Labor will not have a single front person leading its election campaign over the next week as Anthony Albanese isolates with COVID-19, and will instead rely on a range of shadow ministers to campaign in marginal seats.
As Prime Minister Scott Morrison did a media blitz on morning television and radio on Friday, the Labor campaign team scrambled to implement contingency planning, abandoning a scheduled flight to Perth where Albanese was to campaign over the weekend.
Labor’s campaign spokesman Jason Clare says the party will rely on key frontbenchers while Anthony Albanese is isolating.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Frontbencher Jason Clare, who held a press conference to explain the changes to Labor’s campaign in its leader’s absence, played down the level of disruption it had caused, saying the party had “planned for this for months”.
“Elections are usually pretty presidential, you see one candidate against the other. Over the course of the next week, you’ll see something different. You’ll see our team,” Clare said.
With multiple polls suggesting that many voters remain undecided, Albanese’s absence from the campaign trail is a major blow while Morrison is able to criss-cross the country to target crucial marginal seats. A survey of 1404 voters, conducted by Resolve Political Monitor last week, found the number of uncommitted voters had increased from 21 to 27 per cent since a similar poll two weeks earlier.
But Clare dismissed concerns that Morrison would be able to capitalise on Albanese’s absence, evening suggesting it would be a positive outcome for Labor.
“I think the real problem is the Australians know Scott Morrison too well,” Clare said.
“I think it’s a positive for our campaign. The more they see of Scott Morrison, the more they will realise this government has run out of puff.”
The decision to rely on a range of frontbenchers to lead the campaign marks a contrast to the usual process of handing over to a deputy in the event of a leader’s absence. It is expected that Richard Marles, who would hold the position of acting Prime Minister in a Labor government, will be among the frontbenchers to play a more prominent role over the course of the week.
Finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher was expected to campaign in marginal seats in Sydney on Friday, while foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong is campaigning in Perth.
Clare flagged the possibility that Albanese would continue to campaign virtually or through media and radio appearances from his home in Marrickville in Sydney’s inner west, but said his level of involvement would depend on his health as he recovered from the virus.
“Health comes first. I told him ‘rest up’. This is a long campaign. The Prime Minister deliberately set this as a long campaign, six weeks. Albo is out for one of those weeks. He’ll be back at the halfway mark,” he said.
He said he had spoken with Albanese on Friday morning and he was “doing ok. He’s got a bit of a croaky throat as you’d expect.”
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