Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton came face-to-face for the first time since the Prime Minister fired the starting gun on the race for the top job last Friday.

Handshakes can make-or-break elections. Just ask former Mark Latham, whose infamous arm-tussle with John Howard was said to have lost him the election in 2004.

It’s an encounter that’s still disputed over two decades later, as this recent story by yours truly highlights.

But there was no unnecessary aggro between Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton on Friday afternoon when they crossed path at the Blacktown Workers’ Club on Friday.

The Prime Minister extended his hand first and the two men exchanged brief pleasantries, according to witnesses.

Lidia Thorpe has used a new haircut (pictured, below) to share an important message.

The independent Senator, who is now sporting a long fringe, reminded her followers – and everyone other Australian – that they have until Monday at 8pm to enrol to vote.

The caption on her video said she had her ‘heirs done’, a reference to her claim that she did not swear allegiance to the Queen because she said ‘hairs’ rather than ‘heirs’.

The revelation came after she screamed obscneties at King Charles on his state visit last year.

‘I swore allegiance to the queen's hairs," Ms Thorpe claimed.

‘If you listen close enough, it wasn't her “heirs”, it was her “hairs” that I was giving my allegiance to, and now that, y'know, they are no longer here, I don't know where that stands.’

Senator Thorpe is not up for re-election until 2028. She has signalled she will quit when her term expires.

You can enrol to vote on the Australian Electoral Commission website.

The Prime Minister likened himself to John Howard earlier this year when he was asked about being behind in the polls.

'Do you remember a fellow called John Howard? Have a look at where he was before the '98 poll, the '01 poll, the '04 poll… he was always behind except on election day,' Mr Albanese told a podcast.

Daily Mail Australia’s political editor Peter Van Onselen has previously pointed out why this comparison is all wrong.

But now Mr Albanese‘s unfortunate fall on Thursday afternoon has been directly compared with an infamous Howard meme.

For those unfamiliar with the classic of Australian political folklore: three pictures of Howard gesticulating in the House of Representatives in a newspaper were doodled to make it look like he was having a ball behind some DJ decks, accompanied by an unprintable caption.

Mr Albanese’s attempts to get back on his two feet on Thursday afternoon has now been made to look like he is also dropping some bangers.

It remains to be seen if Mr Albanese’s meme will also enter the annals of Australian political history.

The Prime Minister was in fine fettle on a trip to Cabramatta Public School in the Western Sydney electorate of Fowler on Friday morning.

He was pictured hugging some of the excited schoolchildren and even hoisted one girl high in the air.

Journalist Latika Bourke witnessed the PM's get down with the kids.

'The kids I spoke to had no idea who he is but as far as election pics go these will be great,' she wrote on X.

It certainly makes for better imagery after Thursday’s now-infamous fall.

For those of you living under a rock, read more below:

Mr Dutton was quizzed by reporters in Western Sydney about his claims that the defence relationship with the US could be used as leverage to secure a carve-out from Trump’s 'Liberation Day' tariffs.

The Opposition Leader was asked whether he would tailor defence spending to win favour with Trump.

'When the Prime Minister says we live in the most precarious period since the end of the Second World War and he takes $80billion out of defence, that's not keeping us safe,' Mr Dutton responded.

'We will acquire capability and we will provide support to the Australian Defence Force with one objective in mind - and that is to keep us safe. But I think our interests align with the United States.

'We buy the F-35s from the United States. The Labor Party cut that program. We have guaranteed that we will have another squadron of F-35s because it's in our country's best interest.'

Peter Dutton's approval rating among voters has plunged to its worst level since becoming opposition leader, polling shows.

The first YouGov poll since the federal election was called for May 3, provided to AAP, shows Mr Dutton's satisfaction rating plummeting to minus 15.

His net satisfaction among voters slumped by 10 points in the two weeks since the last YouGov poll was released on March 21.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's personal standing among voters remains in negative territory, but his satisfaction level has improved from minus nine to minus six.

It's the first time since June 2024 the PM has had a higher net-satisfaction rating than the Opposition Leader.

As the first week of the federal election campaign wraps up, Labor maintains its slim overall lead over the coalition, ahead 51 per cent to 49 on a two-party preferred basis.

Opinion ratings for Mr Dutton (pictured, below) had dropped substantially since he unveiled policies, YouGov's director of public data Paul Smith said.

'Peter Dutton's personal satisfaction ratings have sunk like a stone to his lowest ever in YouGov's public data poll since he tied himself to Trump-style policies of banning work from home and sacking 40,000 public sector workers,' he said.

Mr Dutton has been under pressure on the campaign trail to detail where the public service cuts will be made.

The YouGov poll also showed Labor's primary vote went backwards slightly since the election campaign started, dropping one point to 30 per cent, while the coalition's also fell by two points to 35 per cent.

While the Greens and One Nation have remained stable at 13 and seven per cent respectively for their primary votes, independents have enjoyed a slight increase, rising by two points to 10 per cent.

Mr Albanese also solidified his lead as preferred prime minister, leading 45 per cent to 38 per cent, following a two-point drop in support for Mr Dutton as leader.

The YouGov poll of 1622 people was conducted between March 28 and April 3, with a margin of error of 3.3 per cent.