Anthony Albanese doubles down on Eden-Monaro as COVID-19 keeps Scott Morrison away

Anthony Albanese has made nearly three times as many visits to Eden-Monaro as Scott Morrison during the by-election campaign.

Anthony Albanese with Labor candidate for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain in Queanbeyan. Picture: AAP

Anthony Albanese has made more than twice as many visits to Eden-Monaro as Scott Morrison during the by-election campaign, in a bid to hold on to the prized marginal NSW seat and keep critics at bay.

While senior Labor sources said a loss for the party would not reflect on the Opposition Leader, due to the by-election being held in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic, the Liberal Party believes anything less than a 3.8 per cent swing against the government would constitute a failure for Mr Albanese.

The average two-party-preferred swing against the government of the day in a by-election is 3.8 per cent.

Analysis by The Australian shows Mr Albanese has been on the hustings in the electorate with Labor candidate Kristy McBain 10 times since May 7, compared to four occasions for the Prime Minister and Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs.

Labor has also pledged funding commitments worth $376.8m, while the Liberal Party, through the Morrison government, has made just $10.2m in specific Eden-Monaro announcements during the campaign.

However, some of Labor’s by-election commitments have been carried over from the 2019 federal election.

The by-election will be held on Saturday and is set to be decided by preferences, with some political insiders not expecting a result until Sunday.

There are concerns within Labor that the Liberals are outspending them on television and radio advertising in one of the more unpredictable by-election contests.

Labor insiders insisted they had a better candidate in Ms McBain, who they said had been much more vocal than Dr Kotvojs, but acknowledged Mr Morrison, like Mr Albanese, was an asset to campaigning.

Liberal sources said the party started as under dogs and remained the underdogs, with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party’s preferences for Labor making a victory even harder.

Mr Morrison said voters understood the COVID-19 crisis and government’s response meant he had been unable to be in Eden-Monaro “as much as you normally would”.

“They know they need me to be at the national helm and that’s in the best interests of everybody in Eden-Monaro. But we’ve been doing a lot of work down there, particularly to support the forestry industries, the orchardist ­industries, a lot of road projects getting funded,” Mr Morrison told 2GB radio.

Dr Kotvojs has branded herself the candidate best placed to rebuild Eden-Monaro from within government, while Ms McBain has been critical of the Coalition’s bushfire response and questioned if local businesses will still receive JobKeeper payments beyond September.

“People right across Eden-Monaro are asking for plans. How is the future of agriculture going to be? What’s the future of tourism? What’s happening with JobKeeper?” Ms McBain said.