Blinded by trivia, Turnbull and Morrison tap out wrong messages

Treasurer Scott Morrison’s public priority was a press conference at Queanbeyan police station.

The public appearances of Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison yesterday were absent of a positive message or broad economic vision only 24 hours after the government announced the $50 billion submarine contract and just five days before the budget.

As they appeared on television and radio and at press conferences, the Prime Minister and Treasurer were either reactive or distractive — answering questions about Labor policies or talking about trivia or side issues.

Bill Shorten took a big risk in his appearance by denying there would be a carbon tax under a new Labor government but at least he was talking about his own policy and little else.

Turnbull’s pasta sauce recipe sounded good and his reluctant disclosure that he got his wife, Lucy, a Cartier watch for her birthday was nice. But where was the full-blooded promotion and defence of the biggest military contract in the world right now.

NSW police are deserving of support particularly for their death and disability payments and ­Morrison’s reminisces about police family life were nice too. But where was the focused message on Coalition tax reform?

On Adelaide ABC radio, ­Turnbull was barely able to ­positively raise the submarine ­announcement, which can transform Australia’s industrial ­capacity and is going a long way to save half a dozen Liberal seats and Senate spots in South Australia.

When asked about not having ink on a contract, Turnbull talked about expectations instead of simply calling out the absurd suggestion as typical of Labor’s Stephen Conroy, who wants to simultaneously claim credit for the all-Australian build and cast doubt on the deal. The rest degenerated into Turnbull defending his leadership coup. On Brisbane radio 97.3 FM, he said submarines could go on top of the water and had “sneak­ability”. The rest was about pasta sauce and avoiding the sin of fornication in Oxford.

At the press conference in Eagleby later to encourage women into the construction industry with the clear inference they wouldn’t be corrupt, the submarines weren’t mentioned.

Only five days before he brings down his first budget — which is going to set the tone for the election campaign and economic outlook — Morrison’s public priority was a press conference at Queanbeyan police station to announce a $15 million superannuation lifeline for NSW police.

The Opposition Leader, already campaigning across the country for the first time as Labor leader, fronted the release of the ALP’s new climate change policy, which doubled the target for greenhouse gas emission targets and claimed there would be “no carbon tax”.

Shorten’s claim copped plenty from Greg Hunt, who was able to revive “electricity Bill”, but again, by taking risks and the initiative, Labor was forcing the government to talk about its policies. At the end of each day, the political weight the budget has to lift gets greater.

While the Coalition appeared to be in trouble over the Manus Island closure and the prospect of negotiating alternative arrangements for refugees, the focus shifting back to border protection actually works for the government. But that wasn’t planned.