Scott Morrison continues to struggle to emphasise his messages of a strong economy and national security, the latest Campaign Insights data from Isentia shows.
With the campaign almost completely dominated by the cost of living and interest rates — those two issues soaked up more coverage than the rest of the issues combined — Morrison was left on the defensive for much of the week.
Even the next two biggest issues — Labor’s campaign launch and climate change — weren’t winners for Morrison. After dominating coverage in the week Anthony Albanese was isolated with COVID, Morrison’s share of coverage fell back to near-parity and was naturally dominated by economic issues — but not in a good way for the government.
Albanese also benefited from a successful campaign launch in Perth, which also showcased his team. Opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers stepped up as the most prominent figure in the campaign after the leaders, garnering almost a quarter more coverage than his counterpart, Josh Frydenberg.
The Chalmers-Frydenberg debate this week played out in similar fashion to the Albanese-Morrison debate — that is, it wasn’t much of a debate, because the participants refused to speak about the same issues. Chalmers focused on Labor’s strong issues — the cost of living, waste and rorting of public funds, and wage stagnation — while Frydenberg spoke about low unemployment, low taxes (ironically, presumably) and economic shock. Neither man gave much time to climate change or energy policy.
Isentia’s data shows what a contrast in styles the campaigns are, with Morrison pretty much a one-man band, especially with Frydenberg locked in a deadly struggle with Monique Ryan in Kooyong. Labor, in contrast, also had Jason Clare receiving extensive coverage, as well as Richard Marles and Kristina Keneally (Labor’s strong frontbench line-up, however, is inexplicably portrayed as a negative by some journalists).
In the battle of the marginals, Isentia’s data shows Jo Dyer in Boothby grabbed a massive proportion of coverage in that seat as panicked attacks from the Coalition and News Corp on independents continues to escalate, but Dyer’s successful avoidance of the s.44 trap drove a lot of mentions. Scott Morrison’s repeated visits to Parramatta helped boost Liberal candidate Maria Kovacic’s coverage over Labor’s Andrew Charlton.
In Kooyong, Monique Ryan has consistently had about 35-40% of the coverage in that seat since the campaign started — in future elections, the Coalition and News Corp might wonder whether their relentless and absurd attacks on independents isn’t merely giving candidates oxygen and name recognition that will help them on polling day.
In Wentworth, Allegra Spender, who has also maintained a fairly consistent level of coverage, dipped below 40%, but much of the coverage of Liberal Dave Sharma related to his preferencing of climate denialist Clive Palmer’s UAP.
