While government ministers should really know by now that running the breakfast TV gauntlet is a dangerous business, Scott Morrison nonetheless took a crack at this morning’s edition of Today, to spruik the childcare reforms in the upcoming federal budget.
Lisa Wilkinson came in pretty hot, opening with “tell me, what do you have against stay-at-home mums?”, and then things got tougher from there, with the Social Services minister holding his own against her line of questioning.
It is widely rumoured that tomorrow’s budget could be a make-or-break experience for Treasurer Joe Hockey, with Morrison possibly assuming the job if things go badly, and things got a bit testy when Wilkinson hinted at this, saying:
“You have really been the face of this budget – you’ve been everywhere this past week, doing about seven interviews for every one of Joe Hockey’s, even holding a press conference yesterday with the Prime Minister that excluded the Treasurer. Whose decision was it to release so much of your budget detail ahead of Tuesday, and leave Joe Hockey out of this announcement?”
He brushed off the implication that he’s gunning for the Treasurer job, saying that his recent press appearances come down to a “team decision” to speak about things within his portfolio, nothing to see here, move along, etc.
As to the question of whether he has Prime Ministerial ambition, he told Wilkinson: “I will seek to do as much as I can in politics to the best of my ability, wherever that takes me.”
Watch their interview below:
via News Limited
