Last week I predicted that Anthony Albanese would continue his campaign, Riding Solo, fronting the media without help from his ministers, especially since the Mean Girls saga.

But with the unfortunate timing of Albanese’s Covid isolation, he now has to rely on his team to answer the media each day.

Interestingly, he has not elected just a couple of representatives to take his place while he recovers, opting instead to have a rolling band of members acting as the Labor spokesperson for the day.

This tactic is already beginning to unravel, with his team proving to be just as inept as Albanese with their policy platform, or unwilling to announce their true intentions.

While Labor’s Deputy Leader, Richard Marles was fronting a press conference late last week, he was asked whether the coal industry would be included in Labor’s proposed carbon credits scheme if they went above the permitted baseline, and what the credits would cost.

What followed was a cringe-worthy display of stuttered remarks and a refusal to answer the question.

Marles stepped back while Shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, rattled off the banal one liner’s that are displayed on Labor’s, ‘Powering Australia’ webpage, only to finish and hand it back to Marles, who continued to avoid the question.

It wasn’t until Sunday morning’s Today Show, that Chris Bowen, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, finally answered ‘yes’ that they would in fact introduce the scheme to the coal industry.

The intricacies of introducing cost-effective energy solutions has been a tough and complicated road, and of course that is no excuse not to try.

However, a public that is already sceptical about the cost of living, and soaring energy prices naturally wonder how much more they might pay if extended credit purchasing plans were introduced to companies.

It is Labor’s and the LNP’s job during an election campaign to tell its voting public what their real plans are and to allow everyone to delve into the fine print where they can examine whether the policies work in the real world.

Labor ministers are blowing every opportunity to sell their plans as a good idea and a viable alternative to Morrison’s platform.

Worse still are the minor statements and appearances of Penny Wong, Kristina Keneally, and Katy Gallagher, who are doing the Labor Party no favours with their interjections, after being embroiled in bullying allegations (that they deny) by Labor Senator, Kimberley Kitching.

It must come as some relief to Albanese that he hasn’t had to be front and centre. His isolation allows him to avoid the tough questions that he cannot answer with any confidence.

However, showcasing his troupe of ministers in his place is not proving to be a winning strategy.

In fact, Marles is worse and has offered himself up as another example of policy inaccuracies and sly dodging of questions because they don’t want to turn voters off their real agendas.

Instead of firming up their position as a viable alternate, Labor’s rolling band of ministers look even more unprofessional, more amateurish, than Albanese.

With Albanese bunkered down and just weeks before polling day, Scott Morrison and the LNP could not have wished for a better display of the worst alternative party.