Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s promise to change spectacularly unravels

It was only a matter of days ago that Scott Morrison made a promise to shake off his “bulldozer-like” manner, but the pledge is already starting to unravel.

It was only a matter of days ago that we heard the Prime Minister was going to shake off his bulldozer-like manner, but already we are seeing the pledge unravelling as the election comes down to the pointy end.

With just four days until Australians head to the polls, Scott Morrison is zipping around the nation at a breakneck pace in a frantic bid to win over voters who have yet to make up their minds.

Overnight he landed in the Top End, where he visited a display home in a newly built estate south of Darwin.

It was there in the sweltering heat of the Territory that Mr Morrison the “bulldozer” - a nickname he bestowed upon himself when he promised to soften his approach late last week - re-emerged after a sojourn that seemed not to last very long.

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Just days after vowing to shake his ‘bulldozer’ approach, Scott Morrison’s pledge is starting to unravel. Picture: Jason Edwards

It began to unravel yesterday when he visited the Springfield Rise Display Village, 25km south of Brisbane. There, he was pressed on the impact of his super for housing policy on property prices.

One reporter continually tried to ask Mr Morrison about the modelling amid a barrage of questions. Mr Morrison repeatedly ignored the question. At one point the Prime Minister asked him to “calm down” several times.

In Brisbane he took only a handful of questions before walking off, leaving the press pack frustrated.

This morning in Darwin, there was a shift in tactics as the Prime Minister took more questions. However, the way he went about answering them - complete with a classic Morrison prop, which he pulled out three times in the press conference - had reporters visibly rolling their eyes.

The scrum was crowded into the living room of a display home and Mr Morrison opened by repeating the same lines about the benefits of his super for housing scheme that he had been making in previous days.

He kept pulling out a paper entitled Our plan for Responsible Economic Management and holding it up to the camera.

He did this because the Coalition is today revealing how it will pay for its policies ahead of the Opposition doing the same on Thursday, just days out from election day.

Mr Morrison cut a presser short in Brisbane and then relied on a prop while taking questions in Darwin this morning. Picture: Jason Edwards

Jenny Morrison joined her husband on the campaign trail as the PM zips around the nation at in a bid to win over voters just days out from the election. Picture: Jason Edwards

The Prime Minister is known for making a splash with his props since he famously brought a lump of coal into parliament, but it was the manner in which he answered the questions that brought shades of vintage Morrison to mind,

His answers to the most simple questions spanned several minutes, and left several reporters on the travelling press pack accusing him of going off-topic or rambling to eat away at the time.

At one point towards the end of the press conference, a reporter was loudly telling him to answer a specific question on his super policy. Unphased, Mr Morrison just continued talking over him as if he couldn’t even hear the reporter who was less than two metres away.

Despite answering several more questions than yesterday, Mr Morrison cut the press conference off suddenly after a question on China.

Reporters were yelling questions to no avail as he folded his notes and walked away.

Although the Prime Minister has been on a whirlwind campaign that has seen him travel the length of the nation several times, a large part of his days have been spent carrying out photo opportunities and, to his credit meeting a small number of everyday punters.

Conversely, Anthony Albanese has held longer press conferences, sometimes spanning up to 50 minutes, and held fewer photo opportunities - which are heavily controlled and see him surrounded by rusted-on Labor supporters

From news.com.au’s experience on the campaign trail it appears Mr Morrison is more willing to open himself up to public scrutiny than his rival - but when it comes to converting his message through the media he still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

If you thought you’d seen the last of Scott “the bulldozer” Morrison, you might want to think again.

Originally published as Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s promise to change spectacularly unravels