Under-fire Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan really wanted to meet Scott Morrison, but the prime minister wasn't as keen to run into her.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The candidate for the Tasmanian seat of Lyons denies making derogatory online comments about Muslims - including one that said women who support Islam should be mutilated and sold as slaves - and has asked police to investigate their origin.
A couple of weeks ago, Mr Morrison happily posed tasting ice cream with Ms Whelan, but the mood was frostier on Thursday when they had an awkward walk together.
At agricultural show Agfest in northern Tasmania, Ms Whelan had a brief handshake with Mr Morrison but the prime minister's staff studiously separated her from the media.
When Mr Morrison went for a walk through the festival to meet voters, his media advisers used themselves as human shields to ensure journalists couldn't stop Ms Whelan to ask questions.
She started walking next to Mr Morrison, so Agriculture Minister David Littleproud called forward the prime minister's wife Jenny to walk next to the leader instead.
And in a final chaotic dash to a car, Ms Whelan refused to answer questions about her alleged online comments, which also included support for lifting penalty rates.
Mr Morrison later said the comments had been doctored, and the matter was being referred to the Australian Federal Police.
"I don't think it's hard to believe in this day and age that images can be doctored," he told reporters in Launceston.
He used the Agfest visit in Lyons to announce $500 million worth of cheap loans to fire up the forestry industry.
The prime minister bumped into world champion axeman David Foster, who urged "three cheers for Tasmania" and said the state was heading in the right direction.
Mr Morrison also announced a significant change to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, giving cheaper and free medicine faster to 1.4 million Australians.
From January 2020, the threshold to receive free or further discounted medicines will drop by 12 scripts for pensioners and concession card holders, and the equivalent of two scripts for everyone else.
It's the first time the threshold for free and discounted scripts has been lowered in 33 years.
The policy will cost $308 million and Labor has already promised to match it.
Mr Morrison rounded out his Tasmanian blitz with a visit to the Squibb and Sons apple orchard in Spreyton, in the Labor-held seat of Braddon, where he heard how the industry is recovering after a fruit fly scare.
The coalition believes it has a chance to win back Bass, on a margin of 5.4 per cent after a boundary redistribution, and Braddon, which Justine Keay holds on a 1.7 per cent margin.
Australian Associated Press