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Let’s for argument sake call yesterday (Saturday) the end of the second week of the federal campaign. So how did Dutton’s team end a week that our woeful mainstream mediocre called a better/marked improvement/Dutts has got his mojo back performance?

As we prepared this post for uploading, the LNP was still suffering from Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s brainfade in Perth (at top). And something she didn’t say (below) that won’t stop Labor hammering the Opposition’s original – and most likely fatal – mistake of copying Trump in so many ways, including one really DOGEy policy.

Price’s blunder won’t help Dutton distance himself from the Orange Tariff Terrorist across the Pacific, as much of the MSM insists he is trying to do. But as the awarding of our first weekly campaign award, outlined in a separate BUG post today, we suggest Dutton is either incapable of or unwilling – perhaps both – to do that.

So, did anything else happen on SIXTEEN, Saturday, April 12?

***

More on that bomb dropped by Price in Perth. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s office has taken reporters to task for focussing on Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s remark in the key state of Western Australia yesterday echoing US President Donald Trump.

A Dutton staffer rounded on media representatives after the Perth news conference at which Senator Price said a Dutton government would “make Australia great again”.

“Peter Dutton and Senator Price have appeared together on numerous occasions in the past, and there is no record of either of them echoing Donald Trump’s tactics or policies. Period!” the staffer said.

“They have both been at previous events and news conferences decrying lefty woke and very discriminatory DEI [diversity equity and inclusion] initiatives like the Voice to Parliament, announcing Elon Musk-style Department of Government efficiency to be head by the senator that will cut public sector jobs, programs, and agencies, as well as decrying the influx of dangerous terrorists masquerading as immigrants.

“At none of those events has there been any evidence of Trump-like or MAGA leanings,” the staffer said while also supplying photographs to prove the point. (below)

“Anything any of you say or publish to the contrary is just fake news and when we are in office those of you who’ve persisted in peddling this lie will be excluded from the federal parliamentary media gallery and will also face deportation.”

***

On Saturday the key state of Western Australia was also the focus for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Mr Albanese, obviously conscious of the need to secure the WA seats Labor picked up in 2022 if it is to retain its slim majority, went somewhat overboard in professing his commitment to the state.

Even with Perth temperatures in the high 20s Mr Albanese presented on the campaign trail in a three-piece wool suit and heavy overcoat reminiscent of WA’s one and only PM, the Labor Party’s John Curtin who steered the nation through much of World War II. (below)

In a pitch to the mining sector, Mr Albanese and WA Premier Roger Cook are understood to have reached agreement that, if re-elected, the Labor Party in its next term will revisit its since abandoned 2022 campaign promise to establish an environmental protection agency and legislate a revised EPA model that excludes any big hole in the ground from being considered as being part of the environment.

***

While in Perth, Liberal leader Peter Dutton made yet another visit to a service station to plug his policy to cut fuel tax for 12 months.

As captured by the Sydney Morning Herald (below), Mr Dutton underlined how much motorists would save under his government by filling a Liberal Party candidate’s large SUV  – literally, by ignoring its fuel pipe and instead pumping unleaded fuel directly into its cab via a rear window.

When the candidate later sustained third-degree burns after accidentally causing a spark when getting behind the wheel and dropping his car keys, Mr Dutton blamed Prime Minister Albanese for the tardy response of firefighters and ambulance services.

***

No new polls spotted overnight so our two-party-preferred averages of the five opinion polls we’re now keeping an eye on – Newspoll, Resolve, Roy Morgan, YouGov and Redbridge – remained Labor’s way …

Labor: 52 (was 51.7); Coalition 48 (was 48.3). Labor in 2022 got a parliamentary majority by the slenderest of margins on a similar 2PP.

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

***

And how did the punters react to every MAGAnificent thing that happened on the hustings yesterday?

Here are the odds we snared at around 9.30pm last night (Saturday), compared with 24 hours earlier. And, yes, we’ve added another betting agency to those we are monitoring! We’re now giving a nod to neds!

Sportsbet: Labor $1.29 ($1.29 ); Coalition $3.70 ($3.66)
Ladbrokes: Labor $1.28 ($1.28 ); Coalition $3.70 ( $3.70)
TAB: Labor $1.26 ($1.26); Coalition $3.80 ($3.80)
bet365: Labor $1.28 ($1.28) Coalition $3.75 ($3.75).
neds: Labor $1.28 ($128); Coalition $3.70 ($3.70).

So, almost complete stasis yesterday. Surely our nation’s punters haven’t lost interest in losing their hard-earned on this riveting campaign between two of the most charismatic political leaders this nation has ever been blessed with?

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