ALP taskforce recruited to have party campaign-ready

Labor has re-established a nat­ional campaign committee to thrash out and sharpen the party’s election strategy.

Anthony Albanese speaks with his predecessor Bill Shorten, who is also the opposition’s government services spokesman, during question time on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

Labor has re-established a nat­ional campaign committee to thrash out and sharpen the party’s election strategy, as Scott Morrison warned his MPs not to get distracted and “keep your eyes in the boat”.

The campaign committee, recommended by Labor stalwarts Craig Emerson and Jay Weatherill after they reviewed the party’s 2019 election campaign and its “many and complex policies”, has had its first meeting and will ­convene regularly in the lead-up to the next poll.

There are more than a dozen committee members, including Anthony Albanese and representatives of the parliamentary leadership group and caucus team, party officials and some national executive members.

The Opposition Leader told caucus on Tuesday the committee had not met for more than a ­decade when Labor was last in government.

Attempting to rally his troops after last week’s reshuffle designed to unite the party following leadership tensions, Mr Albanese launched a negative attack against the Coalition for having an agenda with “cuts to JobKeeper, cuts to JobSeeker and cuts to wages”.

Labor’s 2019 election review found the party ran an overwhelmingly positive campaign while the Coalition’s was almost entirely negative, suggesting Mr Albanese will heed the lessons of the previous loss.

“At the next election, Scott Morrison will be asking for the Libs and Nats to have more time in office than John Howard had,” Mr Albanese told caucus, according to a partyroom spokesman.

With an election that could be called as early as August, the Prime Minister used an analogy from his rowing days to caution Coalition MPs to remain united.

Quoting his rowing coaches, Mr Morrison said they should “keep your eyes in the boat”, not get distracted, remain co-ordin­ated and continue working ­together as a team.

After Nationals MPs stoked ­energy and climate divisions by ­releasing a manufacturing plan that asks the government to ­support a “modern” coal-fired power station in the Hunter, their leader, Michael McCormack, also encouraged colleagues to “get the job done working together”.

Josh Frydenberg cautioned Liberal and Nationals MPs against believing the Coalition had the next election in the bag, saying every election was tough and challenging redistributions could make the next contest more ­difficult.

Labor’s 2019 election review found that the party’s campaign had lacked focus, wandered from topic to topic without a clear purpose and had reached voters already engaged in the political process while the ­Coalition ­managed to influence disengaged voters.