Election 2022: Scott Morrison seeks second coming of a miracle and Josh fights climate challengers

Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg both had plenty to pray about as they walked side by side into a synagogue in East Melbourne for a Passover service.

Scott Morrison with Alex Wyatt at The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. Picture: Jason Edwards

Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg both had plenty to pray about as they walked side by side into a synagogue in East Melbourne for a Passover service.

Good Friday and the first day of Passover landed on the same day this year and brought a moment of relative calm to the election campaign for a Prime Minister who is searching for a second miracle win and a Treasurer fighting off a ­credible challenge in his seat of Kooyong from Climate 200-backed independent Monique Ryan.

Liberal sources had foreshadowed that Mr Morrison would probably visit Kooyong during the campaign given internal party polling shows Mr Frydenberg’s primary vote has fallen in the past three months from 47 per cent to 44 per cent.

The only problem was that Mr Morrison is not an electoral positive in the Liberal heartland seat where there is a growing resentment over the Coalition’s climate change policies.

“You have been a genuine friend of Israel and the Jewish ­people,” Mr Frydenberg said of Mr Morrison at the Passover service.

Mr Morrison, who also attended a Good Friday church service in the ultra-marginal electorate of Chisholm, used his Christian faith to relate to the Jewish congregation.

“Our faith inspires us and we share it with our children,” he said.

“So our children and our communities never forget.

“Never, ever forget the incredible price that has been paid for our freedom and our liberty. And the wonderful life we’re allowed to live in this country.”

Liberal strategists said Mr Frydenberg was on track to win Kooyong on a thin margin but was reliant on his personal approval ratings to overcome the cashed-up “voices of” candidate.

Mr Frydenberg’s primary vote in the 2019 election was 49.4 per cent – five points higher than he is currently polling – with the Greens picking up 21 per cent and independent Oliver Yates at nearly 9 per cent.

The Treasurer’s primary vote in 2019 was down from 58 per cent in 2016, with the two-party preferred margin slipping to 6.4 per cent.

Barnaby Joyce enjoys a day out with partner Vikki Campion and sons Sebastian and Thomas at a water park in Gladstone, central Queensland.

Before arriving at the synagogue, Mr Morrison dropped into a fundraising drive for Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, agreeing to pour $2m of federal funding towards the annual Good Friday Appeal.

On Friday morning, he attended the Syndal Baptist Church with Chisholm MP Gladys Liu.

The seat, held on a margin of 0.5 per cent, is being heavily targeted by Labor as polls show a swing away from the Coalition in Victoria. But Liberal strategists say Ms Liu’s strong local presence gives her a reasonable chance of holding onto the seat for another three years.

Mr Morrison was acknowledged during the church service and there was a prayer that Australia’s leaders act with God’s “wisdom, compassion, justice and mercy”.

“We pray, Lord, that you will do great things through our leaders,” said church member Fiona Brown.

Mr Morrison – who this week refused to commit to legislating a religious discrimination act if he was re-elected – did not invite cameras into the service, in contrast to an Easter Sunday service during the 2019 campaign.

But the cameras were there afterwards to see him mingle with parishioners – his first random interactions with voters since the beginning of the Prime Minister’s highly controlled campaign.

Mr Morrison said Easter was “above politics” as he refused to take questions about political ­issues.

He revealed he would be at his local church in Sydney on Sunday and made sure religious voters were aware that his faith was a central part of his life.

“Good Friday and Easter Sunday means everything to me. It’s my faith. It has informed me, encouraged me, guided me, over my entire life. It’s how I was raised in my family, in a church just like this one,” Mr Morrison said.

“Easter is about faith. It’s about hope. It’s about being able to look forward to the future with confidence and encouraged by your ­beliefs. It’s a very personal thing for me.”