Prime Minister Scott Morrison fails to commit to joining Zak Kirkup on State election campaign trail in WA

Scott Morrison is refusing to commit to coming to WA during the State election in a pre-election snub to Liberal leader Zak Kirkup. In a major blow for Mr Kirkup — who so far has struggled to make any great impressions on voters — a spokesman for the Prime Minister admitted that he may not join the campaign trail. “He is assessing all the options at the moment,” the spokesman said. “It could go either way at this stage. “But it just depends on the PM’s calendar. It depends on the whole situation at the time. “We are not committing either way at this stage. We will have to look at the situation a bit closer to the date (of the election). “He loves getting over there (to WA).” Mr Kirkup faces the daunting task of winning the support of voters after the disastrous 2017 election that resulted in Mark McGowan’s Labor Party winning 41 of the 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly. But while the WA Liberals are on the nose, Mr Morrison remains hugely popular in the State, with the Federal Liberal Party winning 11 of 16 seats in 2019. His public support for Mr Kirkup, who took over the leadership of the WA Liberals from Liza Harvey last year, would be invaluable. Mr Kirkup, pictured, said yesterday that he was “hopeful” the PM would come to WA before the March 13 poll. He said Mr Morrison had rung him to congratulate him on becoming Liberal leader. Mr Kirkup blamed the potential of a Mr Morrison no-show — who has not visited WA since the 2019 Federal election — on COVID-19 border restrictions. “While we’re hopeful he’ll be able to get across during the campaign, the reality is that COVID travel restrictions might make that too difficult to plan in advance,” he said. Anyone currently flying into WA from the ACT does not have to quarantine. Mr Morrison will spend next month in Canberra during the Federal Parliament sittings, allowing him to fly into WA afterwards without having to quarantine. According to a police spokesman, Mr Morrison could come to WA from any State without having to quarantine as part of a modified quarantine direction. “The Prime Minister and his staff, if performing a Commonwealth function, could be granted a modified quarantine direction which accommodates their Commonwealth duties and provides an exemption to the 14 days of self-quarantine if arriving from a low-risk jurisdiction,” the spokesman said. “The Prime Minister and his staff would be required to apply for a G2G pass under the Commonwealth exemption category and would be subject to health screening on arrival.” Just three months ago, Mr Morrison flew to Queensland for its State election, joining the campaign trail with LNP leader Deb Frecklington.