Australia election news live: Albanese’s furlough scheme for flood-hit workers; Port of Darwin ‘to be taken out of Chinese hands’

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As flagged in the introduction, our reporters Dan Jervis Brady and Josh Butler have been out on the stump all week with Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton.

They have put their heads together and given an assessment of how the two campaigns have handled the first week, concluding that the Labor man has probably had the best of it fired up by his surprise tax-cutting budget and a strong message on beefing up Medicare.

Albanese and senior Labor strategists didn’t panic as the Coalition inched ahead in the opinion polls midway through 2024. They were confident the contest would tighten and turn in their favour when voters were confronted with the “choice” of a Dutton or an Albanese government.

He is under pressure, though, and facing a ticking clock on questions he refuses to answer – there’s only so much longer he can promise that the gas modelling will come “soon”, that he will announce his public service cuts “at an appropriate time”. He’s getting questions on this nearly daily, and even joking that the “anticipation” of journalists will soon wear off.

Albanese won the week. Even Dutton may admit that. But it’s just one week.

‘I’m not getting ahead of myself,’ Albanese said. ‘Elections are hard to win, and there are four weeks left in this campaign.

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