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FM Follies: Turnbull talks tripe on breakfast radio and fails to tackle Labor’s tax grab

Labor is finally on the backfoot. Bill Shorten defends his superannuation tax policy, Nine’s Today, yesterday:

Ben Fordham: Can you confirm 230,000 pensioners will be impacted?

Shorten: I can confirm that about 10 per cent of pensioners, and there are 2.5 million pensioners, will have a minor impact.

They’re really struggling. Labor’s Penny Wong on ABC Radio Adelaide, yesterday:

I accept there are people who will lose from this policy and I accept there are people who will be angry about it.

Malcolm Turnbull must have been all over this mess on his morning FM radio appearances. Brisbane’s Hit 105, yesterday:

Host: … the selfie that you got with Cher. Did it hurt you that she apologised for the selfie?

Turnbull: Well, I think she was a bit baffled by some of the criticism, which was very mean, I thought …

He talked about Labor’s tax plan as well as Cher? Yeah? The Prime Minister, Brisbane’s 93.7 FM, yesterday:

No, no, look, it is a good, friendly, warm relationship I have with the President. We spent time together with Melania and Lucy. I mean we’re obviously very different people …

Turnbull got around to it later in the day, thankfully. The Prime Minister speaking to reporters, yesterday:

This is Bill Shorten’s cash grab. This is a Labor cash grab.

But he has a huge audience on FM radio and talking about rubbish like this is a waste. Hit 105, continued:

Host: We built a goon raft and we travelled across the Brisbane River in it. Made entirely from cask wine, you know, those sacks.

Turnbull: Oh yeah, cask wine, and you didn’t sink?

Talking of waste, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian defends her plans to rebuild a sport stadium to reporters, March 2:

That is our policy … That is our intention … I will not sit on my hands and watch other states take us over …

She’s definitely going to tear down the awful thing and start again. Bere­jiklian, Sydney’s 2GB, March 6:

That’s a no-brainer … it’s substandard in every single way, it’s 30 years old … there is no reason why a good government should not invest in that infrastructure and rebuild the stadium.

Well, OK, define “definitely” for us. Andrew Clennell reports for The Australian online, yesterday:

Senior sources said the matter would now not be brought forward to cabinet …

Guess she is definitely reading Newspoll? The Australian, March 6:

Newspoll … finds the (NSW) Liberal-Nationals Coalition deadlocked with Labor in two-party-preferred terms.

And overseas, Donald Trump fires his Secretary of State via Twitter, yesterday:

Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a wonderful job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service!

Some of our guys came up with pos­sible headlines for the big news. The Australian’s Strewth columnist James Jeffrey on Twitter, yesterday:

Rekt Tillerson

The Australian’s social affairs writer Rick Morton on Twitter, yesterday:

Vexed Tillerson

Sorry, boys, but this headline wins the day. New York Post, yesterday:

Worst Rex He Ever Had

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/cutandpaste/fm-follies-turnbull-talks-tripe-on-breakfast-radio-and-fails-to-tackle-labors-tax-grab/news-story/a966d30f3f969ad91b86bc2bd658ef69