Post-Covid blitz: Scott Morrison to hit the road

Scott Morrison will tour Victoria and NSW to reconnect with voters and focus attention on the strength of the post-lockdown recovery.

Scott Morrison arrives back in Sydney on Thursday after attending the UN Climate Change Summit GOP26 in Glasgow. Picture: Adam Taylor

Scott Morrison will embark on a week-long tour through Victoria and NSW to reconnect with voters personally after months of Covid-19 lockdowns and focus political attention on the strength of the post-pandemic recovery.

In a move to steer the government’s political agenda back to a domestic footing and put the fallout over the French subs snub behind him, the Prime Minister will spend the week visiting communities across both states in what Liberal Party sources consider to be a pre-election campaign salvo.

Preparations for the campaign blitz emerged as NSW and Victoria opened their borders to each other from 11.59pm on Thursday.

In a joint announcement, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Victorian Premier Daniel -Andrews said free travel would be allowed between the nation’s two most populous states.

Mr Morrison will focus on the economic recovery and the lifting of restrictions while spruiking ¬energy-investment announcements in coal seats in NSW and parts of regional Victoria.

The Australian understands the Prime Minister will seek to continue to drive the reopening of the nation at a meeting of national cabinet on Friday, with a package to bolster state hospital systems in the event of higher infection rates from easing restrictions.

The meeting is also expected to discuss the nation’s vaccine-booster program, reopening the international border and quarantine arrangements.

Having spent much of the past few months in quarantine from overseas trips, and locked out of key electorates due to state government-imposed border closures, the Prime Minister will seek to make up ground through the personal visits. The pre-campaign blitz is expected to include businesses, RSL clubs, community centres, cafes and pubs to reconnect with people at the coalface of the economy, those who have been hit hardest by the lockdowns and others facing challenges with the reopening.

Coalition MPs have also been ordered to get back out into the community.

Government sources said that after a fortnight of internal division over climate change and having now pledging Australia’s commitment to a target of net-zero emissions by 2050 at the Glasgow COP26 climate change summit, Mr Morrison would embark on a domestic road show selling the tangible benefits of the package to Australians.

It is understood that Mr Morrison will visit the Hunter Valley in NSW, a coal-dependent economy, where he will try to pitch new energy industry investments.

He is also expected to visit inner-city electorates in Melbourne where climate change was a key concern. as well as regional seats which the Nationals have claimed were most at risk from the impacts of the long-term plan to decarbonise the economy.

With an election now expected to be called for March or May next year, the Coalition’s primary vote is at its lowest point since December 2018 – when it was also about six months from the last election.

Conservative MPs are concerned that the government has not only lost ground over the climate change debate but has also worn the blame for lockdowns while not reaping the electoral benefits of the reopening of Victoria and NSW. A senior government source said the Prime Minister had spent the past three months on planes, in quarantine or in lockdown and was eager to re-engage with the community.

With movement between and within the two most populous states having recommenced, Mr Morrison will seek to reassert the commonwealth’s economic credentials, having steered the country through the pandemic.

Government sources said Mr Morrison wanted to refocus the debate back onto the reopening of the economy and international borders as the country hits the 80 per cent full vaccination mark this week.

The Prime Minister arrived in Canberra from Glasgow on Thursday and headed straight to a full-day meeting of cabinet’s expenditure review committee to begin shaping next month’s mid-year budget update.

Josh Frydenberg said the federal government was determined to see an end to the lockdowns.

“People are optimistic again … People are spending what they’ve saved over the course of this pandemic,” the Treasurer said.

Under the NSW and Victorian border announcement, travellers, including workers, entering Victoria do not face any testing or quarantine requirements, but would still be required to obtain a permit from Service Victoria before they arrived, to verify they were not Covid-19 positive or required to isolate as a close contact

There are no requirements for fully vaccinated Victorians entering NSW, unless they have been to a place of high concern in Victoria. But unvaccinated people are not allowed to enter NSW for recreation or a holiday.