This Saturday Aussies will (compulsorily) head to the polls. At the start of the year, Labor under Anthony Albanese was staring down the barrel of defeat and the first one-term government for almost 100 years. But with a few days to go, the pollsters are all picking that he'll return to power. What changed? Where did Peter Dutton's makeover go wrong? What happened to the Coalition campaign? Did Donald Trump play a role?

To tackle these questions, complete with yarns about salmon and wallabies and paddling pool anomalies, is Ben McKay, Pacific editor for AAP and an illustrious former inhabitant of the New Zealand press gallery. In a special edition of the podcast temporarily renamed Gone By Brunchtime in recognition of the time difference, he talks to Toby Manhire about all that, the New Zealand influence across the Tasman, and what parties here might learn from there.

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