“I’m a farmer’s son, you’re not”: Alan Jones fires back at Scott Morrison during tense interview about Australia’s drought crisis
<p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison gave an explosive interview with Alan Jones this morning, as Jones increasingly grew agitated at Morrison’s responses to the government’s drought relief policies.</p>
<p>"Can I ask you this. Why, if the drought response is adequate, would a farmer write to me and say this – and I don't mean to offend, I'm just telling you what he said – 'So you're going to interview Morrison. Why bother? I guarantee Australia will have no more confidence in the Morrison government after your interview than before. I guarantee there'll be no admission from Morrison that his government is seriously lacking in a number of crucial matters,'" Jones said, according to<span> </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/australian-politics-live-tuesday-october-15/live-coverage/aa1e9d0bad1dde2f507f48d4fea10a3c" target="_blank">news.com.au</a></em>.</p>
<p>"What I'm doing is exactly what I told the Australian people I was going to do. Whether it's on energy, on water, our support for farmers in the drought, and we just finished the most recent financial year, where we put an additional $318.5 million in additional support to farmers," Mr Morrison said.</p>
<p>Jones was fired-up as he had received personal calls from farmers who cannot afford food and water for their livestock and were sending them to slaughter and criticised the Farmers Household Allowance scheme.</p>
<p>The scheme gives farmers fortnightly payments and, in some case, lump sum payments of up to $12,000.</p>
<p>"You say Farm Household Allowance. Now PM, come on. You go and tell Jenny that she can live on $250 a week."</p>
<p>"It's not $250 a week Alan. It's not just that," Mr Morrison said.</p>
<p>"If you live in the city, and your business goes bust or you lose your job, then you have access to Newstart. But if you are on a farm property and you get access to the Farm Household Allowance."</p>
<p>"Why are they walking off? Why are they sending their cattle to slaughter?" Jones pressed.</p>
<p>Morrison didn’t budge, and Jones’ frustrations boiled over.</p>
<p>"Oh don't talk to me, I'm a farmer's son and you're not," he snapped.</p>
<p>Morrison eventually relented and said the government can’t “make it rain”.</p>
<p>"The government, whether it's state, federal or anyone else, we can do a lot of things to try and help people get through this. But the government can't make it rain, and it can't make life as it was before the drought," he said.</p>
<p>"We both want the same thing. We want the farmers to be able to get through this drought. But we can't kid ourselves that there's a magic wand and a magic cash splash that's going to make this thing totally solved."</p>
<p>2GB listeners are furious after hearing the interview, saying that Morrison is a “waste of space”.</p>
<p>"I'm just devastated. This guy's a waste of space. I just can't believe it," said Jim.</p>
<p>"My blood's boiling after hearing that. I'll describe it, right. Complete failure as a Prime Minister. He's arrogant. They've been conning the public after the election," said Robert.</p>
<p>"As a former one-eyed Liberal, I felt like putting my fist through the radio listening to Scott Morrison this morning," said Anna.</p>
