In Whitlam, the Coalition has been delivering a master class in how not to run an election campaign.
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They've had one candidate - the Nationals' Katrina Hodgkinson - unveiled to much fanfare only for her to step down. Insiders say that was due to terrible polling numbers.
Then, just days later, the Liberals dumped their candidate, Ben Britton, for controversial comments about women serving in combat roles.
The party claimed those comments "were not previously disclosed" - even though they were freely available online at the time he was chosen to run by the party.
When asked this week, Liberal leader Peter Dutton said he was axed due to "a number of issues - not just those that have been made public".
That comment implies the existence of even more problematic comments from Mr Britton - and raises the question of how the party didn't know of them before last Friday.
Then, with just 48 hours before the close of nominations, the party dropped in a last-minute replacement, Mr Smith.
Nathaniel Smith is a candidate with ties to a pro-gas lobby group - though he said it was in relation to his role as CEO of the NSW Master Plumbers Association.
Stephen Jones: the catalyst for shenanigans
Oddly enough, the catalyst for the Whitlam shenanigans could be traced back to sitting MP Stephen Jones' decision in late January to retire at the election.
A month earlier Mr Britton - who had previously run in Cunningham for Clive Palmer's party and launched failed preselection bids for the federal seat of Cook and the state seat of Kiama - had already been selected unopposed to run in Whitlam for the Liberals.
Mr Jones' resignation turned Whitlam into a potentially winnable seat and there were those within the Liberal party who felt Mr Britton wasn't the candidate to choose when victory was suddenly an option.
And so Coalition partner the Nationals stepped into the breach - and saw a chance to steal the seat for themselves - on February 21 and put up former state MP Katrina Hodgkinson.
Katrina Hodgkinson 'the stronger candidate'
It was a move deemed so significant that Nationals leader David Littleproud was on the ground at Shell Cove to announce Ms Hodgkinson's run.
Despite selling herself as "the stronger candidate" between her and Mr Britton, she pulled out on April 3, stating it had "become clear that the campaign for Whitlam will be between the Labor and Liberal parties".
Sources have told the Mercury that something else had become clear - the Nationals had no chance of winning in Whitlam.
Internal polling reportedly showed barely six per cent support for Ms Hodgkinson and the inside goss was that the Liberals told the junior partner to get out of Whitlam.
That left the field open for Mr Britton. For a whole day.
The rise and fall of Ben Britton
On Friday, April 4, his podcast comments about sacrificing Australia's "beautiful women" in war resurfaced.
Before the weekend was over, the party had dumped him and hurriedly scraped any mention of him being a Liberal from their websites and killed his social pages.
Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor was happy to officially launch Mr Britton's campaign on March 30, even posting photos of the pair on his social media feeds.
Funnily enough, those posts have magically disappeared.
Though he might need to show Peter Dutton how to scrub clean his social media; the opposition leader's Instagram page still has a number of pics of him with Mr Britton (they were posted on January 22 if his social media team needs to search and destroy).
With nominations closing just two days later, the Liberals slotted former Wollondilly state MP Nathaniel Smith into Whitlam.
Mr Smith has since been revealed as a director of lobby group Australians for Natural Gas.
He has said he makes "no apologies for standing up for the need to have more Australian gas for Australians".
"I am the CEO of the Master Plumbers Association NSW, and I also sit on the board of Australians for Natural Gas - an organisation that is supported by the MPANZ, the Restaurant and Catering Association and the Restaurant and Cafe Association," Mr Smith said.
"I represent the MPANZ interests on the ANG board, as peak bodies representing gas-related industries, it is important for our members that we participate in the relevant industry debates and education on the vital role gas plays in meeting the energy needs of businesses and households across NSW."
Mr Britton has since claimed he was dumped because of a factional war within the Liberals to stop Mr Dutton from winning.
He might be half-right; the coverage suggests someone has a file of compromising comments from Mr Britton and has been flinging them to the media.
But it's unlikely to be about ensuring Mr Dutton's failure. Whitlam is only one electorate among many, damaging the party's chances there doesn't do the same everywhere else.
The likelihood of a Liberal Whitlam
What has this mess done for the Liberals' chances in Whitlam?
It certainly hasn't helped, though some have suggested the voters may well forget about it by the time the election day rolls around in four weeks' time.
That view overlooks the popularity of early voting, which begins in less than two weeks.
At the last election, almost half of Whitlam had cast their vote before polling day and it's likely to be the same story this time.
Two weeks isn't long enough for this drama to have been forgotten by Whitlam's voters.
While all this has been going on, Labor's Carol Berry has been keeping quiet on the Coalition's woes - and with good reason.
In the political sphere, when your opponent is tearing themselves to pieces, the best thing you can do is stay out of their way and let them keep going.
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
