‘Underestimated’ Prime Minister says he knows how to beat favoured Shorten
In an exclusive interview, Scott Morrison has vowed he can beat a ‘shifty’ Bill Shorten, with the Prime Minister saying that he has been underestimated all his life.
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Scott Morrison has vowed he can beat a “shifty” Bill Shorten, with the Prime Minister saying that he has been underestimated all his life.
In an exclusive interview the Prime Minister also said voters had a right to feel angry about the revolving door of PMs, but declared leadership spills are now history.
“This is a choice between me and Bill Shorten,” Mr Morrison said.
“There’s a shiftiness … which I think makes people doubt what he will really do.
“What is really driving him at the end of the day other than power?”
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His comments come as tensions flared on Friday, when Mr Morrison came within centimetres of Mr Shorten in the second televised leaders debate.
The Prime Minister said he had “watched him (Shorten) for a long time” and believed the key to beating him was to remain consistent and challenge him on policy details.
“This is the first time the public have really seen Bill under pressure … and we have seen him stuff up on the run.
“They may disagree with me but they always know where I am coming from.
“If anything I am too blunt, if anything I am too direct.”
It was eight months ago that Mr Morrison became Australia’s sixth prime minister in 10 years. If elected on May 18, the former state director of the NSW Liberal Party has vowed that leadership spills will not be part of the future of Australian politics.
“We needed to fix it. This is a culture that started 10 years ago — and Labor started it when they got rid of Kevin Rudd … that was the culture that needs to be rooted out.”
At the start of the year Mr Morrison looked set to become the shortest-serving prime minister in half a century. But the polls have tightened in recent weeks, and Coalition strategists now believe the Coalition has improved its prospects in Queensland and NSW, as well as in key marginal seats such as Bass and Corangamite.
When asked whether he had been underestimated, Mr Morrison said: “I am used to people doing that about me.
“They have been doing it my entire life … it’s fairly familiar territory for me.”
With losses predicted in Victoria and Western Australia, and high-profile independents threatening Liberals in rural areas, the path to victory remains tough.
The Coalition would need to hold the 73 lower house seats it notionally holds now and add to that tally.
“I know what we need to do to win so I do that, that’s just how I work,” he said.
Flushed with funds from a string of tax policies, Labor has gone on a spending promise blitz, but Mr Morrison rejects criticism the Coalition has a modest policy agenda.
“I don’t accept we don’t have plans for the future.
“Labor are proposing massive change. I am proposing to continue to implement the clear plans we have had and have for the future.”
If re-elected, the vision for the first 100 days includes legislating tax relief and temporary exclusion orders for farmers.
Originally published as ‘Underestimated’ Prime Minister says he knows how to beat favoured Shorten
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