SBS News political correspondents Pablo Vinales and Shuba Krishnan are on the 2022 federal election campaign trail with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition leader Anthony Albanese respectively.
Each week, they’ll bring you the moments not to miss from both sides on the road to polling day.
Here is how the first week of the campaign unfolded:
On the road with Anthony Albanese
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese stumbled out of the gates on Monday, floundering over the unemployment rate and the cash rate at his first press conference.
Mr Albanese was campaigning in the seat of Bass, centred on Launceston in Tasmania, one of the most marginal seats in the country when he was asked about what the official figures were, and he was unable to answer.
Mr Albanese later apologised for his mistake, saying “I made a mistake. I’m human. But when I make a mistake, I’ll ‘fess up to it,” but the damage had already been done.
The prime minister seized on the blunder, that’s despite blanking on the price of bread and milk himself at a recent National Press Club address. Within two hours the Liberal Party had incorporated the awkward exchange into one of its attack ads, coining the phrase “it isn’t easy under Albanese”.
The media were criticised by some for pursuing so-called “gotcha” questions.
The blunder overshadowed Mr Albanese’s health campaign initially, but he quoted singer Taylor Swift on Tuesday, saying he would “shake it off”.
The Opposition leader visited the Labor heartland of the Hunter on Thursday, appearing beside his hand-picked new candidate, mining engineer and Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning pistol shooter Daniel Repacholi, at Cessnock Hospital and Mount Thorley mine.
The seat of Hunter will be an interesting one to watch for Labor, who is hoping to retain it after incumbent Joel Fitzgibbon retires. The party stalwart has held the coal mining seat since 1996.
Mr Albanese had another misstep, this time over his party’s offshore detention policy. When asked whether people smugglers would take advantage of an incoming Labor government Mr Albanese answered, “we will turn boats back, turning boats back means that you don’t need offshore detention”.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese says he stands by a boat turnback policy. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
Labor has previously supported the government’s policies on boat turnbacks and offshore detention. The confusion forced Mr Albanese to later clarify his position, saying he has no plans on closing the centres, but that didn’t stop the Coalition from again seizing on his remarks.
On the road with Scott Morrison
Much of the prime minister’s events in the first week of the campaign have been heavily stage-managed.
He is yet to venture on a street walk where voters could easily share their thoughts.
There was, however, one moment where Scott Morrison was confronted by Labor campaigner at a private event held for the travelling media, which SBS News attended.
The man who confronted Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a private function in Penrith and called him a "disgrace".
The 20-year-old accosted the prime minister yelling, “you’re a disgrace,” while filming the encounter.
He later uploaded it on social media platform TikTok.
Mr Morrison's personal security officers quickly intervened and removed the man from the event.
While campaigning in the marginal seat of Bass, northern Tasmania, Mr Morrison was side by side with Liberal MP Bridget Archer.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Liberal member for Bass Bridget Archer Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS/AAPIMAGE
Ms Archer has previously broken ranks lines on issues such as a national integrity commission and the government’s religious discrimination.
Last year, she crossed the floor voting in favour of an independent bill to establish a national anti-corruption body.
In his press conference with Ms Archer, the pair faced a barrage of questions about not meeting his 2019 pledge of establishing a national integrity commission.
Asked whether he would pledge to establish a body in another term, if re-elected, the prime minister refused to commit.
He also denied breaking a key election promise from 2019.
While the federal government has a proposal, it’s faced heavy criticism from legal and transparency experts, even a number of Liberals.
This press appearance was always going to be politically difficult for the prime minister, and given how marginal the seat of Bass is, it’s unlikely to be the last.
Mr Morrison’s campaign took an unexpected and dramatic turn at the end of the week, after his security detail was involved in a car accident near Elizabeth Town in Tasmania.
The prime minister was not involved in the accident and was uninjured.
Four police officers – two Tasmanian police and two AFP officers – were injured and taken to hospital.
The rest of the day’s events were cancelled.
Do you have an election question you’d like answered? Or a story you’d like us to cover? Email politics@sbs.com.au
