A month after conflicting itineraries kept the WA Premier from appearing alongside his federal counterpart, the pair have fronted the cameras together in Perth.
Anthony Albanese began his second trip to Western Australia with a press conference in Midland this morning, promising a national newborn screening program to replace different systems currently managed by the states.
The scheme would also expand the number of conditions screened to 80.
On any other day, it would have been another run-of-the-mill campaign media event, complete with a baby for Mr Albanese to hold.
But the occasion was much more notable because it was the first time the pair had campaigned together in years, after Mr McGowan was "too busy" to appear with Mr Albanese during last year's state election campaign.
Mr Albanese was on the first flight into WA when the state's borders reopened last month, and later that morning held a press conference at the same time as the Premier, but on the opposite side of the city.
The only record of the pair meeting during that trip was a photo tweeted by Mr Albanese, before the Premier flew to Sydney to see his parents and appear in a defamation case brought by businessman Clive Palmer.
Two weeks later, Mr McGowan was standing alongside Prime Minister Scott Morrison as he congratulated the state for its performance during the pandemic.
And after being all smiles alongside the PM last month, Mr McGowan's tune was slightly different in the company of his federal counterpart today.
The eventful press conference was gatecrashed twice – by a member of the public wanting to ask a "tough question" and also by a circling truck carrying a billboard of the Chinese President supposedly voting for Labor.
'Much ado about nothing'
On local radio this morning, Mr Albanese described commentary on the whole situation as "bizarre".
"Come on, he's the Premier," he told ABC Radio Perth.
The Premier too was keen to play down his appearance with the PM, reiterating that it was a budget announcement, and something other Premiers had done.
"I think this is all much ado about nothing," he said.
McGowan takes a swipe at PM
But after refusing to criticise the Prime Minister when he was with him, Mr McGowan took a different stance today.
"Backing Clive Palmer was obviously a pretty serious thing that caused me a lot of grief and I think caused West Australians a lot of grief.
"I suspect people will remember that for a long time to come."
Mr Albanese also used the opportunity to criticise the Prime Minister's attitude to WA at different moments over the last two years.
"When I come to WA, I don't have to explain the sort of comments that the federal government does," he said.
"Scott Morrison referred to Western Australians as cave people ... he supported Clive Palmer in the case against Western Australians staying safe.
"I'll back Mark McGowan each and every day."
Poor WA representation in Albanese's ministry
Labor's shadow cabinet is made up of 23 MPs but includes only one of the party's nine WA members – shadow trade and resources minister Madeleine King, who represents the seat of Brand.
By comparison, of the 17 Liberal MPs representing WA, five are members of the coalition cabinet.
Mr McGowan said he was not concerned by the state's representation in cabinet, stressing his good relationship with Mr Albanese.
"Obviously the federal government has more MPs here," he added.
"If there's more Labor MPs here I suspect that balance would change over time, and that's just a simple function of mathematics."
Currently the Liberals hold 10 of the 15 WA seats.
When asked if he would increase WA's representation in cabinet after the election, Mr Albanese said he wanted more Western Australian MPs in Parliament more generally.
"We have the quality, what we need is the quantity."
Albanese won't bring forward GST review
As a result of GST reform the state successfully lobbied for, WA is this year set to reap an extra $4.4 billion in GST payments, compared to what it would have got without the deal.
The government has committed to keeping that deal in place, at least until 2026, when a review into the changes is due.
Earlier this week, Mr McGowan said he wanted to see a commitment from both major parties to keep the floor on GST payments in place beyond 2026.
But Mr Albanese would today only say he would not bring forward that scheduled review.
"I certainly can guarantee that that will not occur on my watch," he said.
The pair's appearance was interrupted at one point though by a man claiming to be a local resident, who said he wanted to ask Mr Albanese a "tough question".
After an awkward exchange, the Premier and Mr Albanese said press conferences were reserved for journalists to ask questions but they would be happy to chat to the man afterwards.
The man was then ushered away by security before the press conference resumed.
Snapping selfies in marginal seat
Later, Mr McGowan joined Mr Albanese on a walk-through of a shopping centre in Cannington, where they snapped selfies with voters in the seat of Swan.
The seat is currently held by retiring Liberal Steve Irons on a margin of 3.2 per cent.
Among voters the ABC spoke to, Mr Albanese proved relatively popular, although some admitted to not knowing much about him.
"This election, maybe Labor can win," Maurice Lim said.
Both he and his wife hoped whichever party took power would look after pensioners "because nowadays it's very expensive".
Ang took a photo with the two leaders and wished Mr Albanese luck.
Her daughter Mey said they had heard good things about the man hoping to be Prime Minister.
"We saw that he was on the news, but we didn't know much about him, to be honest," she said.
