NICOLA SMITH: Chirpy and relaxed, Anthony Albanese seems determined to revamp his public persona

Dressed in a sharp navy suit and a pink tie, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese strode into his fifth press conference of the Election campaign with a confident bounce on Monday.

It’s only day three on the hustings but the Prime Minister has found his campaign legs from the get-go with a slickly organised five-week operation focused so far on ramming home Labor’s cost-of-living pitches rather than scrambling to secure marginal seats.

The contrast could not be more different to the first day of his 2022 bid for office when he stumbled in Launceston while trying to recall the official Reserve Bank cash rate and the national jobless figure, leaving Labor apparatchiks with their heads in their hands.

This time round, Mr Albanese is aiming to resign that floundering image firmly to the past, presenting himself as leader honed by three years in office with a firm grasp on the details.

The prospect of a minority government or even a hung parliament is still very much on the cards, but it does not appear to have dampened the spring in his step.

The PM believes he has a good news story to tell, from Labor’s record on major healthcare reform to beating back inflation from a percentage point with a six in front to within the RBA’s desired band of a two.

While rival Peter Dutton is projecting stoic strength, a chirpy Mr Albanese is relaxed and appears to be genuinely enjoying himself, engaging with the public where he can, even if it means putting his security detail on edge with an impromptu visit to a local gym.

On this campaign trail, he has adopted a bolder persona that has moved beyond traditional perceptions of the Prime Minister as more of a skilled backroom wheeler dealer than the Labor band’s frontman.

He set the tone early with the brazen move to get going on Saturday in the heart of Mr Dutton’s marginal seat of Dickson, choosing an urgent care centre to show the Opposition Leader that Labor is gunning for him on an issue where it believes it can cause the most damage.

One Labor source also put the choice of Dickson in part down to the Prime Minister’s cheeky sense of humour.

The latest Newspoll published on Monday shows an early lead for Labor after a drop in the Coalition’s primary vote and a fall in support for Mr Dutton. It has no doubt given Mr Albanese another reason to smile as he enters the first full week of campaigning.

The poll shows Labor leading the Coalition by 51-49 per cent on a two-party preferred basis, as the two sides go head-to-head over cost-of-living promises on energy bills, health care, tax cuts and fuel tax relief.

It marks a two-point gain for the Albanese Government over the past three weeks. While it’s not enough to banish the spectre of a hung parliament it does put retaining majority government back within grasp.

Interestingly the poll boost comes despite voters ranking last week’s Budget, which sets the nation on course for more than a trillion-dollar debt burden next year, as the worst for the economy in a decade.

With the harsh reality of the Budget facing years in the red, it’s hard to see Labor’s tiny tax cut top-up and the Coalition’s fuel subsidy offer — both hastily unveiled in the dying days of the parliamentary term — as anything other than last-ditch attempts at a quick-fix vote grab.

Voters won’t be fooled by band-aid solutions to their financial troubles or by politicians from both sides glossing over the courageous political reforms needed to fix the economy.