Anthony Albanese has made his pitch to voters in a newly-open Western Australia as Labor eyes off three Liberal-held seats.
The opposition leader landed in Perth moments after the hard border came down on Thursday, seizing his opportunity to head west for the first time in almost a year.
WA looms as a key battleground in the upcoming federal election, with Labor targeting the Liberal-held seats of Pearce, Hasluck and Swan - all on margins of less than six per cent.
The incumbent MPs for Pearce and Swan, Christian Porter and Steve Irons, are retiring from politics at the election, while Hasluck is held by Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt.
Mr Albanese on Thursday made Pearce his first stop, visiting manufacturing firm Aries Rail in the industrial suburb of Wangara.
Flanked by Labor candidate Tracey Roberts, the opposition leader sought to remind voters that the federal government had - albeit briefly - intervened in support of Clive Palmer's failed constitutional challenge of the WA border closures.
"If we are successful in May, I want a federal Labor government that works with the Western Australian government and most importantly with the people of Western Australia," he told reporters.
"The idea that the federal government joined that court case and supported it when Christian Porter, the local member here, was the attorney-general ... just shows how out of touch the Morrison government is when it comes to the needs of looking after Western Australians."
Mr Albanese later visited a Tesla community battery site in Ellenbrook alongside Hasluck candidate Tania Lawrence and local federal Labor MPs.
He claimed the exit of senior West Australian federal ministers Julie Bishop, Mathias Cormann and Michael Keenan had left the state "sidelined" in Canberra.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison had hoped to also head west following the border opening but was forced into quarantine after contracting COVID-19.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg denied the government had ignored funding for Western Australia.
"That's just a bald-faced lie, it's bollocks, it's political at its worst," he told Perth radio station 6PR on Thursday.
"We have dispensed more than $14 billion to the people of Western Australia since the start of COVID."
Mr Albanese was also expected to meet privately with Premier Mark McGowan on Thursday and to engage with local business leaders during his three-day visit to WA.
But questions were raised about the curious timing of Mr McGowan holding his own press conference in Perth while Mr Albanese addressed local media.
The pair did not hold any media events together when Mr Albanese visited during the state election last year.
"I always catch up with Mark McGowan when I'm here. I value his advice, I speak to him regularly and I look forward to working with him before the election," Mr Albanese said.
"Unless the premier went missing and went on radio silence for three days, then it's inevitable that we'll be doing some things at the same time."
