Federal election 2025: Peter Dutton’s first week on election campaign skipped hard questions and the public

Unruly protesters, a globally unsettling tariff directive and a misplaced footy kick that bloodied a cameraman’s forehead anchored the first week of Peter Dutton’s election battle.

But it was the things that didn’t happen that were more interesting.

It’s been 11 days and counting since the Coalition said it would force gas giants to put more supply into Australia’s energy grid, instead of exporting their supplies overseas.

Despite the promise of costings and daily questions by journalists, voters are still in the dark about how much it’ll bring down power bills.

No visits were made to teal-held seats, any of the seven proposed nuclear sites (with Mr Dutton admitting on Thursday he “won’t be able get to all of them”), and we’ve yet to see the Opposition Leader with everyday punters at a coffee shop, bustling town centre or supermarket.

Instead Mr Dutton has posed up a storm, refuelling a Nissan Navara and Nissan Pajero Sport – a photo opportunity journalists had to wait six days into the campaign trail to get.

As of Sunday, he’s hit a petrol station per day, stopping to talk up the policy in Sydney, Darwin and Carrick, Tasmania, a town 17km west of Launceston.

Election campaigns may be marathons, not sprints, but a medley of tracking polls reveal the Coalition is struggling to gain traction with voters.

Redbridge polling published by The Daily Telegraph on Saturday found Labor has an election-winning-lead with 52 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote, up one per cent from last month.

Little details like choosing to announce $1.5bn of extra funding for the Melbourne Airport Rail Loop at the expect of the Suburban Loop Rail at Marnong Estate Winery in the Labor safe seat of Calwell, not even remotely close to the proposed stops.

Or revealing Sunday’s highly anticipated cap on international students in an outer-Melbourne suburb unheard of by most people in that cohort, have confused journalists trailing Mr Dutton around the country.

Announcements have mostly been hyperlocal.

The exception outside of the call to slash international students to 240,00 (30,000 less than Labor’s proposed cut) and the promise to boot Chinese-owned company Landbridge from its 99-year Port of Darwin lease to Australian ownership the most significant.

Those were two announcements that did little to address the central issue in the May 3 election – the cost of living.

Somehow, Anthony Albanese managed to pip Mr Dutton to podium to announce Labor’s intention to return the significant site to Australian hands, however the plan has come under fire for lacking key details like when the deal would occur by.

Mr Dutton says the Commonwealth would compensate Landbridge for the remainder of the lease under Commonwealth compulsory acquisition powers if no alternative is found within six months.

Taking aim at Mr Albanese’s “incoherent” announcement, Mr Dutton said Labor had three years to fix the problem, which drew criticism from then US-president Barack Obama in 2015.

“I think if you read the transcript, that nobody was any the wiser as to what the Prime Minister’s actually done for three years, that’s the problem, and the Prime Minister had three years to sort this out,” he said.

“It seems that all he’s done is consult with Wayne Swan about what the super funds could do. The land bridge operators have told us publicly, you’ve seen that there’s no discussion with the government that’s been underway.”

The most memorable event of the first week will likely be a stray kick at a footy field in Darwin which unfortunately made contact with the viewfinder of Channel 10 cameraman Ghaith Nadir, and subsequently hit his forehead.

Luckily it’s always better to have an injured camera man, than a maimed child (sorry Ghaith) and the promise of a beer soothed any war wounds, both physical, and professional.

The moment rivalled Anthony Albanese’s stack/ misstep on Thursday moment after he delivered a speech – a connection Mr Dutton made as well in a verbal tackle against his political rival.

“Now had the Prime Minister kicked that ball, he would have told you he didn’t hit anybody and you’re imagining something, that it just didn’t happen,” said Mr Dutton.

“But it was great to be out there with the kids, and I’ve apologised to him, and I hope that it’s all repaired soon, but he’s got a war story now from the campaign.”

With four weeks left of the campaign, and an unenviable 21 seats standing between the Coalition’s path to majority government, eyes will be on whether Mr Dutton will be able to gather momentum and cut-through to voters.

The latest YouGov tracking poll, which placed Labor ahead of the Coalition on 52 to 48, would suggest it’s Mr Dutton’s move.