We’ve been tracking Albanese and Dutton’s movements so you don’t have to

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton are on a whistle-stop tour of the nation, promising money for everything from a rural Queensland museum of Chinese Australians to $10 million to put traffic lights at an intersection in Melbourne.

It can be hard keeping on top of where the major party leaders have gone and how much they’re promising, so we’ve been keeping a close eye on every movement and spending promise made (and will do so every day before the election on May 3).

Tracking Albanese and Dutton’s footprints

While the leaders’ travel plans are kept tightly under wraps to keep protesters at bay, each location they visit – from hospitals to schools and businesses – presents an opportunity for them to meet voters, take photos and make announcements to further their campaigns.

Their chosen locations can also provide an insight into some of their key battlegrounds: where they are hoping to win or defend seats.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be updating this map to record where Albanese and Dutton have travelled to (the red and blue dots) and where they were last spotted (the red and blue flags). Hovering over these icons will give you a bit of detail about where they stopped by and why. In busy cities such as Brisbane and Sydney, zoom in to see exactly where leaders spent time.

Keeping count of Labor and the Coalition’s spending promises

A key part of every election campaign is the cash splashed by the major parties to win votes.

While some are major spending decisions on a national level – for things like Australia’s defence force or NDIS – you’ll see both leaders make smaller promises in seats they hope to win or hold.

Traditionally, these projects have been the domain of local councils or state governments, but both parties have created large funds as a piecemeal way to pay for local projects, showing voters that federal parliamentarians can deliver for their communities.

Even before the campaign, the parties were announcing money for everything from lights at sports grounds to building swimming pools.

During the next few weeks, we’ll be keeping a tab on how much Albanese and Dutton are spending in each electorate, as well as bigger national promises.

Electorates shaded in blue are ones that the Coalition have committed money to, while the areas shaded in red are the ones where Labor has put money. Those shaded in purple are electorates where both Labor and the Coalition have dropped comparable amounts of cash.

Some electorates – especially smaller ones around major cities – will be harder to spot on the national map, so we recommend that you zoom in for a better view. Hovering over shaded regions will tell you the amount of funding promised and what it is for.

Both the spending and campaign tracker will be updated regularly, but there may be some delays as locations and spending are verified and entered into our system.

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