LATIKA M BOURKE: Is Peter Dutton already losing the campaign he claimed he could win with a majority? 

One of the Coalition’s campaign attack lines last election was: “It won’t be easy under Albanese.”

But voters could be forgiven for thinking Mr Dutton appears set on making things very easy indeed for Anthony Albanese, after the Opposition Leader’s mediocre start to the campaign.

In an incredible unforced error on Monday, Mr Dutton started measuring the curtains, telling a radio interviewer he would prefer to live at Kirribilli on Sydney Harbour rather than the homely Lodge in Canberra.

“When you’ve got a choice between Kirribilli and living in Canberra and the Lodge, I think you’d take Sydney any day,” he told KIIS 1065.

Taking the electorate for granted is political self-harm, especially when you’re already up against history in trying to end a one-term government and win back 19 seats.

It gave Mr Albanese, who has long looked like he enjoys the spoils of being Prime Minister much more than he does actually doing the job, a free kick.

“A fair bit of hubris behind that comment,” the Prime Minister said at a campaign stop in Perth’s outer suburbs in the electorate of Hasluck.

“I don’t take Australians for granted.

“He likes the Harbour — everyone likes the Harbour.

“I’m a Sydneysider, but I’ve chosen to live and work in the national capital.”

In cricketing terms, Mr Dutton bowled the Prime Minister a full toss, and he hit it for six.

Worryingly for the Coalition, it is the latest in a string of errors that Mr Dutton has made, which included proposing a referendum on dual citizens convicted of child sex abuse and terrorism, and a backlash to his policy to ban working mums from working from home.

All of which have put him on the back foot just as the election approached.

And now campaigning is formally under way, Mr Dutton is not showing signs of improving.

His Kirribilli mistake was one of a political rookie, not one that someone who entered Parliament in 2001 and boasts about having served in the Howard government should be making.

And it embodied the complete reversal of the leaders’ performances in the opening days of the election campaign.

Mr Albanese has surprised his internal critics — and yes, there are many – with his delivery, sharpened lines and better command of detail.

He’s had an impressive start and is oozing confidence, almost strutting out to face the press at his daily media events.

By contrast, Mr Dutton is low-energy and is making mistakes by his own hand.

Is it fatal? Not yet. Many leaders recover from a bad first week on the campaign trail, including the current occupant of The Lodge.

But the Opposition Leader needs to find some momentum to arrest his sinking campaign, and fast.

Coalition campaign insiders know it, too, and while there are still more than four weeks to go, winning elections is primarily a momentum game. And right now, the Coalition has none.

It all makes Mr Dutton’s claims of being capable of reversing the Scott Morrison-led decimation of the Coalition, and winning a majority government, look ill-judged.

Why forfeit the underdog status when you are, in fact, the weaker contestant and are now campaigning like one?

The claim was always bolshie but will start to look incredibly reckless if Mr Dutton doesn’t find a way to cut through and force the Prime Minister to start addressing issues outside Labor’s comfort zone of health.

Because Labor’s strategy is working.

Newspoll has Labor back in the lead for the first time this year, 51-49 and it shows Mr Albanese’s approval rating increasing.

Mr Dutton’s approvals have sunk lower than any level posted by Mr Albanese as opposition leader and level with where Bill Shorten was, at -18.

It’s not all bad news for the Coalition as Mr Dutton has two new policies — his plan to cut petrol tax in half and reserve gas on Australia’s east coast to force more of the fuel onto the market — to spruik as well as an increase in defence spending to announce.

But he needs to find a Tony Abbott-esque energy and creativity to seize the initiative and force Labor on to the back foot over the cost of living and its band-aid solutions. Because voters instinctively know the energy rebates do not address the structural causes of what is driving up power prices.

Mr Dutton does not look match fit and is paying the price for his aversion to facing the press gallery in Canberra and practising dealing with hard questions during the last three years.

This year, the Coalition’s campaign slogan is Let’s Get Australia Back on Track. Mr Dutton needs to start the repair job a little closer to home unless he wants to be remembered as the Emperor with No Clothes.