Good morning. Welcome to the first Morning Mail for 2025 – thank you for reading, we love having you with us. Today we lead with news the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is embarking on a blitz of battleground seats as he tries to build momentum ahead of this year’s election, having ended 2024 with a series of lacklustre poll results.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have launched a surprise new push into Russia’s Kursk region with footage showing troops on the offensive.