We are working on a different comment solution, but we just wanted to have some direct contact with you all and we are truly appreciating everyone who is writing in (and thank you for the compliments – I love being back with you all and will be also blogging parliament, so don’t worry about that!) This blog has only been alive for about 50 days or so all up, so to have so many of you already regularly tuning in to us is absolutely humbling and I promise you, I do not take a single one of you for granted.

Here is some of what you have had to say so far.

Greg says:

About Trump not answering the calls being made from Australia, I wonder whether Trump was caught on the hop about the calls from Australia that didn’t end with “Call me, call me now.” (lol)

The thought bubble about nuclear came from the Nationals who then got Ted O’Brien on board. That nuclear bubble was blown up and now is exploding in the face of Dutton. What a clever way to organise a coup, and a coup de grâce for Peter Dutton. (Actually O’Brien has been pushing for this since the Morrison years and was actually involved in an inquiry the Morrison government undertook looking at its feasibility. It was shelved under Morrison because it came back as you guess it – not feasible economically. It’s also, at least according to policy polling I’ve seen, the least popular policy of this election (of the ones people know about)

Angus Taylor is quick to claim friendship with the re-elected PM of Canada, Mark Carney (a progressive) saying they studied economics together. Will Carney ring Naomi Wolf asking how to get this no name to stop claiming friendship? (We love a long memory. IFKYK)

On that topic, Peter says:

So if Ted has aspirations to be Opposition Leader do we need to start the #TemuScoMo hashtag? I mean he has the same overinflated air of confidence not backed up by actual capability

As the originator of the Temu Trump label (it was a social media post that kinda took off with a life of its own) I say apply what fits, where it fits. (Ted O’Brien has always looked like someone drew Scott Morrison from memory to me)

Oliver says:

We’ve heard a lot about the ‘key seats’ this election, but given current polling indicates there is a drop in the Coalition’s primary vote (YouGov last reported they’re national primary vote was at 31% down from 35.70% at the last election), does this have the potential to put other seats in play?

Anecdotal as it might be, my mother received a call yesterday from a staff member for the Liberal MP for Banks, David Coleman, asking if she’d be willing to help out on a polling booth for a few hours on election day handing out how-to-votes. She’s never been involved in the Liberal Party or been a party member, so it’s made me curious if they feel other seats might be in danger if they’re now calling on random members of the public to volunteer for their campaign?

It does, because truly – there is no such thing as a safe seat. And maybe the majors are working that out. It will depend on how strong the preference flow is in some of those seats (Hunter for instance is a (very) slim chance of a One Nation pick up if the Nats vote is on the floor, and there are others, like Flinders, McPherson and yes, Banks and Deakin which have the Coalition nervous. But there would need to be a swing not just in primary, but in preferences)

James says:

Either Trumpet ignores replies, or they have real people reading the messages. If the latter, have Trumpet put them in an unsafe work environment due to all the abuse they will be seeing?

The replies to these messages don’t send, so no one other than you will be viewing them. It’s not often I agree with Angus Taylor, but he is right – try and block the number or at the very least, delete and ignore if they are bothering you.