‘Get off the grass’: Scott Morrison’s Homebuilder press conference interrupted

Scott Morrison’s press conference on the government’s $688m Homebuilder scheme was derailed by an unhappy local | WATCH

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s press conference was interrupted this morning by a man telling him and members of the press to get off his newly reseeded grass.

Mr Morrison was speaking to the media in the Queanbeyan growth suburb of Googong, in NSW, about the government’s new $688 million Homebuilder scheme when a man emerged from a home to chastise the group.

“Can everyone get off the grass, please?” the man said.

“Hey guys, I’ve just reseeded that,” he added, pointing to his lawn.

Unfazed, Mr Morrison gave the man a thumbs up and an “all good” before continuing in a different spot.

Speaking later on Sydney radio with Ray Hadley, Mr Morrison laughed about the incident, saying he had to usher the scrum of journalists off the grass.

The government’s HomeBuilder announcement doubled as a campaign event for the Liberals’ Fiona Kotvojs in the Eden-Monaro by-election battle.

Googong’s sea of colour-bond roofs is exactly the type of place the Liberals are trawling for votes ahead of the July 4 Eden-Monaro by-election.

A victory would make it the first time for 100 years a government has won a seat from an opposition in a by-election.

The coalition is reviving its pitch to so-called aspirational voters through a $688 million renovation and new house scheme aimed at saving 140,000 jobs.

“Those Australians whose dream it was to build their home or to do that big renovation, a dream that they thought might have been crushed by the coronavirus,” Mr Morrison said.

But Labor doubts HomeBuilder, which covers projects worth more than $150,000, will do the trick.

“There aren’t too many battlers out there who have a lazy $150,000,” Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said.

With AAP