Scott Morrison stumped on price of bread and litre of petrol

Scott Morrison has admitted he cannot answer one simple question that every Aussie household deals with on a daily basis.

Scott Morrison has admitted he cannot answer how much essential grocies - such as bread, petrol and RAT kits - cost everyday Australians.

The Prime Minister was addressing the National Press Club in Canberra when he was asked if he has “lost touch” with voters on the cost of living.

“Have you lost touch with ordinary Australians? And on that theme off the top of your head, can you tell me the price of a loaf of bread, a litre of petrol and a rapid antigen test?” a reporter asked.

“I'm not going to pretend to you that I go out each day and I buy a loaf of bread and I buy a litre of milk. I'm not going to pretend to you that I do that. I’ll leave those sort of things to you, mate,” Mr Morrison replied.

Mr Morrison concedes he doesn’t know how much a loaf of bread would cost. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“I do my job every day to ensure that those things are affordable as they possibly can be for Australians every single day.”

Former prime minister John Howard, who Mr Morrison considers a mentor, used to be asked the same question.

Mr Howard would carry with him a piece of paper that outlined the running costs of bread, milk and other household staples.

At the moment, a loaf of bread costs about $4, a litre of non-premium fuel costs about $1.80, and a rapid antigen test costs about $17.

A long time Howard Government staffer texted - reminding me that John Howard always had a list of key cost of living prices in his briefing folder 🍞 @aclennell

— Kieran Gilbert (@Kieran_Gilbert) February 1, 2022

The big admission came as the Prime Minister sought to use his press club address to reset ahead of the next election.

During his speech, he acknowledge he hasn’t got everything right in the pandemic but stopped short of apologising to voters.

Conceding voters are frustrated after a horror summer marked by the Omicron wave, rising deaths and shortage of rapid antigen tests, Mr Morrison said he expects to cop the blame for how things were handled.

“I understand and I acknowledge the frustration, especially with how this global pandemic has played out over this past very difficult summer … You've had to put up with a lot,” he said.

He acknowledged worse outcomes experienced overseas did not soften the blow of what Australians had endured over January.

Scott Morrison has refused to apologise to voters for his handling of the pandemic. Picture: NCA/ Gary Ramage

“The fact that far worse outcomes have been experienced overseas – which we know – well, that gives some important perspective. But it doesn’t soften the blow.”

“It’s fair enough that this disappointment leads you to ask, ‘Couldn't you have done more? Couldn’t this have been avoided? After all, aren’t you responsible?’

“I get that. For me as Prime Minister, accepting this responsibility means asking yourself and challenging yourself every single day with those same questions.

“And I can assure you I do. I haven't got everything right. And I’ll take my fair share of the criticism and the blame. It goes with the job.”

Asked if he wanted to clear the air and say sorry, Mr Morrison declined.

“Do you want to take this opportunity to actually say sorry for the mistakes you've made as prime minister?” ABC host Laura Tingle asked.

Mr Morrison had to be ushered in the back entrance after protesters swarmed the building. Picture: NCA/ Gary Ramage

“We’re all terribly sorry for what this pandemic has done to the world and to this country,” Mr Morrison replied.

But he did concede he may have been “too optimistic” about the reopening the nation over summer, and that he wished he had brought in Lieutenant General John Frewen to run the vaccine roll out much earlier.

“I think we were too optimistic, perhaps. And we could have communicated more clearly about the risks and challenges that

we still faced,” Mr Morrison said.

“If I had my time over, I would have put it under a military operation from the outset and not later in the year … I took the decision to send in General Frewen and change the way we did it, and set up a change in the command structure, how logistics were managed, how it was

planned.

“And it worked. But I wish we'd done that earlier. And that’s a lesson.”

The Prime Minister’s address comes as he is fighting for his political life, after the latest Newspoll revealed he would face an electoral wipe-out if an election were to be held today.