Smarting over Turnbull, Libs split on PM’s role in campaign

Victorian Liberals remain split on whether Scott Morrison should visit the state during the election campaign.

Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy. Picture: AAP

The Victorian Liberals expect to be penalised in the upcoming state election by voters angry at the federal Liberals for dumping Malcolm Turnbull, but they remain split on whether Scott Morrison should visit the state during the campaign to spruik infrastructure spending.

As Liberal members around the country reeled from the strength of the voter backlash witnessed in Wentworth, senior Victorian Liberals said they believed that federal instability had put the state party on the back foot ahead of the November 24 election.

The state Coalition has tried to win over Victorian voters with a tough-on-crime platform featuring mandatory sentences for a raft of violent crimes, as well as a promise to revive the East West Link roadway dumped by Labor.

Yet senior Liberals say federal infighting culminating in August’s leadership spill sucked critical ­momentum from their campaign, which they are only now starting to claw back.

While some MPs want the Prime Minister to come to the state to talk up the federal government’s planned billion-­dollar investments in a regional rail package and the East West Link, others within the party say they want federal MPs to give the state a wide berth.

“We’re not looking to the feds to save us from the mess they got us into,” one senior party member told The Australian.

Another senior source said there was a wide understanding of “brand damage” that federal infighting had inflicted on state branches, particularly in Victoria, which is the first state to go to an election since the federal spill.

“The problem is that people don’t differentiate, and the way they see it, it’s one brand, and there’s brand damage all over the country … it’s affecting us everywhere,” the source said.

“But what do we do about it? Stick to the plan.”

Some Victorian Liberal MPs believe that input from the Prime Minister and announcements tailored around federal funding for infrastructure could augur well in an election pitched by Labor Premier Daniel Andrews as a referendum on “getting things done”.

The federal government handed out more than $8 billion to Victoria for infrastructure projects during the 2018 budget, in addition to a $5bn commitment to build an airport rail link in partnership with the state government.

The federal government has committed $1.7bn to build an inland rail freight project, as well as a $3bn inducement to revive and build the scrapped East West Link road project.

It is understood the parliamentary party, rather than head office, will make the final decisions on how much involvement federal MPs have with the campaign.

Monash University political expert Nick Economou said it would be risky for Mr Morrison to get involved with the state campaign, and he could not come to Victoria without being peppered by questions about the federal leadership spill.