Election 2022 live: PM’s cheeky wink in lolly shop; Clive Palmer ‘knocked out for 20 sec’
Scott Morrison had an awkward encounter with a journalist in a lolly shop when she asked him whether he was a “sweet or sour kind of guy”. See the video.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison had an awkward encounter with a journalist in a lolly shop while on the campaign trail in Victoria.
While at a Box Hill lolly shop in the marginal Liberal seat of Chisholm on Saturday, Mr Morrison was asked by the reporter if he was a “sweet or sour kind of guy”.
“Oh you know me, I’m sweet as,” Mr Morrison responded while giving her a wink.
The exchange was caught on camera and beamed across the nation on various news sites and television nightly new bulletins.
It has drawn comparisons with another awkward wink former Prime Minister Tony Abbott gave while taking talkback calls from members of the public on ABC radio in 2014.
When a 63-year-old woman named Gloria called and said she worked on an adult phone sex line to make ends meet, Mr Abbott smiled and winked at the radio presenter who was sitting opposite him.
The exchange was also caught on camera and led Mr Abbott’s political rivals like Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young to call him a “grub”.
Mr Abbott later told Perth’s 6PR radio station his wink “was a reaction” to the radio presenter who was smiling at him.
Chisholm is held by Liberal MP Gladys Liu on a margin of just 0.57 per cent.
SYDNEY SHOW CHAOS FOR PM; PALMER ‘KNOCKED OUT FOR 20 SEC’
Scott Morrison has been met with a rockstar reception at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
And it was a family affair with Jenny Morrison, daughters Abbey and Lily making their election trail debut on day six of the campaign.
But the high-risk appearance – which required double the amount of security – could have high rewards when voters go to the polls on May 21.
The smell of carnival food and live animals wafted through the air as Mr Morrison and his family waded through packed crowds of showgoers on Saturday afternoon.
The girls were shown jersey cows, alpacas, llamas and touched Australian fleece – even getting some stuffed toy animals to take home.
It was chaos as hundreds of families took pictures and videos of the Prime Minister, waving with shocked faces as the Morrison’s passed by.
People yelled “we love you ScoMo”, as he shook hands and posed for pictures with children.
The fanfare continued as the family left the animal sheds and walked past food vans.
It was there Christopher “Rocky” Allen from Cobargo, who exhibits cows, ran after Mr Morrison to give him a free cap.
Mr Allen told reporters that not everyone in Cobargo – which was devastated in the Black Summer fires – hates the Prime Minister.
Other voters at the show said they liked Mr Morrison, saying he had done a good job during tough conditions including the pandemic and bushfires.
The visit comes as the Coalition announced a $2.8m lifeline for agricultural shows and field days affected by the Covid pandemic.
It was the first major event during the campaign that the Liberal leader has mingled with the public in an uncontrolled environment.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese started his day in Carins, where he pledged nearly $15 million over four years to establish a Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA), to help deliver its nurses program to every jurisdiction in the country.
Mr Albanese was later spotted enjoying an evening stroll with partner Jodie Haydon, who joined him on the campaign trail late on Friday.
PALMER FALLS FROM STAGE
Billionaire Clive Palmer was rushed to hospital after falling off the stage during a rehearsal of his United Australia Party campaign launch on the Sunshine Coast on Good Friday.
Palmer has a nasty gash on his head after slipping and landing awkwardly from a stage set-up at his Coolum resort.
First aid was administered on site and he was transported to hospital where he was later discharged.
A UAP spokesman said Palmer had been resting up today ahead of the 3pm party launch
“Well I went to jump on the stage and I can’t high jump like I used to. I’m now 68. I hit it and ricocheted off the stage and hit my head … I was knocked out for about 20 seconds. Had a scan. I really do have a brain in there between my two ears,” Palmer told The Courier Mail.
“It took me back to my old days when I played for Southport Tigers rugby league … when I came to, I looked around to see who’d tackled me. I was given the all clear and came back to prepare for today’s launch.”
MORRISON BACKS TRANS ROW CANDIDATE
Scott Morrison has backed Warringah candidate Katherine Deves rejecting calls the Liberal should be disendorsed over “vile” comments about transgender people.
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean called for her to go saying there was “no place for that vile bigotry in a mainstream political party or quite frankly anywhere”.
But the Prime Minister said he didn’t share Mr Kean’s view.
“I share Tony Abbott’s view, I’m not joining that pile on,” Mr Morrison said.
Earlier in the week, Mr Morrison revealed he supported her controversial views that trans women should be banned from female sport.
He on Saturday reiterated the need for respect for human dignity.
“The comments that Katherine has made, obviously, (were) insensitive and she’s admitted that.
“There are ways that she has expressed this in the past that she no longer feels comfortable (with).
“It is important that she understands that and learns those lessons, which she has.”
Mr Kean told news.com.au that the Prime Minister must disendorse her as a candidate.
“This is not an intolerant society,” he said.
“These kinds of horrendous views are not okay, and I’m sure the voters of Warringah agree.
“Time for the Liberal Party to beat them to it and disendorse her.”
“Coming out as transgender would be hugely challenging, especially for kids, and political leaders should be condemning the persecution of people based on their gender, not participating in it.”
A leaked email obtained by news.com.au from Condamine Liberal Party branch president Walter Villatora has voiced fury about the candidate for Warringah.
“I’m sorry Jeff, presidents and many members are calling for Ms Deves resignation in light of her hurtful and divisive comments that have proliferated the media,” he wrote.
“Particularly in the last few days, focusing on Nazis, sex offenders and the physical mutilation of young people.
Anthony Albanese said Scott Morrison should never have picked Ms Deves as the candidate for Warringah, but it is a “matter for the Liberal Party” whether it disendorses her for controversial comments.
The Labor leader said Ms Deves’ comments, for which she has apologised, were different to the social media activity by Labor’s candidate for Hunter, Dan Repacholi, because his posts were some years ago.
Mr Albanese said it was “the Liberal Party themselves” who were calling for the disendorsement of Ms Deves in Warringah.
“The New South Wales branch is tearing itself apart,” he said.
“This has been a civil war that has been going on for over a year now and what is extraordinary is that Katherine Deves has been hand-picked by the Prime Minister.
“She was the Prime Minister’s own choice. The Prime Minister earlier this week said that he shared Katherine Deves’ values in endorsing her.”
Ms Deves’ past comments included likening her lobbying to stop transgender athletes from competing in women’s sport to standing up against the Holocaust, and arguing trans teens were being “surgically mutilated”.
She also said she found the rainbow Pride flag “triggering”.
Ms Deves later issued a public apology for all of her comments.
Mr Repacholi last year apologised after it was revealed he followed a series of sexualised Instagram profiles and had made disparaging remarks about India when he returned from the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010.
“These are comments (by Mr Repacholi) that were made a very, very long time ago,” Mr Albanese said.
“This candidate in Warringah, this has been her main political approach.”
PM WON’T BACK LABOR PLEDGE ON CORRUPTION WATCHDOG
Asked about Labor’s plan to introduce a federal integrity commission this year, Mr Morrison refused to say what his plans were.
He also rubbed salt in the wound of his opponent, Anthony Albanese, who made a series of blunders during the first week of the election campaign.
“Campaigns, they can be tough,” Mr Morrison said.
“People will make stumbles. But I can assure you, running a campaign is one thing, running a country, governing, it is a lot lot harder. “We have been tested, not in one week of an election campaign, but in some of the toughest circumstances any government has had to face.”
He committed to keeping the Coalition’s failed industrial relations reforms.
Labor says it will establish a national anti-corruption commission within six months of being elected, pledging to make it the “first priority” in contrast to three years of “delay” from the Morrison Government.
With integrity a key election issue for voters across the country, Labor’s announcement is expected to place renewed pressure on the Coalition just days after Mr Morrison tried to blame the opposition for not supporting his proposal for a federal corruption body.
Mr Albanese said Mr Morrison had “delayed and obfuscated” on the issue for more than 1200 days.
“And then this week it became clear he has absolutely no intention of honouring his promise to deliver a National Anti-Corruption Commission at all,” he said.
“So the question for Mr Morrison is – why do you fear an anti-corruption commission? What is it you’re afraid they will find?”
But Mr Albanese said he would not automatically stand down members of his own team hauled in front of investigators before charges were laid.
Mr Albanese said he would make “assessments at the time” if a Labor MP or Minister was accused or fronting the National Anti-Corruption Commission he has vowed to legislate by the end of this year.
“If they are just there as a witness or assisting, obviously not,” he said.
“What an Anti-Corruption Commission does around the country is it provides investigations, and then there are charges laid. If there are any charges laid against anyone, then, of course, they should stand aside.”
Asked if he backed the NSW ICAC model, which has resulted in politicians like former premier Gladys Berejiklian standing down without any charges laid, Mr Albanese did not give a direct answer.
“I think it is good that the ICAC has held corrupt politicians to account, regardless of where they have come from,” he said.
Labor’s attorney-general spokesman Mark Dreyfus said only Labor could be trusted to deliver an integrity commission by the end of 2022.
“Australians have seen right through Mr Morrison – they know he has … no interest in integrity whatsoever,” he said.
“We will restore trust and transparency to government.”
Integrity is one of the main pillars of the campaigns of the “Voices of” independent candidates challenging Liberals in inner-city safe seats at this election, and it has also been a source of internal division for the Coalition after Bass MP Bridget Archer crossed the flood in 2021 to try and bring on a debate on the issue.
During a visit to the northern Tasmania ultra-marginal electorate of Bass on Thursday, Mr Morrison said Labor’s lack of support for his Commonwealth Integrity Commission proposal was the reason the last parliament did not legislate it.
“I put forward a detailed plan, a detailed proposal, which the Labor Party rejects,” he said.
“So I’ve honoured my proposal. The Labor Party don’t support it. That’s where the issue rests.”
Mr Morrison first pledged to establish an anti-corruption commission during the 2019 election, but the Coalition’s proposed model has been criticised as secretive and lacking teeth.
Labor has argued this is proof the government was not interested in taking strong action to tackle corruption at a federal level.
The opposition has pointed to examples like the “sports rorts” and commuter carpark grants sagas – where funding was overwhelming directed to marginal seats at the last election as reasons why a transparent integrity body is needed, but not necessarily wanted by the Coalition.
Mr Morrison has been highly critical of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) model, likening it to a “kangaroo court”, which ended the political career of former premier Gladys Berejiklian.
When asked whether he would try to establish the CIC if he won this election, Mr Morrison said his priorities for his next term were clear.
“Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs,” he said.
CHALMERS DENIES SH*TSHOW
Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers denied reports from Labor insiders the first week of the campaign had been a “sh*tshow”.
Mr Chalmers said it was not his experience.
“My experience is that all around Australia, there is an appetite for something better than this current Government,” he said.
Mr Chalmers said Labor were “match fit”.
“We are up for the challenge of getting this country a better future under Labor and providing the kind of alternative that people are proud to vote for,” he said.
“We have been putting in the work for years now on alternative, whether it is a National Anti-Corruption Commission, getting real wages growing.”
He also denied the Coalition had passed the “test” he set for them in October 2020 when he claimed a mark of success in responding to the pandemic would be the unemployment rate.
Despite the national rate on track to get below four per cent for the first time in decades, Mr Chalmers would not concede this was a success.
“We want the unemployment rate to be as low as possible,” he said.
“(But) even with an unemployment rate coming down in welcome ways, we haven’t seen real wages growth sufficiently with the skyrocketing cost of living and we have skill shortages which are being left unattended.
“The story of the labour market is broader than the unemployment rate.”
LABOR’S MELANOMA PLEDGE
Labor has pledged nearly $15 million to help tackle melanoma, which kills an Australian every six hours.
Mr Albanese announced a $14.8 million grant over the forward estimates for Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA), to help deliver its nurses program to every jurisdiction in the country.
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that is caused by a person being overexposed to the sun, with Mr Albanese saying it is “unfortunately” common in Australia.
“These Australians deserve personalised support, helping them navigate the web of medical practitioners which can often be overwhelming for those who are newly diagnosed,” he said.
Australia has the highest rate of melanoma in the world, adjusted for age, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
More than 16,000 people are diagnosed with the cancer across the nation every year and it kills one Australian every six hours.
Melanoma Patients Association chief executive Victoria Beedle said that number is only expected to grow over the coming years.
“The number of melanoma survivors is set to explode over the next eight years, increasing by 83 per cent to 348,000 Australians,” she said.
Labor’s grant would help expand MIA’s nurses program beyond Sydney, Wagga Wagga, Perth and Hobart to the entire nation, while telehealth support would also be available.
Last month’s federal budget attracted criticism from melanoma health professionals, who said not enough was being done to raise awareness and treat the cancer.
“(The) federal budget was a missed opportunity for the Morrison Government to take the impact of melanoma on young Australians seriously, and invest in saving lives in the future,” MIA’s Co-Medical Director Professor Georgina Long said.
‘YOU KNOW ME, I’M SWEET AS’
Scott Morrison is leaving no stone unturned in the battle to hold Melbourne’s marginal seat of Chisholm, visiting the electorate twice in 24 hours.
And it was the sugar hit Gladys Liu’s campaign needed with the pair touring Wallies Lollies in Box Hill. Mr Frydenberg along with his family also joined them at the warehouse, where they watched a machine bag jelly beans.
His children also became Ms Liu’s youngest recruits with the pair putting campaign stickers on colourful bags of milk chocolate eggs – which Mr Morrison dubbed “Liu lollies”.
Asked if he was sweet or sour kind of guy, he said: “you know me, I’m sweet as”.
The Prime Minister also took the opportunity to do some Easter egg shopping, filling up a basket with different flavours of chocolate bunnies and an ornamental rabbit.
As he paid for the chocolates, Mr Morrison revealed his family’s Easter traditions.
He said Jenny and his daughters Lilly and Abbey loved to have an Easter egg hunt in the garden, adding he hoped it wouldn’t rain on Easter Sunday in Sydney – where he will be.
Wallies Lollies owners Michelle and Peter Stapelfeldt also gifted his daughters two chocolate koalas, which were made in Melbourne.
The koalas were adorned with blue ribbons that said happy Easter to the Morrison family.
Chisholm is the Liberal Party’s most marginal seat – equal with Bass – on a 05 per cent margin.
INSIDERS SPILL BEANS ON ALBO ‘SH*TSHOW’
Anthony Albanese is “infamous” for not properly reading his policy briefings, surrounds himself with too many inexperienced advisers and has been exposed as a political “chameleon” on the campaign trail, Labor insiders and some of his MPs claim.
In extraordinary bloodletting six days into a campaign he remains favourite to win, the Labor leader’s critics within his caucus are already privately gunning for him and have revealed morale within the party has “fallen apart” after a week which one MP labelled a “s**tshow”.
The Saturday Telegraph has spoken to a number of Labor frontbenchers, multiple backbenchers, staffers and operatives employed on Labor’s campaign who, speaking on the condition of anonymity, revealed they weren’t surprised by Mr Albanese’s shocking performance because of his failure to do basic preparation.
Those exasperated with Mr Albanese include some supporters as well as factional enemies.
OFFSHORE GAFFE ‘DIABOLICAL’, SAYS MINISTER
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese’s bungle on his own party’s border policy this week will be picked up by people smugglers in their marketing of their illegal trade, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews warned.
The Home Affairs Minister, who oversees Operation Sovereign Borders, said there had been “increased chatter” from the people smugglers as the election approached even prior to the fumble.
But Labor’s Home Affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally accused the government of “politicising intelligence information” during an election campaign and said the Opposition would seek a briefing “as a matter of urgency”.
Mr Albanese this week said he would turn back asylum seeker boats but would not need offshore detention because the policy had been successful, before later being forced to clarify Labor still supported offshore detention.
KATTER, HANSON, PALMER, NEWMAN SHOWDOWN
Break out the popcorn and get ready for one hell of a rollercoaster ride when the best debate of the federal election takes place on the Gold Coast on Tuesday night.
Sky News host Paul Murray and Peter Gleeson will try the political equivalent of herding cats when the so-called maverick’s debate is held.
The combatants include United Australia tsar Clive Palmer, One Nation guru Pauline Hanson, the Stetson-wearing Bob Katter and former Queensland premier and Liberal-Democrat Senate contender, Campbell Newman.
You’d go a long way, anywhere in the world, to find four politicians with the conviction, and quirkiness, of those four people.
ONE NATION DUMPS BRISBANE CANDIDATE
One Nation has disendorsed its candidate for the seat of Brisbane, claiming she showed an “unwillingness” to follow direction.
The move came just days after it was revealed a website that Rebecca Lloyd was registered with was under investigation by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
The AEC is investigating whether the website was soliciting donations on behalf of “freedom fighting” electoral hopefuls and whether it breaches political authorisation rules.
There are concerns the website has not been correctly authorised, or declared, as being a piece of political messaging. It was reportedly being used to solicit donations to minor party candidates with links to anti-Covid lockdown groups.
$2.8M BOOST FOR AG FESTS
Royal shows and field days will get a $2.8m lifeline to help them weather the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will on Saturday announce a new round of funding for events cancelled this year, with organisers able to seek one-off reimbursements for operations costs.
Mr Morrison said agricultural shows and field days help people from the cities understand and appreciate where their food and fibre comes from.
“We’ve all missed our big Royal Shows and our local ag festivals and this investment is about ensuring we don’t lose them,” Mr Morrison said.
“These events aren’t just about showbags, rides and competitions, they bring regional leaders together to share skills and experience and they open doors for new jobs and investments.”
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said funding follows a couple of “tumultuous years”.
“Many of our shows and field days have had to cancel due to Covid-19, which has meant a loss of revenue,” Mr Littleproud said.
“But it’s also meant that rural and regional communities have missed out.
“They contribute more than $1bn to the economy annually, attract more than six million patrons and are supported by more than 50,000 volunteers.”
Events cancelled in 2021 due to Covid that did not apply under the second round of funding will also be eligible.
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