Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison not dazzling Riverina voters on our Pub Test panel

The week saw the opposition leader confined to his home, Anzac Day commemorations, inflation figures released, internal arguments over net zero emission targets, and plenty of promised cash and policies.

The six Riverina voters - a cross section of our local community - weigh in on everything from the past week's biggest issues to who came out on top.

This week, we also asked our panel about the eight candidates officially running for the seat of Riverina.

For Uncle James Ingram, the past week saw a clear winner after the release of recent inflation figures, which he said are an indictment on the current government.

"Albanese, by a mile," Mr Ingram said. "[The Liberals] have been in power for so long the mismanagement of the economy is starting to show."

In line with Mr Ingram's biggest pre-election concern, he saw the week's biggest issue as related to cost of living.

"Again, the pressures of living - housing, education, the price of food. These are real concerns for real Australians," he said.

Currently leaning somewhere between voting Greens or Labor, the Wiradjuri Elder said he needs to know more about the recently announced local candidates, who he hoped will make the effort to meet Riverina voters.

"There are lots of people out there who are undecided and I don't think McCormack's got it all in the bag just because he had a 40 per cent lead last election," he said.

"I think it's going to be a lot closer than people think."

Farmer Joash Parker was less equivocal on whether either leader impressed him this week.

"Not particularly," he said.

"They've all been running around talking about Anzacs, promising to do things and trying to bag the other one out. I haven't noticed anything especially good this week."

Mr Parker didn't notice a great deal of difference in the Labor party's media coverage, despite Mr Albanese's isolation.

On the week's big issues, Mr Parker noted Labor's announcement of changes to agricultural visas as a policy that will affect his industry and which he said will have a strong impact on his uncle in Tasmania.

"I thought it was pretty ordinary. [Shadow Minister for Agriculture Julie Collins] couldn't answer many questions," he said.

"I think the current arrangements work quite alright. I don't think it particularly needs changing."

As for local candidates, the first time Riverina voter is more uncertain this week than he was the last.

"I tried to dig into that a bit more and look up some social media for all the local candidates," he said.

"It must be a part of being in a safe seat, I couldn't find information about half of them, easily, anyway."

Wagga retiree Maureen Donlon shares a similar opinion to Mr Parker on the week's winner. "No one's performing well," she said.

Mrs Donlon's biggest issues this week included continued controversy surrounding Liberal candidate Katherine Deves, the ensuing fallout of the Solomon Islands-China pact, Coalition uncertainty on net zero emission targets and Peter Dutton's "chest-beating" approach to China.

Yet to decide her vote, Mrs Donlon was less than impressed with the Riverina's candidates.

"Can I say 'heavy sigh', I am just so disappointed in the candidates that we have to choose from," she said.

"What are we left with - not a single female on the list.

"I just want to be able to vote for someone who's going to break the National Party hold on this electorate and that's not going to happen, once again."

IN OTHER NEWS:

The trend continued with Gabriel Brown responding to which leader performed better over the past week.

"I couldn't say either of them did, I think they both went backwards," Mrs Brown said.

"Obviously, Mr Albanese wasn't there, so you can't say he went forward."

Although, Mrs Brown does believe the Labor party as a whole did improve its image by rolling out shadow cabinet ministers into the spotlight.

"And Mr Morrison had a bad week, there's no doubt about it, with the Solomon Islands thing, the cost of living figures and the economic figures," she said.

"The Nationals blow up [over climate change policy] is also looking ugly."

With a busy work week, electrician Po Tiwangce struggled to keep up with election coverage and events from the campaign trail - a problem many voters face.

Attempting to catch up on what major parties are offering, Mr Tiwangce, a refugee from Myanmar, opted to do some personal research this week.

"I've been doing a little bit of homework, reading all the pros and cons of the parties," he said.

"Far out, they all seem pretty good. Now I can't really decide."

The undecided voter planned to delve further into local candidates and their parties over the upcoming week, especially looking into which are favourable towards incoming refugees.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: