icon Ben Chifley and to US President Barack Obama. "Ben Chifley spoke to us about that light on the hill, in a different age, in a different nation, in a different time," she said. "President Barack Obama inspired a nation by saying: 'Yes we can.' "Friends, I'm too humble to compare myself to either [leader] ... but I am asking ... when you vote on Saturday ... to say: 'Yes we will.'

"Yes we will move forward with confidence." At the close of the speech, Ms Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson joined her on stage. The pair embraced and then walked along the front row of the audience, going first to Ms Gillard's parents John and Moira, and then other family members, including her tearful sister Alison. There was a warm hug and kiss for her deputy Wayne Swan, but Mr Rudd was nowhere to be seen as she walked from the hall. Coalition sitting on their bloody hands: Hawke

Introducing Ms Gillard, Mr Hawke outlined the government's achievements in education and health, saying that, on every objective assessment, Labor deserved to win Saturday's poll. "We have the form, the record, the policies and the leader," Mr Hawke said, adding he hoped Ms Gillard would break his record as Australia's longest-serving Labor prime minister. The Labor legend also recalled the great economic achievements of its governments between 1983 and 1996. "We made the Australian economy much more competitive. "We were a party who had the national interest of Australia in mind."

Mr Hawke took a swipe at the Howard government saying it had failed to invest sufficiently in the nation's infrastructure. He praised the current Labor government for its management of the economy during the global financial crisis, citing praise for the stimulus from Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. By contrast the opposition was sitting on "their bloody hands". Loading Mr Hawke accused Mr Abbott of playing "chicken" by refusing to engage Ms Gillard in a debate about the economy.

AAP with Staff Reporters.