Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor has thrown his considerable support behind Andrew Constance in his battle to regain the seat of Gilmore for the Liberal Party at the federal election on May 3.

Constance and Taylor held a joint media conference on Friday to criticise the Anthony Albanese government’s track record on a range of topics and also fire broadsides at incumbent Gilmore MP Fiona Phillips over what they believe has been a lack of action in the electorate over the past three years.

Taylor, the Member for Hume which borders Gilmore to the west, and Constance held a business roundtable at The Pavilion in Kiama on Friday to speak to local business owners about their plans to ease their financial burden.

“Andrew's been an incredibly important voice in this part of the world for a long period of time, and I've been very privileged to work with him when he was in the State Government and now as a neighbouring electorate,” he said.

“We have been talking to small businesses this morning and, of course, we're seeing enormous pain across the small business sector - 29,000 insolvencies, margins being cruelled by a Labor Government that has lost control of costs and, of course, customers who are much more reluctant than they were a couple of years ago to spend because their own cost-of-living pressures have been bearing down on them.

“We're already seeing a very stark choice, a very stark difference between a Prime Minister who has only laid out a plan for the future of his job and Peter Dutton, who has been laying out a plan for the future of this great nation.”

Constance said he was not interested in personal pot-shots between the candidates and wanted to put the focus on the issues that are central to Gilmore over the next five weeks.

After Labor won the seat by the closest margin of any seat at the 2022 election, it is expected to go down to the wire again with Community Independent Kate Dezarnaulds and The Greens’ candidate Debbie Killian also in the race.

“As with any election, it's about the community and, pleasingly, confirmation of the date now allows the residents of Gilmore a very important decision, one which is based on cost of living, one which is based on local roads investment, one which is based on getting community infrastructure up to speed,” he said.

Angus Taylor and Andrew Constance at The Pavilion in Kiama. Photo: macourtmedia.com

“But more broadly, as part of a Liberal team, we're going to tackle the issues around cost of living by strengthening the national economy and, in doing so, strengthening the regional economy, which is fantastic.

“In terms of the Gilmore Plan, I will be very focused over the next few weeks in relation to ensuring that our community amenities are upgraded, along with making sure that we get our roads invested in and, in particular, the Princes Highway.

“We need to grow our regional economy as quickly as we can to get out of the cost-of-living crisis which has been foisted upon us by the Albanese Government over the last three years.”

Constance said Gilmore residents would benefit from Dutton’s plan to cut the fuel excise from 50.8 cents a litre to 25.4 cents for a year.

“The big issue, which is highly targeted for our region in particular, is we have an enormous dependency on motor vehicles and this is where the immediate relief comes into it with the reduction in the fuel excise,” Constance said.

“That's something which is key to addressing some of the household budget pressures that people are feeling.

“And that's why the announcement of the fuel excise, as opposed to Labor's 15 months off in the Never-Never tax cut, which is a hoax, comes into it. We are offering an immediate relief straight away into the pockets of everybody given the dependency on vehicles in the region.”

Taylor claimed Albanese believes that the cost-of-living crisis is permanent in this country.

“Well, it will be if Labor stays in power,” he said.

“But there is an alternative after three years of people going backwards under Labor, and that's an alternative to get the country back on track with strong economic management that will beat inflation, will boost growth and will back small businesses like the ones we were here talking with today, with initiatives like accelerated depreciation, getting rid of unnecessary waste, cutting red tape and allowing small businesses, who are the backbone of our communities, particularly in places like this, to get on with it.”