Scott Morrison faces tough questions from Kochie
After announcing the much-anticipated date of the federal election, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has faced some intense grilling from Sunrise’s David Koch.
Mr Morrison started his election campaign with a flurry of media appearances on Monday morning, including some tough questions about his “biggest weakness” from Kochie.
Speaking from the electorate of Gilmore in Nowra, on NSW’s south coast, Mr Morrison said his default “fixer” mode made him come across as unempathetic and rubbed people the wrong way sometimes.
“I tend to go straight into problem-solving mode,” he said.
Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP is banking on his economic record to win over voters in this year's election, calling it "an economic track record Australian's can trust." #auspol #AusVotes2022 pic.twitter.com/4D87X7z6Yi
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) April 10, 2022
“I think when I do that, people sometimes don’t think that I have really understood how they are feeling, I assure them that I do.
“My father was a policeman and my brother is a paramedic - when we see a problem, we want to fix it.
“My passion is to ensure that we do deal with these problems that we face … I am really focused on trying to solve the problems that they are facing.”
The same question was later put to Labor leader Anthony Albanese, who appeared on the show from the marginal seat of Bass in Launceston and said a major part of his character was his weakness.
“I have found my biggest weakness is my loyalty,” Mr Albanese said.
“I am very loyal to people and sometimes that makes me a bit predictable and that sometimes can hurt me politically.
“I make no apologies for that. That is just who I am.”
Both politicians were also challenged to provide viewers with a 30-second pitch for why they should be the next PM. Mr Morrison focused on the economy, and the credibility of his government in comparison to an “untested” Labor opposition, just making it before the buzzer went off.
On the official first day of the election campaign, @ScottMorrisonMP and @AlboMP make their elevator pitch to voters. Full election coverage: https://t.co/QnwODETsgR #auspol #AusVotes2022 pic.twitter.com/cj0Hq8DB52
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) April 10, 2022
“This election is a choice between the proven, economic and financial management of my government that has taken us through the worst economic crisis since the second world war, and a Labor opposition that is unproven, untested, and unknown,” Mr Morrison said.
“We’ve retained our triple A rating, we’ve kept 700,000 people in jobs and we have an economic plan to keep that going in the future to ensure that we can keep pressures down on costs of living and ensure Australians can keep more of what they earn and plan for their future with confidence.”
Meanwhile, Mr Albanese spoke about wages, cost of living, and increasing manufacturing in Australia.
“I want a better future for Australia with more secure work and higher paid jobs. I wanna take pressure off the cost of living by having cheaper electricity prices and having cheaper childcare. I wanna make more things here in Australia,” he said, making his pitch in just 15 seconds.
The media appearances have been just the start of the candidates’ campaigns, which included Mr Morrison clashing with Karl Stefanovic, ahead of the federal election on May 21.
Image: @sunriseon7 (Twitter)