Election 2022: Anthony Albanese raises Scott Morrison’s border bid with Clive Palmer

Anthony Albanese has sought to depict Scott Morrison as an ally of Clive Palmer in his pitch for votes in Western Australia.

Campaign trail bikes: Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits Wanneroo BMX Club in the key WA electorate of Pearce on Monday. Picture: Jason Edwards

Anthony Albanese has sought to depict Scott Morrison as an ally of Clive Palmer in his pitch for votes in Western Australia.

The Prime Minister campaigned in key WA seats of Pearce and Cowan on Monday as the Labor leader reminded state voters that the federal government had temporarily joined the billionaire’s High Court bid to bring down Premier Mark McGowan’s hard border.

WA’s border regime was the longest in the nation and helped make Mr McGowan wildly popular in the first 18 months of the ­global pandemic. The federal government’s decision to join Mr Palmer’s action – it later withdrew – hurt the WA Liberal Party, which was reduced to two lower house seats at the state election.

“Mr Morrison had a choice between Mark McGowan and Clive Palmer and he chose Clive Palmer,” Mr Albanese said on Monday.

“I know what side I’m on. I’m on the side of Mark McGowan.”

On Monday, Mr Albanese also revived Mr Morrison’s “cave dweller” analogy about the McGowan government’s decision to keep borders closed after other states had opened up.

“The Prime Minister called West Australians ‘cave dwellers’ and rejected their government’s efforts to keep them safe,” he said.

This was a reference to Mr Morrison’s comments last August when he likened WA’s dilemma to the one facing a cave-dwelling family in the Hollywood movie The Croods.

“Some wanted to stay in the cave and the young girl wanted to deal with the challenges of living in a different world. Covid is a different world and we need to get out and live in it,” he said.

In WA, the Liberals hold 10 of 15 federal seats, but two of the party’s sitting MPs are retiring: former attorney-general Christian Porter in Pearce and Steve Irons in Swan. Labor has poured huge effort and resources into both seats.

Labor is considered a good chance to win Pearce, which the Liberals hold on 5.2 per cent. This is largely because their candidate is popular local mayor Tracey Roberts. The redistribution of Pearce aligns it closely with the City of Wanneroo where Ms Roberts has been mayor since 2011 and on the council for 20 years.

In Swan, where the Liberal margin is 3.2 per cent, Labor’s candidate is Zaneta Mascarenhas, an engineer born and raised in the WA Goldfields, who is up against the Liberals’ Kristy McSweeney, a former journalist whose family helped pioneer the state’s racehorse industry.

The contest in Labor MP Anne Aly’s seat of Cowan is also regarded as highly important. She holds the northern suburbs seat of Cowan by just 0.9 per cent and is being challenged by sitting Liberal MP Steve Connolly because his neighbouring seat of Stirling was abolished in a redistribution.

Politics professor Martin Drum, from Notre Dame University said it was not surprising both Mr Albanese and Mr Morrison each want to show “how well they get along with Mr McGowan”.

“Mr Albanese knows the commonwealth joining in on that ­action by Clive Palmer was deeply unpopular so he is trying to … ­remind WA voters of that brief union,” he said. “Morrison is clearly concerned about it and that is why he will talk about how well he and McGowan get along.”