‘Not what I said’: PM Scott Morrison grilled in radio clash

Scott Morrison found himself in a tense clash on radio after his Jobseeker gaffe, contentious rental comments and flood response were questioned.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced a sustained grilling on a range of topics on Western Australian radio this morning, including his government’s response to the recent floods.

During an interview with Nova 93.7, Mr Morrison was first questioned about his verbal slip-up yesterday, when he said the Jobseeker rate was $46 per week instead of per day.

“There have been some gaffes recently. Albo did it, and then you did it the other day. It’s when you get numbers wrong, figures wrong,” one of the hosts told him.

“When that happens, it doesn’t bother me. How important do you think it is for you guys to be able to just pull figures out? Because I’m guessing there’s so many … that doesn’t bother me. I care more about the character and what the parties stand for, rather than whether you can recall figures.”

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Mr Morrison has been questioned about his Jobseeker gaffe, attacking Labor in response. Picture: Jason Edwards

Mr Morrison pivoted straight into his usual attack on Labor’s economic credentials.

“Well I think what’s more important is that you’ve got to have an economic plan for the country. That is what Anthony doesn’t have,” he said.

“Yesterday I said day, not week. To be honest I didn’t realise I’d said it until later. Neither did the journalists pick it up at the time.

“But if you don’t know what the unemployment rate is – that’s pretty fundamental to running the economy. And he thought it had a five in front of it, not a four.”

“Yeah, but you know that the workings of what his party are doing, they know what the unemployment rate is, and they would have planned for that,” the host interjected.

“But he didn’t know. And the unemployment rate is one of the most important economic figures in the country,” said Mr Morrison.

“I mean if he’d said 4.2 or 4.1, fair enough, but he thought it was 5.4!”

“Yeah but you didn’t know the Jobseeker rate!” said the host.

“I did know. $46 a day,” Mr Morrison protested, asking listeners to “compare the pair” of gaffes.

Mr Morrison thinks his gaffe is understandable but Anthony Albanese’s was not. Picture: Toby Zerna

The blunt back and forth continued as the discussion moved on to the cost of living.

“No one can buy a house. Your solution was to buy a house. But no one can afford to buy a house,” the host quipped, alluding to the government’s Home Guarantee Scheme.

“To be fair, that’s not what I said,” said Mr Morrison.

“What I said was, we put billions of dollars into rent assistance. We also funded development of affordable housing right here in WA.”

He also cited a billion dollars of funding, given to the states, for social housing.

“What I said was, for those who want to buy a home – I was with Natalie yesterday, in the seat of Cowan. She has been able to buy her first home. That was because she could get a 2 per cent deposit because of our home guarantee scheme. We’ve got over 300,000 people into their own home over the last few years.”

Mr Morrison argued lower taxes were “how you help renters” by “helping them keep more of what they earn”.

“They just don’t earn much,” one of the other hosts joked.

Mr Morrison defended his government’s response to the northern NSW floods. Picture: Elise Derwin / News Corp

“Just one last thing before we let you go,” a third host said.

“We watched on in horror as the floods in Queensland and NSW ravaged those areas. And particularly the people in Lismore and the surrounding areas there. It did seem like the response to those people, to help them out in their absolute moment of need, was very lacklustre.”

“I couldn’t disagree more. $5.2 billion dollars -” said the Prime Minister.

“But the help didn’t seem to be getting to them,” she interjected.

Mr Morrison said most of the financial relief was being paid within the first week after the disaster, and some of it “within a day”.

“So why did we see people on the news begging for assistance? And maybe it wasn’t money. Maybe they needed the armed forces in there to physically help them,” she shot back.

“Yeah why was Liam Hemsworth picking people up on jet skis?” a co-host chimed in.

Mr Morrison visiting the Norco Ice Cream factory in Lismore on March 9. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Elise Derwin

“On the Sunday night, I was in Brisbane when the floods hit in northern NSW. By Monday lunchtime, the Defence Forces were winching people off rooves,” Mr Morrison replied.

“And the Defence Forces were very disappointed, and so were the local SES, that these accusations were made, that they weren’t there. I mean you can’t have Defence Forces stationed in every single town in the country.

“They moved very quickly to get down there and to ensure they were helping people. And one of the disappointing things, I must say, over the last few years, is how Anthony has really weaponised, politically, these natural disasters.”

“I don’t think it’s anything that he’s been saying,” the host countered.

“These are my observations from what I saw on news reports, and what I read from people in these zones, who were saying, ‘We feel like we’ve been abandoned.’ When their houses are underwater, when all of their furniture is dumped on the side of the road.”

“I was there, I was in those zones, I was in the dairy farms, I was in the businesses. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t come to WA earlier. I went there first,” said Mr Morrison.

“I went up there, I listened, and we (provided) $5.2 billion. That’s more than the states have put in. And that’s because we were very serious about our commitment.

“So I know, in disasters, you do feel isolated. You are overwhelmed by what happened. And there can never be enough support, I think, for people to totally feel all their needs are met. I understand that. I understand the frustration.”

Originally published as ‘Not what I said’: PM Scott Morrison grilled in radio clash