Anthony Albanese's carefully managed election campaign has briefly unravelled as the Australian prime minister took a tumble on stage.

Albanese had just finished addressing a union conference when he fell while trying to take a group photo.

Onlookers at the event in the NSW Hunter Valley gasped as the prime minister fell off a riser, clutching another person's arm as he went down.

But he was quickly back on his feet and all smiles as he acknowledged the stumble.

Anthony Albanese is helped back to his feet after falling off stage. – AAP

It wasn't the first time things had gone off script during the prime minister's visit to the region.

Albanese was earlier on Thursday visiting Maitland Hospital in the Hunter Valley when two women from climate activist group Rising Tide rushed in and began yelling while he was mid-speech.

The Labor campaign in the first week of the race to the May 3 election has had limited interaction with voters and hasn't included street-walks.

In his address to the Mining and Energy Union, Albanese said worker protections were at risk if Peter Dutton won the election.

"He wants to strip away the new protections and new security we've delivered for casual workers," the prime minister said.

"He wants to ban working from home, except from Kirribilli House."

Laws which came into effect in November mean labour hire workers can apply for the same pay as permanent employees doing comparable work.

Albanese started the day in Melbourne, where he visited a pharmacy in the city's north in a show of support for the sector following US President Donald Trump's tariffs announcement.

US pharmaceutical giants have previously claimed Australia was engaging in "egregious and discriminatory" pricing policies because it subsidises medicines.

Albanese said the operation of the scheme, which allows Australia to negotiate as a nation with drug companies, is not up for negotiation.

He toured the Bell Street Pharmacy owned by George Spyropoulos in the Labor-held seat of Wills, which is under threat from the Greens.

Anthony Albanese visits a pharmacy in Melbourne. – AAP

Angela Crawley, a resident in Melbourne's south, said the federal government had not done enough to help with cost-of-living pressures.

Asked if the performance of the state Labor government influenced how she felt about federal Labor, Crawley said it was "hard not to".

"It's hard to hear or see very much difference between them," she said.

"Having suffered under the Labor government in Victoria years and years, it's hard not to have thoughts of federal being much different from that.

"Yes, one does impact the other."

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was on his first trip to Western Australia during the election campaign, spruiking pro-mining and gas rhetoric in the resource-dominant state and promising to slash approval times for new projects.

But he refused to commit to visiting the site of his proposed nuclear plant in Collie, despite concerns from locals about the plan.

Initially ignoring a question about talking to the community, Dutton subsequently said there were seven proposed nuclear sites around Australia and "I won't be able to get to all of them", when pressed.

The Liberals' plan is to transform old coal plants into nuclear ones, with the argument centred around keeping jobs in traditionally mining economies.

Dutton arrived in Perth with a $600 million roads funding package and rallied party faithful in a must-win seat.

The funding covers sealing, widening and strengthening roads, highways and bridges used to transport mining and agricultural products.

Peter Dutton during a visit to Wallis Drilling in Midvale, WA. – AAP

Dutton launched the campaign of Pearce candidate Jan Norberger at the Wanneroo botanic gardens in Perth's north where he announced $1 million for a business case for a local hospital.

He criticised the prime minister and environment minister for delaying the approval of a major gas project in WA until after the election, saying it was to appease voters in inner-city seats on the east coast.

The Coalition lost Pearce to Labor at the 2022 election off the back of a 14 per cent swing.

The Liberals also took a massive hit on their primary vote, while Labor's was turbocharged as the popularity of the state Labor government boosted its electoral fortunes.

It is one of half a dozen electorates the Coalition is desperate to win after WA largely handed Labor victory with massive swings in 2022.

This includes winning the new seat of Bullwinkel in Perth's outer suburbs and reclaiming the inner city seat of Curtin lost to independent Kate Chaney.

Tangney, Swan and Hasluck are other WA seats the Coalition is targeting.