As we doomscroll our phones while queuing at the nation’s airports, or flick through the television channels in between catching up with family and friends over the break, it’s likely we will all be greeted with an onslaught of Aussie politics.
The news stories, political advertisements, Instagram updates, TikTok takes, live blogs, billboards and corflutes are multiplying.
It’s unclear just how much of the campaign fodder of baby kissing, hand shaking, basketball playing, factory visiting, puppy patting and street stalking by the two campaigners is cutting through.
Outside their own electorates no-one is directly casting a vote for Scott Morrison or Anthony Albanese, but #Election2022 is becoming more presidential in flavour by the day.
Scott Morrison versus Anthony Albanese
Seats held on big margins are largely left to seed in this high-octane process. The battle to win government outright is laser-focused on the key marginal seats.
In the first week both leaders have found themselves in dangerous territory, allowing missteps to feed into the narrative being created by their opponent.
The prime minister faced close questioning about the government’s appetite to establish a powerful , something Labor sees as a weakness.
The Opposition leader has been tripped up with mixed messages on and his ability to , those stumbles were gift to a government consistently arguing it’s superior on national security and managing money.
When the Greens Leader was also quizzed about his own budget recall at the National Press Club this week, this time on the Wage Price Index, he had an answer ready.
“Google it, mate,” was Adam Bandt’s retort.
The Greens not the only minor party hitting the headlines, with the re-emergence on the Queensland One Nation ticket.
It’s largely considered an unwinnable position, but the National Party defector could now pocket a sizeable “resettlement allowance”. The one-off payment for politicians who don’t leave parliament willingly could be more than $100,000.
World affairs not far from #Auspol
Far away from the campaign bus the defence minister was farewelling some of Australia’s prized Bushmaster trucks being sent to help the Ukrainian Government fight the Russian invasion.
The government has been keen to stress an open-armed approach to Ukrainians trying to flee here, but as SBS News reported this week some believe they are in a visa limbo without access to Medicare or work rights.
The prime minister has since committed to follow up their concerns.
There are also fears amongst Canberra’s diplomatic ranks that the election campaign period could be seen by Beijing as an opportunity to step up its efforts to secure closer military ties with Solomon Islands.
Minister for the Pacific Zed Seselja making a whirlwind trip to Honiara for direct talks, requesting the Sogavare Government “respectfully” not go ahead with the proposed security agreement with Beijing.
We are now one week into this six week political marathon, and already the spectre a constitutional tangle has been raised with a Liberal Senator from Western Australian after being informed his family history makes him a dual Australia-New Zealand national.
He’s since renounced any Kiwi citizenship rights and says that frees him up to run third on the Liberal ticket and recontest.
And journalists love a deadline, but here’s one for our readers.
If you aren’t or need to update your details you’d better get cracking as you only have until 8 o’clock on Monday night to make sure you get to have your say.
Do you have an election question you’d like answered? Or a story you’d like us to cover? Email
