Settle in for a long grind: this federal election is going to be core, brutal Morrison | Katharine Murphy

Morrison dragged the Labor brand and totally blanked his opponent.

Back in 2019, Morrison bowled up almost identical formulations about elections being about choices, and about the Coalition being the party of lower taxes and proven economic management.

But last time he namechecked his opponent.

The sum of these parts tells us Morrison and the Coalition are not starting this contest from a position of political strength.

The devil you know is what the prime minister has, and what he intends to use.

For his part, Albanese fronted the voters in the commonwealth parliamentary offices in Sydney. On television, that location read as flat and workaday, but presumably the campaign thought the setting looked putatively prime ministerial.

Apart from what country he might build if given the opportunity, Albanese offered the following on who he is.