Only Australia’s No1 family newszine The Bug will keep you up-to-speed with each and every day of the campaign though the cutting-edge analysis of our in-house political experts, how the mainstream mediocre is behaving and a close watch on poll trends and betting markets.

DAY EIGHT: FRIDAY APRIL 3

Some mainstream mediocre outlets, the online bookies and The Bug all agree that Anthony Albanese’ Labor took the first full week of campaigning, although by how much is debatable.

Labor had fun with Dutton’s foolish declaration of Sydney as a fine place to live were he to become PM.

The Bug obtained an exclusive pic of the would-be harbourside PM on a lightning visit to Kirribilli House. (main picture)

Labor also continued to chip away at the LNP’s plan to cut more than 40,000 public service jobs. For a man who (whom?) the political experts were warning should distance himself from DOGE-y Trump, Dutton did the opposite, hinting at “efficiency” cuts here, here and every where and banging on that the country’s schools were teaching woke nonsense and he’d make sure they don’t soon enough. The MSM, including, sadly, the ABC, continued to give Dutton free kicks with his “Albanese is weak and ineffectual” line. He was the strong man who would make Trump see sense.

As mentioned above, some in the MSM reported (despaired?) over Dutton’s lack of cut-through such as Niki Savva late in the week (but she’s been pretty opposed to Liberal leaders since her beloved Malcolm Turnbull was so unfairly tossed out) and other outlets reported on internal Liberal Party mutterings about the Opposition’s lack of policy explanation.

So, what other factors framed our assessment of Day Eight, Friday April 4? We can’t deny the fact that Albanese lied about his stage stumble, as brilliantly pointed out by LNP publicist Danica De Giorgo. More on that below.

As expected, the day was dominated by Trump’s Liberation Day tariff tough-talk. It made for limited news coverage to the domestic campaign, so we couldn’t progress our study of how various politics scribes love to favour Dutton over Albanese. We’ll resume that soon.

***

Some interesting changes in the online betting company markets from Thursday. Below are our figures from 9.30pm Friday night.

Sportsbet: Labor $1.53 (was $1.61); Coalition $2.50 (was $2.25)
Ladbrokes: Labor $1.60 (was $1.70); Coalition $2.20 (was $2.10)
TAB: Labor $1.52 (was $1.55); Coalition $2.50 (was $2.40)
bet365: Labor $1.57 (was $1.61) Coalition $2.50 (was $2.20).

All in all, over the week a steady drip with Labor shortening and the LNP drifting out a bit.

***

No changes to the two-party preferred averages of the four current opinion polls we’re keeping an eye on – Newspoll, Resolve, Roy Morgan and YouGov. We will be able to update soon with some fresh polling due.

Labor: 51.25; Coalition 48.75.

As mentioned before, Guardian’s Essential Poll thinks it’s professional or clever or responsible not to publish a two-party preferred figure. The Bug calls bullshit on that. Nevertheless, its latest primary figures suggest however a slight Labor lead.

***

And finally, we’re back with our…

.. and congratulations to LNP public relations officer Danica De Gioro, who also moonlights as a Sky LNPNews host. She banged on yesterday about how Albanese lied about his “embarrassing” fall and for that reason alone could not be trusted and certainly not voted for!.

We couldn’t be bothered trawling through De Giorgo’s posts over time but our best guess is that she has never had a go at the lies that flow effortlessly and often from Dutton’s lips.

Danica, we at The Bug don’t give a flying fuck what you call yourself but please don’t ever call yourself a journalist. It’s insulting to journalism and journalists.

The grim reality is that if Scott Morrison had won the 2022 election and had the Albanese government’s economic record over the past three years, you – and sadly just about everyone else in the mainstream mediocre – would be raising the rafters with your raucous praise.

We do look forward, though, to further investigative reports by Sky News on what is to them clearly yet another Labor conspiracy, including perhaps an exclusive interview by Peta Credlin seeking comments and reaction from the steps at that Mornington peninsula beachhouse that then Victorian premier Dan Andrews tangled with back in 2021. (below)

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