Anthony Albanese mocks Scott Morrison's 'strange' insult on Today show

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has labelled Scott Morrison's subtle sledge against his weight loss "very strange" criticism, as the prime minister ramps up attacks on his opponent ahead of an expected May election.

Appearing on the Today show on Wednesday morning, host Allison Langdon asked the Labor challenger what he made of the PM's comments.

"What do you make of the personal recent attacks by the prime minister over your weight loss?" she asked.

“I had a major car accident at the beginning of last year, one in which I could have lost my life. Part of what that did was to [lead to] a real reassessment of my health and what I needed to do,” he explained.

Mr Albanese was left "heavily shaken" in January last year after a P-plate driver collided with his vehicle in his inner Sydney electorate.

“Yes, I've lost weight. I think that's a good thing," Mr Albanese continued.

"I would encourage people who are over 50, if you're feeling a bit lethargic, do your best to lose weight. There's no gimmicks here. There has been no operations. There has been no crazy diets."

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The Labor leader said he needed to be "match fit" if he was going to run the federal government, should he win the upcoming election, and described Mr Morrison's comments as "very strange".

"We applaud you for it," Ms Langdon said.

Scott Morrison accused of going low

During an interview on Sky News on Monday night, Mr Morrison was accused of going low by taking a swipe at Mr Albanese's recent weight loss, suggesting he doesn't know who he is.

"I'm not pretending to be anyone else," Mr Morrison claimed.

"I'm still wearing the same sunglasses. Sadly, the same suits. I weigh about the same size and I don’t mind a bit of Italian cake … I’m not pretending to be anyone else."

A Newspoll on Monday had Anthony Albanese now on par with Scott Morrison as preferred prime minister while the survey also found Mr Morrison was the least trustworthy prime minister Australia has had for more than a decade.

Labor leader says he will tackle cost of living, stagnant wages

Labor is taking a policy to the election to greater subsidise childcare to make it more affordable for all families, while Mr Albanese is also promising to target wage rises as Australians stare down increasing price inflation.

“What we need to do is recognise the fact that everything is going up, except people's wages. So we need a plan to address real wages, which are going backwards in this country," he told Today.

"So we have a plan to address that. We have a plan to address housing affordability through our Housing Australia Future fund, and a plan to address childcare."

"This government has said that low wages are a feature of its architecture on economic policy. The truth is that people are doing it really tough out there."

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