Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to say whether he will visit the seat of Wentworth to campaign with Dave Sharma while facing questions about his presence in seats under threat from teal Independents.

Morrison has been repeatedly asked whether he will visit the eastern Sydney seat during the six-week campaign and has so far not answered the question directly, saying instead he had been to the seat to visit his mother. He also refused to say whether he would campaign in the inner-city Melbourne and Sydney seats where other moderate Liberals are under threat from the “teal” independents.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to answer whether he will campaign with Dave Sharma in Wentworth.Credit:James Brickwood

“I will go where I believe it’s best for our campaign for me to go … you know that we find out where we go each day, just as it works in the Labor campaign,” the Prime Minister said in the marginal South Australian seat of Boothby with candidate Rachel Swift.

“I’m not going to be telecasting where we’re going each day. That’s not something we do on campaigns.”

However, he did say: “my mum lives in Wentworth, I see her all the time.”

Sharma holds Wentworth, the formerly safe Liberal seat held by Malcolm Turnbull, by a margin of 1.3 per cent, and is facing off against Climate 200-backed Independent Allegra Spender.

Four Liberal sources, who asked to remain anonymous so they could discuss internal polling, previously told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age they had seen or knew of party research showing Mr Morrison was unpopular in the area.

Moderate Liberal MP Katie Allen, who holds the Melbourne seat of Higgins at 3.9 per cent, has conceded the unpopularity of Morrison was likely to weigh against her in the wealthy electorate.

Asked whether sidelined Education Minister Alan Tudge – who stood aside during an unfolding scandal with his former adviser – would be joining him on the campaign, Morrison said Tudge was campaigning in his Melbourne seat of Aston.

“He doesn’t need my help there, he’s done a fantastic job in Aston, he enjoys strong support in Aston.”

He was also asked who would be Education Minister in a re-elected Coalition government, given Employment Minister Stuart Robert is currently acting in the role.

“It’s Alan Tudge … if he’s available to come back into the ministry,” Morrison said. “I haven’t spoken to him recently but that would be my expectation.”

Morrison asked Tudge to step aside as a minister on December 2, after the Education Minister’s former adviser Rachelle Miller publicly alleged their affair had been emotionally abusive and, on one occasion, physically abusive, which Tudge denied.

After an investigation into the affair, Mr Morrison said last month Mr Tudge wouldn’t be returning to the front bench this term.

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