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Scott Morrison got his hands dirty as he took his campaign to Melbourne on Monday, climbing into bobcats and chucking mulch on the back of a ute in the outer suburban seat of Deakin. But his efforts were blackened by the dirty back room leadership plays of last year, which the Labor opposition have revived as part of a series of attack ads airing in Victoria this week. The ads target Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, calling him a right-winger who "made fun of climate change victims" and "plotted to dump Malcolm Turnbull", despite him living 1500 kilometres away in Brisbane. Mr Dutton famously argued Melburnians were too frightened by African gangs to go out to restaurants at night, and Labor believes Mr Dutton remains highly unpopular in the city. The Liberal member for Deakin, Michael Sukkar, was one of Mr Dutton's high-profile backers. With the Liberal brand on the nose in Victoria, he is now fighting to retain his seat. He holds it by a notionally safe margin of 6.4 per cent, but he has a target on his back as Bill Shorten kicked off his campaign there last Thursday. Flanked by Mr Sukkar at a press conference on Monday, Mr Morrison refused to comment on whether last year's attempted insurgency was still hurting the Coalition in Victoria, which is often called the country's most progressive state. "That is such a bubble question, I'm just going to leave that question in the bubble," he said, deploying his preferred method for dismissing inquiries about political manoeuvres. But the Prime Minister was forced to deal with lingering questions about Mr Dutton's tin-eared remarks regarding his Labor opponent in Dickson, Ali France, who uses a wheelchair after being hit by a car in 2011. Mr Dutton had accused her of using her disability "as an excuse" to not live in the seat - a comment for which he has now apologised. Mr Morrison said he did not want to see people "playing politics with disabilities", although he simultaneously argued on radio that that was not what Mr Dutton was doing. "I am going to make the assumption that every single candidate in this campaign ... wants the best for people with disabilities," Mr Morrison said. Mr Sukkar was the first minister to quit after supporting Mr Dutton in the initial spill motion called by Mr Turnbull in August. A number of other senior Victorian MPs, such as Health Minister Greg Hunt and Cities Minister Alan Tudge, also backed Mr Dutton. The Dutton spectre compounds the woe faced by the government in Melbourne, which swung hard against the Liberal Party at last year's state election. Labor is expected to gain the seats of Corangamite, Dunkley and Chisholm, while the party also has eyes on La Trobe - where Mr Shorten campaigned on Monday - Casey, Deakin and even Mr Hunt's seat of Flinders. A Sydneysider who backs the Cronulla Sharks NRL team, Mr Morrison also lacks a natural affinity with Victorians. On Melbourne's 3AW radio, he admitted he did not follow an AFL team and would not claim to. "I like AFL, but I'm not a phoney," Mr Morrison said. "I'm not going to go around pretending I'm something I'm not." The Coalition is hoping targeted infrastructure investments will be sufficient to save at-risk seats in the state. Later on Monday, Mr Morrison and Mr Sukkar were joined by Tony Smith, the member for Casey, to announce a $154 million upgrade of the congested Dorset and Canterbury roads. The money comes out of the urban congestion fund, which the government expanded by $3 billion in this month's budget and which it will utilise as a war chest for this campaign. Asked about the ongoing impact of last year's leadership upheaval, Mr Smith - who backed Mr Turnbull - said: "We're not looking through the rear-view mirror, we're looking through the front windscreen".

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