There was no contest for the nation’s front pages today, as election fever gets underway.

While most (The Herald Sun, Sydney Morning Herald, Queensland’s Courier Mail (pictured right) and The Age) played it safe with straight-down-the-line headlines like ‘It’s on’ and ‘Who do you trust?’, The Daily Telegraph was a lot less shy, leading with the headline ‘Finally, you now have the chance to kick this mob out’.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was quick to play down the sentiments of Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper.

He told The Australian: “We have a free press in this country so Mr Murdoch’s media is free to say what it will and of course we disagree with the proposition they put.”

Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, described the front page as “an extraordinary intervention on day one of an election campaign”.

Just seconds after announcing the election for September 7 yesterday, Kevin Rudd’s ‘A new way’ campaign hit the ad breaks.

It ends with the line “we need a better way, a smarter way, a new way to secure Australia’s future”.