‘Google it’: Greens leader Adam Bandt blows up at reporter

A journalist has copped it hard in a nationally televised address after he tried to catch an Australian politician out with a tricky question.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has told a journalist to “Google it, mate!” after he was asked about a claim made in his pre-election pitch to voters.

In a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Mr Bandt said the Liberal and Labor parties had designed a system which drove down wages, pushed up consumer prices and gave big corporations and billionaires too much power.

Asked what the wage price index was, Mr Bandt said that was the type of question that was turning people off politics.

“Google it, mate.”

Adam Bandt is absolutely 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 with gotcha questions from the press pack.

A journalist tries to catch him out on the wage price index, and he goes 𝘰𝘧𝘧.

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“It's about what happens when you have an election that increasingly becomes this basic fact-checking exercise between a government that deserves to be turfed out and an opposition that's got no vision,” he said.

“Elections should be about a contest of ideas. Politics should be about reaching for the stars and offering a better society.

“And instead there's these questions that are asked about – can you tell us this particular stat or can you tell us that particular stat?”

Adam Bandt was pressed for detail after a National Press Club speech. Photo: AAP Image/Mick Tsika

Mr Bandt went on to say wages were growing at about 2 per cent and inflation was growing at “3-and-a-bit per cent”, both of which were just about on the money, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

“I hope that at this election, we can lift the standard and turn it into a genuine contest of ideas,” he said.

The annual rate of wage growth rose by 2.3 per cent during the December 2021 quarter, according to the ABS’ most recent reading.

Workers’ pay was outpaced by inflation which rose by 3.5 per cent in 2021, according to the ABS consumer price index.

The next wage price index is due for release on May 18, just three days before the election.

Mr Bandt on Wednesday said the Greens were poised to become the third most powerful political party in the country and that ousting the Coalition was their central goal at this election.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese, pictured on day three of the election campaign trail. Photo: Toby Zerna

He said his party would hold the balance of power in the Senate in its own right and possibly hold the balance of power in the House of Representatives, after earlier telling ABC radio he believed the May 21 poll would result in a hung parliament.

Mr Bandt pledged a swag of big spending social reform policies, including wiping student debt and adding dental care to Medicare, which he said would be paid for with a six per cent tax aimed at Australian billionaires and a “tycoons tax” to force companies to hand over “excessive profits”.

The ability of politicians to recall economic statistics has been at the fore of media coverage this week after Anthony Albanese was unable to name the national unemployment rate or the reserve bank’s cash rate.

The Opposition Leader apologised for the slip up, but the coalition was quick to weaponise his fumble.

Originally published as ‘Google it’: Greens leader Adam Bandt blows up at reporter