Peter Dutton’s ‘getting back on track’ campaign has been hit with an unfortunate mishap after his media bus became stranded during his final election push.
Mr Dutton’s media entourage bus, which followed the Opposition Leader’s actions on his campaign trail, became stuck after leaving a hotel in Martin Place on Monday.
The bus, carrying journalists, photographers and cameramen, mounted a small concrete median strip separating the road from the bike lane outside the hotel.
All media personnel were ushered off the bus as attempts were made to push the vehicle free.
However, the bus remained lodged on the median strip for 30 minutes, blocking a section of Pitt Street and forcing motorists to drive around it during peak hour traffic.
A group of men tried to heave the bus free from the median strip as the driver put the bus into reverse and accelerated.
The attempt was futile, with the bus remaining in place as smoke billowed from its spinning rear tyres.
Planks of wood were also used to try and ease the bus backwards and off the median strip – however, despite the ingenuity, the attempt failed.
The group managed to slide the wood underneath one of the wheels, finally unwedging the bus from the median strip after about 30 minutes.
The unfortunate mishap delayed the media pack for the first stop of Monday’s campaign trail, with the group arriving late to the airport.
The group eventually flew from Sydney to Newcastle where Mr Dutton will campaign for seats from marginal electorates including Paterson, in regional NSW.
The Opposition Leader has planned to hit 28 Labor and Teal held seats, which he believes could be won over, in the final days of his election campaign.
Mr Dutton has until Saturday to secure at least 21 seats in order to win a majority in the federal election.
The Coalition currently has a notional 51 seats behind Labor’s 78 seats at the start of the campaign.
Both Mr Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are vying to secure 76 seats for their respective parties in order to govern in the 150-seat parliament.
Support for both Labor and the Coalition remains at a near record low less than one week before voters head to the polls, according to the latest Newspoll for the The n.
Mr Dutton continues to declare the election winnable for the Coalition, despite failing to convince voters he deserves the top job.
Labor’s primary vote remained steady at 34 per cent for a second consecutive week, just one point behind the Coalition and it’s best result since January 2024.
Labor was elected on its lower ever primary vote at an election in May 2022 and its current vote is a 1.4 per cent improvement on the last election result.
Meanwhile, the Coalition’s primary vote is lower than its 2022 disastrous election result of 35.7 per cent when the party was booted from office.
While Labor still trails the Coalition on primary votes, it remains ahead on a two-party preferred basis with a 52-48 lead for a fourth Newspoll in a row.
Mr Albanese has also failed to convince voters that he deserves another chance as Prime Minister with almost half (48 per cent) believing he shouldn’t be re-elected.
Despite this damning result, there are even more voters unwilling to give Mr Dutton a shot at leading the country as his net approval rating plummeted to a new low of minus 24, compared to minus nine for Mr Albanese.
The poll was released as Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton went head to head in the fourth and final televised debate on Sunday night.