Brett Worthington

The opposition leader put his team on notice. He vowed he would remember the name of anyone who freelanced on policies. A month on, there's one name on the list of offenders — Peter Dutton. 

This week a Trump adviser took aim at Australia, the opposition leader reappeared after a week of bad press and Labor had headaches of its own. 

Of the 20 electorates considered in play this election, at least half of them have a Chinese-Australian population that is well above the national average

This week the prime minister found a warm reception in South Australia, Peter Dutton gave strong comments on Donald Trump and the Bureau of Meteorology stepped in to make sure a natural disaster didn't become a political one. 

Labor has long held these outer-suburban electorates in Australia's mortgage belts. Tomorrow's Reserve Bank interest rate decision will heavily shape the party's hold on them.

If politics is show business for ugly people, Canberra proved more community theatre than Hollywood this week as the election looms. 

Peter Dutton held a rare press conference, as did Pauline Hanson, who left 28 long awkward seconds of silence after announcing her new policy. 

It was starting to get potty in the House of Representatives even before Question Time turned the rhetoric up to 11. Enter Jim Chalmers, a treasurer eager to fill voids in Coalition policies. 

The federal treasurer has sought to play down the prospect of being directly targeted in US President Donald Trump's trade wars, but has left open the prospect of retaliation should Australia face financial sanctions. 

Labor is acutely aware of which headlines will hinder or help as we head into an election campaign while new polling reveals which electorates will be most vulnerable to change on polling day.