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