Albanese plays down WA premier's absence

The federal opposition leader arrived on Thursday for his first visit to WA in almost a year and headed to the northern Perth electorate of Pearce, one of several Liberal-held seats Labor hopes to claim at the upcoming election.

But while Mr Albanese was addressing local media at a manufacturing firm in Wangara, Mr McGowan was holding his own press conference in South Perth.

They later met privately and posed for a photo released on Mr Albanese's social media profiles.

Mr McGowan has since flown to Sydney to prepare to give evidence in the Federal Court, where he is being sued for defamation by billionaire Clive Palmer.

The pair also did not hold any media events together when Mr Albanese visited during last year's state election campaign, at a time when the premier was enjoying unprecedented popularity.

But the federal Labor leader insisted that would change before the election.

"Of course I will be," he told reporters in Perth on Friday.

"He's a Labor premier, he's a good friend of mine and I've been with him of course many times in the past. He introduced me as the Labor leader when I came here to a Labor conference and we've had other events here as well."

Mr McGowan on Thursday described his federal counterpart as "very likeable", hard-working and a fundamentally decent person.

Asked why Mr Albanese would be a more suitable prime minister than Scott Morrison, Mr McGowan replied: "Obviously I'm a member of the Labor party so we support our own side, and I've been a supporter and friend of Anthony for at least 15 years."

Mr Albanese on Friday visited a TAFE in the Perth suburb of Bentley with Labor's candidate for Swan, Zaneta Mascarenhas.

Along with Swan and Pearce, Labor is also targeting the Liberal-held seat of Hasluck, currently occupied by Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt.

All are held on margins of less than six per cent.