By Andrew Brown in Canberra

A federal fight on abortion would lose the coalition votes at the next election, Peter Dutton warns colleagues.

The opposition leader has told a joint partyroom meeting the issue would draw attention from others at the federal poll, after it damaged the Liberal National Party in metropolitan seats at the Queensland election.

The abortion issue was largely credited with Queensland Labor regaining ground at the state election after trailing during the campaign.

“Attempts by Labor to draw us off in that area should be seen as exactly as what they are, since it can’t be legislated for in the (federal) parliament: as a distraction,” he told coalition MPs on Tuesday.

“The government continues to falter on a number of issues, and we need to push harder as the election approaches, and it may well be seats are decided on local issues and hot spots within.”

Mr Dutton’s comments came following remarks by coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price in October urging for abortion to be on the national agenda.

A coalition source says debate should not be silenced on any issue but at the same time, no idea should be taken as serious policy until it had baseline support, which abortion restrictions did not.

AAP has been told the issue hasn’t been canvassed in the Nationals party room, where the Senator Nampijinpa Price sits.

As federal parliament meets for the last month of sittings in 2024, both major parties are setting their sights firmly on election preparations.

The next federal election must be held by May, but Mr Dutton foreshadowed it could be held sooner.

He said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was already in election mode, following a campaign rally on Sunday where he pledged to cut HECS debts for university students by 20 per cent if Labor wins the poll.

“(The government) could call (the election) at any time, so it’s just underlining the fact that we don’t know when the election would be, and it could be very soon,” Mr Dutton said.

Mr Albanese said the re-election campaign would centre on achievements of the government, future plans and risks of the coalition winning power.

The prime minister said the coming months would see the government unveil further measures for their second-term agenda.

While polls show the upcoming election would be close with the possibility of a hung parliament, Mr Albanese was bullish about his party’s chances.

“We don’t want to just be (in government) after the next election. We want to be here with more members and more senators,” he told Labor colleagues on Tuesday.

The prime minister said the announcement about cutting debt for university students would be a “fight we would win”.

“(The coalition) don’t see that lifting the number of people in TAFE and uni is an investment in the whole country. They still don’t have a single costed policy,” he said.