Razzmatazz rejected for Liberal campaign launch

The Liberals are planning a radically different campaign launch to Labor’s crowded appeal to the faithful.

With skills honed as foreign minister in tackling thorny issues, Julie Bishop makes her way through the undergrowth during a visit to Adelaide yesterday. Picture: AAP.

The Liberals are planning a radically different campaign launch to Labor’s crowded appeal to the faithful, with a more sombre presentation to a small crowd giving Scott Morrison the opportunity to present an “appeal to voters” ­rather than whipping up party devotees.

In keeping with the almost austere and disciplined message on economic management and a return to budget surplus, the Prime Minister is intent on achieving a contrast with Labor’s big-spending agenda and campaign launch for supporters.

The launch, to be held in Melbourne on Sunday, will be smaller than Labor’s last Sunday in Brisbane and there will be less emphasis on ovations and lauding of the Liberal legacy.

It will also have Mr Morrison as the centrepiece and leader, as he has been during the first month of the campaign.

He intends to deliver a shorter speech than Bill Shorten’s 40-plus-minute address and organisers are planning fewer launch add-ons in order to focus attention on the Prime Minister’s message.

On Monday, the Opposition Leader challenged the Liberals to put their team and former leaders on display in an effort to highlight Labor’s unity on leadership and policy, asking whether “Peter Dutton will be there”.

Senior ministers are planning to attend the Liberal launch and most of the ministry is expected in Melbourne, including the Home Affairs Minister, as well as state Liberal dignitaries.

Julie Bishop, the Liberal Party’s highest-profile and most popular female MP, will not attend.

The former foreign minister will instead be in her home state of Western Australia, where she will hit the hustings with Liberal candidates. “I’ll be campaigning over in Perth,” she said when asked ­yesterday if she would play a role in the Liberals’ Mother’s Day launch.

Ms Bishop, who is not recontesting her suburban Perth seat of Curtin after unsuccessfully standing for the Liberal leadership last year, was in Adelaide yesterday for a low-key charity fundraiser in the upmarket inner-northeastern suburb of Walkerville.

Federal Liberals have been benefiting from the popularity and electoral success of the Tasmanian and NSW Liberal governments, with the chance of winning back seats from Labor in those states improving.

The Labor launch included the immediate past Labor prime ministers Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Paul Keating. The Liberals’ immediate past prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is in New York and will not be attending Sunday’s launch.

John Howard and Tony Abbott are expected to attend, but the party is keen to keep the focus on Mr Morrison’s speech.

The Prime Minister wants to make his address “more about voters” than about the Liberal Party and he will use his occasion to deliver a reasoned pitch for re-election based on Liberal policies.

The Liberals have already hosted rallies in NSW and Queensland. The party returns to a Melbourne launch after opting for Sydney and Brisbane at the previous three elections. The party, likely facing its biggest test in Victoria, is now more hopeful of stemming its losses as polling suggests its primary vote is improving as the campaign goes on.

The final week’s campaigning will re-emphasise the economic message of the first four weeks and build on what modest giveaways will be offered on Sunday.