Scott Morrison is no longer a passive witness to the COVID-inspired plague of brand damage that has ripped through the state Liberal Party divisions where Labor premiers remain unassailable.
The Prime Minister now has a horror show of his own.
While the West Australian election result can’t be overstated locally, what effect it has federally is debatable.
How the Liberal Party rebuilds in the west without serious intervention is an inscrutable dilemma. Structurally, it probably falls just short of catastrophic.
With a federal election looming within the next 12 months, there is next to no political infrastructure left in that state, only one federal cabinet minister currently fit for duty and a denuded ability to raise funds, inspire volunteers or hire staff.
The result itself shouldn’t be seen as a reflection of the Liberal Party brand at the national level.
That is now under pressure for completely different reasons.
The political fallout of the twin sexual assault allegations that have rocked the Morrison government over recent weeks are manifest in the latest Newspoll.
This is a poll that Morrison and party officials have been bracing for. It will not come as any shock. The three-point fall in popular support leaves the Coalition at 39 per cent. This is one point ahead of its lowest point of February 2020 in the wake of the bushfire crisis.
The difference is that Labor was then still at 35 per cent. It is now on an equal footing at 39 per cent. During the bushfire crisis, Anthony Albanese was also the preferred prime minister.
However, just as the COVID premiers have proved the power of incumbency during a pandemic, Morrison’s approval ratings remains at record highs for a prime minister.
Despite having lost two cabinet ministers to temporary health and stress leave, and losing a working majority with the resignation of Craig Kelly, so far it appears there has been no brand damage for the Prime Minister.
This suggests that while COVID politics may still apply to leadership, it may no longer be of such primal concern that other issues cannot bite.
His challenge will be to keep a lid on anxieties within the partyroom, and resist a temptation to apply a political fix to the electoral backlash the party is facing.
The federal Opposition Leader, however, still faces a significant challenge. While he will be given a reprieve from the rumblings around his leadership, he will have to inflict a lot more damage to Morrison personally before there could be any prospect of Labor winning an election.
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