PM’s 65-day nightmare as election day comes ever closer

News.com.au’s political editor Samantha Maiden has summed up Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s nightmare as election day inches closer.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been barraged by a number of voices discrediting him over the past 65 days, including several from his own side of politics.

At the start of February, it was revealed former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian called Morrison “a horrible, horrible person” in private texts.

His own Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, called him “a hypocrite and a liar”, and outgoing Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells took the gloss off the government’s budget night when she called Mr Morrison an “autocrat” and a “bully” in an extraordinary speech on the Senate floor.

The Senator also alleged Mr Morrison used racist, underhanded fearmongering to win preselections in Cook, the electorate he represents, when he first ran in 2007.

Speaking on the I’ve Got News For You podcast, news.com.au’s national political editor Samantha Maiden described Ms Fierravanti-Wells’ speech as “one of the greatest drive-by political shootings that I’ve ever seen in Australian political history”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the campaign trail. Picture: Damian Shaw/News Corp Australia

The collective weight of the recent claims about Mr Morrison has forced the PM into defence and prevented him from getting his own message out to set the agenda, Maiden said on the podcast.

But will they affect Mr Morrison’s chances of getting re-elected?

“It gets to a point where I think voters say, ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire?’ right? The question is, do they care?” Maiden said.

“Basically, the Prime Minister is saying, ‘You don’t have to love me, you don’t have to like me, you just have to know that I’m better than the other guy.’”

News.com.au political editor Samantha Maiden. Picture: Supplied

Maiden said the recent focus on Mr Morrison had pulled the limelight away from Opposition leader Anthony Albanese, whom she says will still need to mount a convincing campaign despite a healthy lead in the polls.

“There’s no doubt that Anthony Albanese is not as experienced a campaigner as Scott Morrison,” she said.

“I think you saw (this) in Perth. He was a little awkward when they had that punter turn up and started trying to fire him questions. He wasn’t quite sure how to handle that.”

This is not uncharacteristic of Mr Albanese, said Maiden.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese on the campaign trail. Picture: Morgan Sette/NCA Newswire

“His response was not always perfect in relation to … the Kimberley Kitching matter. He gets annoyed, he gets a bit shirty, and he sort of takes it out on the press.”

Mr Morrison’s advantage in campaigning may be one of the reasons he could choose to call the election for the later of the two dates available to him – May 21 instead of May 14 – in order to maximise any gains from this apparent disparity in prowess, said Maiden.

Time is running out for Mr Morrison to call the election: Monday April 11 – in three days at the time of writing – is the last day that he can call the election for the earlier date, May 14. After that, he will be forced to call the election for May 21 unless he intends to take the almost unprecedented step of calling separate House and Senate elections.

Scott Morrison is confronted in Edgeworth Tavern about the pension and the Commonwealth Integrity Commission. Picture: Damian Shaw/News Corp Australia

However, Maiden noted that Mr Morrison’s misfortune seems to have carried over into his campaign, including an expletive-filled dressing down by a patron in a Newcastle bar and a video where a woman invited him over for a selfie before calling him the “worst Prime Minister ever”.

Ms Cusack and Senator Fierravanti-Wells’ criticisms of Mr Morrison in the past few weeks have been interesting because of the diversity of views they represent within the Liberal Party, said Maiden.

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells on the Senate floor. Picture: Gary Ramage/NCA Newswire

“They come from totally different parts of the Liberal Party ecosystem,” she said.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells hails from the conservative faction of the NSW Liberal Party whereas Ms Cusack sits in the NSW upper house and is associated with the party’s moderate faction.

“The common thread of both these people is that … (they) are making a strategic call that (Morrison) is on the way out.”

Originally published as PM’s 65-day nightmare as election day comes ever closer