We have made double digits and the second week in this campaign – huzzah!

The weekend (where we hoped you switched off) saw both parties flinging mud – the Coalition are on the warpath after its planned announcement to buy back the Darwin port was gazumped by Labor – Anthony Albanese just called into a Darwin radio station and made the announcement first.

That set off all sorts of allegations that a journalist on the Coalition bus had leaked it, although as political commentator Niki Savva said on Insiders, the call came from within the Coalition itself. (Awkward)

Peter Dutton went to Tasmania (where the Liberals are a chance of winning Lyons and holding on to its other seats) and held a rally where he was all ‘Labor is lying about me, as if I would touch Medicare’ because it is also apparently awkward to have previous versions of yourself talking about how Medicare is unsustainable floating around.

The Coalition have also walked back its ‘policy’ to force public sector workers to return to an office, now saying it is just Canberra public sector workers who will have to do that. Because women, who benefit from flexible work arrangements, given their care responsibilities, decided the Coalition was a lost cause.

So now there is the whole question of where all those ‘savings’ forcing people back into the office were meant to bring (which were always overstated) and whether there is any meat to Coalition policies at all. Because everything seems able to be walked back the moment there is any sort of probing into what it would mean.

Dutton is also resenting the comparisons to Temu Trump apparently (maybe don’t try to emulate him then?) and is hoping for some sort of reset.

But as we discussed this weekend in the New Daily, Dutton is being tested, truly tested, for the first time in his political career and he’s not rising to the challenge.

We’ll continue to follow the blow by blow of the campaign, along with some fact checks and research. You have the entire Australia Institute at your disposal, and me, Amy Remeikis at the blog helm for most of the day. Ready? Coffee number two is calling me. Along with a cupcake I think.

Let’s get into it.