Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s massive final gamble to win

Since the Liberal campaign launch, it is clear an under-threat Prime Minister Scott Morrison has formed a new plan to secure himself re-election.

ANALYSIS

As part of his action-packed campaign schedule, the Scott Morrison is today giving a speech at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.

It is an apt location for the Prime Minister to talk about his plans for the future given he has taken one huge gamble in the final week of the campaign trail that could make or break him.

Ever since the Liberal campaign launch in Brisbane on Sunday, it is clear an under-threat Mr Morrison has formed a new plan to secure himself a second term.

Every day since he announced his plan to allow first homebuyers to take up to $50,000 of their super to buy a home, he has been focusing on it like a man possessed.

Despite travelling the length of the nation in just a few days, the locations of his press conferences feel strangely familiar.

Before you see him on TV each morning, he has been speaking to young couples at display homes and newly built homes in Queensland, the Northern Territory and today in Victoria.

And once the cameras are rolling, he is determined to speak about his party’s super for housing scheme – which he clearly believes is his strongest weapon in the final week of campaigning.

Stream more election news live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022 >

Scott Morrison has a recurring theme in his speeches during the final days of the campaign. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

At the start and finish of each press conference, he stares into the camera and tells aspiring homeowners that the only way they can access their super and “buy their home with their own money” is to vote LNP on Saturday.

The locations of where Mr Morrison has headed in recent days have also said a lot about his seat-targeting tactics heading into the final phase of the election.

After the Brisbane launch, where a noisy protest greeted him outside the Convention Centre at Southbank, across the river from the CBD, he has been preferring the outskirts of cities, targeting Labor seats on the fringes of places like Cairns, Darwin and Geelong.

It is interesting because he has not been campaigning in any sizeable inner-city area, which are often considered the heartland of the traditional aspiring and professional Liberal voter.

His party is of course under threat in these areas by the so-called “teal independents” who have placed a higher emphasis on climate change and threaten to unseat prominent Liberal members.

In the final week of the campaign, it appears as if Mr Morrison is instead trying to win over the votes of mostly young, hardworking Aussies in outer suburbs who are in the process of trying to buy a home.

Each day he hammers home the message that his super for housing plan is key to ensuring these people are not “left by the side of the road” when house prices rise.

Mr Morrison has been frantically visiting housing developments and outer suburbs. Pictured here at a housing site in Armstrong Creek, Geelong. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

It is a gamble from the PM because not all young people are overly enthused about the idea, with voters expressing strong concerns about it in Labor focus groups attended by news.com.au. They said they were worried it will “inflate house prices even more”.

Mr Morrison meanwhile has maintained that any impact to house prices will be marginal, and it appears he is hoping the policy could be his ticket back into the Lodge.

Today, even when he was peppered from all angles about Covid and wages, it was clear the super policy was at the forefront of his mind.

In a strange segue halfway through answering a question about Covid and Mark McGowan, he began talking about his super policy, unprompted, before walking off.

“We are moving ahead, we have a big few years ahead of us, we are ready to seize the opportunities of what is ahead of us,” he said.

“We want to see people get into their own homes, access to their own super, so they can realise that dream, adding to the 300,000 Australians we have helped, and only by voting Liberal and National can you get access to your own superannuation to enable you to buy a home.

“The Labor Party won’t let you do it, I will encourage you to do it so you can get the best possible start in life for you and your family. Thanks for your time.”

It is a familiar theme in Mr Morrison’s press conferences in the final week of campaigning, with only three days left to win over Australians.

Originally published as Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s massive final gamble to win