The prime minister’s promise of a stable economic and political future with the Coalition is one he really can’t guarantee to keep

The uneasy truce between the PM and his party’s right on climate change and marriage equality is under threat, while the Brexit vote challenges his stability v chaos message

From the spectre of a Labor-Greens ‘alliance’ to privatising Medicare, the Coalition and Labor are appealing to fear in their final lunge towards polling day

Election 2016: Bill Shorten’s speech was the plea of a leader who knows he has to do something big to change the tempo

Malcolm Turnbull is trying to deny Labor a fight over policy detail instead opting for reassuring pictures for the nightly news, which means – despite three debates – many of the big questions remain unanswered

The government’s rhetoric about the Greens is getting shriller. Perhaps the polling numbers are frightening

Pulling Abbott-era spending cuts out of the closet gives Labor a chance to wrest the electoral contest from the realm of economic theory and into the real world

Both major parties are keen to make voters feel safer, but scrutiny of the way such funding is handed out still leaves a lot to be desired

Malcolm Turnbull’s fact-filled defence of Coalition’s superannuation changes a stark contrast with treasurer’s hyperbole

Election 2016: Neither leader has ruled out seeking to govern in the event of a hung parliament with crossbench support

Political messaging is about emotions and each party offers its own positive message, and a bad memory about the other side

Immigration minister says refugees will ‘take Australian jobs’ and simultaneously ‘languish in unemployment queues’. Well, no minister

The Labor leader, who is otherwise running an effective campaign, is often diverted by conservatives and the Greens alike

The factual debate is being overshadowed and warped by slogans, which are all about the politics of the election campaign

This pre-election budget tries to tick every box yet is so scattered of purpose it may fail to make a mark