Labor marginals in Scott Morrison’s sights

Scott Morrison visited two of Labor’s more vulnerable seats in Queensland on Monday in a move that was intended to show Coalition ambitions to build on its dominance in the state.

Scott Morrison in Brisbane on Monday. Picture: Adam Taylor

Scott Morrison visited two of Labor’s more vulnerable seats in Queensland on Monday in a move that, at least publicly, was intended to show Coalition ambitions to build on its dominance in the state.

A week after Annastacia Palaszczuk opened Queensland’s border, the Prime Minister has twice been in the election battleground state where his government holds 23 of 30 federal seats.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese last week also travelled to Brisbane and is now holidaying on the central Queensland coast.

On Monday, Mr Morrison made appearances in the now ultra-marginal Labor seat of Lilley, once the north Brisbane stronghold of former treasurer Wayne Swan, and in Moreton, in Brisbane’s south which has swung between the parties for two decades.

The creation of a new truck- driving apprenticeship was announced by Mr Morrison who explained it was needed to head off a critical shortage of drivers that could cause havoc to supply chains and prevent the timely deliveries of food, medicines and packages.

“Over the past couple of years, we have seen the number of drivers actually fall and we need to turn that around,’’ he said.

“And when we sat down with the trucking industry, one of the key things that they said they needed was to ensure that we improve the qualifications of training and career paths for truck drivers in this country.’’

A senior LNP insider said Monday’s visit was more about internal party politics than any local belief the Coalition could win either Lilley, held by Labor’s Anika Wells on a wafer-thin 0.7 per cent margin, or Moreton, held by Graham Perrett since 2007 and on a 2 per cent margin, at next year’s election.

“Noses were out of joint last week over the PM going to Ryan (held by the LNP with a 6.1 per cent margin) and Brisbane (held by the LNP on a 5 per cent margin),’’ he said. “Ryan Shaw has been campaigning for the LNP in Lilley and Monday was more an acknowledgment of that because most in the party believe votes will be swinging back to Labor in that seats

“The PM should be sandbagging what we got, 23 seats is the high water mark.’’

Mr Morrison is expected to visit the LNP-held seat of Longman, north of Brisbane on Tuesday.