Scott Morrison gets caught out by tongue twister on campaign trail in Adelaide

Scott Morrison tried to promote a new funding package for the North-South motorway in Adelaide when he tripped over his words and made an awkward mistake.

As gaffes go, it’s right up there – a tongue-tied Prime Minister Scott Morrison seemingly referring to Adelaide as “sh--ty” while announcing the $4.4bn final piece of the North-South Corridor.

In an awkward moment of stumbling speech, complete with laughter and pauses while trying to get it right, Mr Morrison finally made his point during a press conference in Adelaide on Sunday.

“This brings to completion the full financial commitment of the Commonwealth government to this sh--ty … city, s--t … city shaping – got to be careful with that – this city shaping, I’m sure that will get a run, this city shaping infrastructure,” he said.

Scott Morrison when he realised he had made an awkward error.

Mr Morrison was quick to correct himself, describing the road project as “the backbone of this wonderful city of Adelaide, which is going to set it up for growth in the future”.

SA Labor immediately tweeted: “Did ScoMo just call Adelaide a sh---y city?”

However, state Transport Minister Corey Wingard seized on the moment to turn it into a positive.

“Prime Minister, you are 100 per cent correct, this ­section of South Road is sh---y, it’s been sh---y for a long time, and we are fixing it,” Mr Wingard said.

With state and federal elections looming, the road funding deal was formally ­announced in South Australia’s only marginal federal seat, Boothby, with seven ­Liberals on hand for the press conference.

He quickly laughed off the issue.

Outgoing Liberal MP Nicolle Flint won the seat at the last election by a two-party-preferred margin of 1.4 per cent.

As revealed in the Sunday Mail, the federal government will contribute $2.26bn to finish the project, a figure matched by the state.

The $4.4bn second stage of the Torrens to Darlington section will include an airport link and 2km of tunnels bypassing 21 sets of traffic lights, finalising the $9.9bn, 78km non-stop motorway from Gawler to Old Noarlunga. Mr Marshall said the motorway had been envisaged since ­before he was born and was ­finally on track to be completed within a decade.

Originally published as Scott Morrison gets caught out by tongue twister on campaign trail in Adelaide