Prime Minister Scott Morrison will campaign in the Labor-held seat of Cowan next month, signalling a change of strategy for the Liberals.

Rather than just sandbagging key Liberal marginal seats in the west, a more confident Coalition will now try to win new seats, targeting Cowan first.

Mr Morrison is expected to fly into Perth in the second week of March and spend three days in the must-win Liberal seats of Pearce, Hasluck, Stirling, Canning and Swan.

But in a surprise move, Mr Morrison is also expected to make his presence felt in Cowan, marking a shift in pre-election tactics.

A focus on Pearce, held by Christian Porter, had been expected.

But Liberals, buoyed by success with the party’s stand on border protection, believed they had a chance of winning back Cowan, which is held by Labor’s Anne Aly and has a margin of just under 1 per cent.

Play Video The Prime Minister has defended his border protection credentials after recording his stern video message. The West Australian Video The Prime Minister has defended his border protection credentials after recording his stern video message.

Ahead of Mr Morrison’s visit, about 40 volunteers were yesterday distributing 5000 border protection leaflets to Cowan voters, painting Labor as weak on the issue.

WA Liberal senator Dean Smith, who is spearheading the Cowan campaign, said he “fully expected” Mr Morrison to make winning Cowan a priority this election.

Sources said the Liberals, and Mr Morrison, were keen to keep pushing the momentum created by the border protection debate in Canberra.

They said border protection, a strong economy and fixing the budget would be key focuses of the coalition’s election campaign.

This will be Mr Morrison’s first visit to WA this year.