Karen Barlow

6 days ago | thesaturdaypaper.com.au | Karen Barlow

Anthony Albanese looks at his turkey baguette. He considers the sandwich for a moment, then cuts it in half. It’s the beginning of the third week of the campaign and the Labor leader is hungry. Sitting on an RAAF-operated flight between Hobart and Melbourne, Albanese is upbeat about his chances. There are no signs of campaign fatigue. He uses every minute – of the flight and in the towns he visits too.

1 week ago | thesaturdaypaper.com.au | Karen Barlow

David Pocock wants a far greater slice of Australian gas export income through the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, and the reform of capital gains and negative gearing tax breaks. These are the crossbencher’s two top demands for whichever party seeks to form government after the election, as part of his broader integrity agenda in the 48th parliament.

2 weeks ago | thesaturdaypaper.com.au | Karen Barlow

On the campaign trail in the 2022 election, Anthony Albanese brandished a dollar coin prop to underscore his focus on increasing the minimum wage. In this campaign it is a Medicare card he most wants to be photographed with. Health is a fight Labor dearly wants to pick at every election. It sees Medicare, like superannuation, as a Labor legacy – now a half-century old.

3 weeks ago | thesaturdaypaper.com.au | Karen Barlow

The government heads into the May 3 election confident in its declaration that Labor is the better economic manager, while the Coalition says it has piggybacked off its work and a series of windfalls. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has long sought to define the opposition as the “party of no”, believes that the rapid legislation of the surprise tax cuts announced in this week’s budget – which forced the Coalition to officially vote them down – boxed them in.

4 weeks ago | thesaturdaypaper.com.au | Karen Barlow

The campaign proper is finally under way: Australia will head to the polls on May 3 with all signs pointing towards the return of a hung parliament. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sought to get the jump on Peter Dutton with a pre-dawn call to Governor-General Sam Mostyn to dissolve parliament. The opposition leader has barely had time to sell the gas-led alternatives outlined in his budget reply speech. Albanese insists he was “born ready” for this moment.