Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke to 14-year-old journalists Leonardo Puglisi and Roman Mackinnon from 6News on Wednesday. But he condescendingly talked down at them instead of answering their questions directly.
You’ve made it boys! Living the Leigh Sales dream of begging a politician to answer just one (1) question.
Morrison spent the first three minutes talking about the economy and “keeping Australians safe”. Classic him. He then claimed investing in national security also meant “keeping women and children safe online”.
OK, fix it then 🙂
Puglisi also asked Morrison whether he thought he had gained the trust of young people who were voting for the first time in this Federal Election. Morrison avoided the question and said he fixed youth employment and youth mental health. Mkay, sure.
But the point in the interview that was particularly baffling was when the PM seemed to suggest the ABC was an unreliable news source. It came up after Puglisi mentioned that the ABC had fact-checked an article about the PM’s lies.
Puglisi cited a report by Crikey on the 50 times the PM had lied on the record in a question about Morrison’s credibility. Morrison interrupted the young journo and claimed Crikey was an uncredible source.
Puglisi mentioned the story was fact-checked by the ABC. Morrison then condescendingly interrupted him again and appeared to suggest he felt the ABC was also “unreliable”.
“The ABC and Crikey,” he said as he scoffed.
“Let’s add a few more then. I’m sure The Australian Institute is probably going to be the next one I suspect.”
It was a wild claim to potentially make about a government-funded media organisation.
But it also felt like something taken out of the media training of former United States President Donald Trump. Trump had famously used straw man arguments to deflect any criticisms when he was in office. Particularly when people brought up things Trump had said on the record.
Scott Morrison also claimed media outlets that reported on his lies had taken things “out of context”. Apparently, when outlets reported on his claims such as his suggestion young people buy a house if they’re struggling to pay rent, these publications were playing “silly word games”.
This ain’t fucking Wordle, mate.
“As politicians, you might get the odd fact or figure wrong,” he said.
“You might be taken out of context. That’s all just silly word games.
“What Australians care about is their job [and] national security. They’re not interested in these types of juvenile debates.”
You can catch the full interview below.
