Anthony Albanese heads to Qld, Scott Morrison likely to follow as border reopens

The two men vying for the country’s top job are set to embark on a Sunshine State campaign blitz as borders reopen.

After 141 days, Queensland has reopened its borders with Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese set to capitalise on the new freedoms.

The Opposition Leader, who was on one of the first flights out of Sydney on Monday morning, is heading straight to north Brisbane to promote Labor in the lead-up to the next federal election, likely to be held in March or May.

Mr Morrison is expected to board a plane sometime this week after being locked out of Queensland for almost five months.

He told The Australian he “couldn’t wait” to be back on the ground in the Sunshine State.

As of 1am on Monday, fully vaccinated NSW, Victoria and ACT residents can enter Queensland if they have had a negative PCR test within the 72 hours prior.

They will need another test on day five.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to arrive each day in the lead-up to Christmas.

Queensland has reopened its borders after almost five months of being shut to the southern states. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

Mr Albanese told ABC Breakfast the first stop on his Sunshine State blitz was to head to Caboolture TAFE, where he will promote his party’s plan for 465,000 free places.

“I’ll be talking today about our plans … and how we build back stronger,” Mr Albanese said.

“We need to take advantage of the sacrifice that Australians have made by actually trying to envisage how we’ve become more resilient.”

While Labor is currently leading the Coalition in opinion polls, Mr Albanese has an enormous task to drive up his party’s dismal 27 per cent primary vote it received in Queensland at the 2019 election.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese was on one of the first flights out of Sydney headed to Brisbane on Monday morning as he ramps up his pre-election blitz. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Labor is targeting at least three key seats in Queensland, a state that was a major drag on its shock election defeat in 2019.

Mr Albanese is confident his “positive vision” will drive Queenslanders back to Labor.

He said both major party leaders had taken a hit to their approval ratings during the pandemic.

“But my positive vision, as well as holding the government to account for their failure on vaccines, their failure to have purpose-built quarantine (will work in my favour),” Mr Albanese said.

Originally published as Anthony Albanese heads to Qld, Scott Morrison likely to follow as border reopens