It is a truth nationally acknowledged in Australian politics that Leigh Sales ain’t nuthing ta fuck with, but last night she appeared to make Treasurer Scott Morrison briefly forget he is a politician, something many of us frequently wish we could recreate.
Leigh: The Coalition made a swift return to surplus the centrepiece of your election campaign, you made the failure to deliver that, Labor‘s primary failing, yet now the talk of a swift return to surplus is abandoned.
Doesn’t that drastic shift in rhetoric fatally damage your credibility?ScoMo: You’ve got to be realistic about the challenges you face, and what is in this document is a reduction in the deficit from some 2.7% of GDP down to 0.7% of the GDP over the budget and forward estimates.
Leigh: But you’re not addressing what I’m asking about the change in rhetoric.
ScoMo: Well you’re asking me about politics, Leigh. You’re asking me about politics. What I’m talking about is what is actually happening with the budget.
Leigh: Politics frames everything.
ScoMo: Well it may frame things for journalists, what it doesn’t frame for me is how we go about the task of returning the budget to balance.
Story / Image: ABC.
