Scott Morrison has come unstuck when asked about the cost of everyday items.
The Prime Minister was addressing the National Press Club yesterday (February 1) and was asked if he had 'lost touch' with ordinary Australians.
In the course of the conversation, he was pushed on whether he could identify the cost of daily staples such as milk, bread, petrol and the ever-illusive rapid antigen tests (RATs).
"Now, 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 that to you, mate," he said addressing Sky News journalist Andrew Clennell.
Credit: Alamy
Instead of worrying about knowing the exact prices, Morrison said it was his job to focus on the bigger picture.
"The point is that I do my job every day to ensure that those things are affordable as they possibly can be for Australians every single day," he said.
The PM's inability to answer the question and address the realities of everyday Australians was met with backlash, similar to when he refused to reveal how many RATs he had personally bought during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Well I'll have to check with Jen [his wife] because she's the one that goes and gets them for those situations," he said last month.
"I mean, there are tests that the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet have available, and they make them available. They make them available to Department Staff.
"I'm an employee in this building, like everybody else. And so I access them in the same way that others might in those circumstances.
"But when they've been used for private use, then Jen has popped around to the chemist or wherever she's gone. I think she recently went to one here in Canberra for that reason and was able to eventually find one, just like everyone else driving around looking to find one."
Morrison did the media rounds this morning (February 2) in a bid to clarify his understanding of the cost of everyday goods.
He noted the Press Club could be a volatile environment where journalists ask sticky questions to get headlines, and suggested he may not have heard the question properly.
"To be honest, I heard bread and milk in that question yesterday. It was a pretty robust and torrid time at the Press Club yesterday, and I must admit I didn't hear that, the question about RAT. That's just the honest truth. Didn't hear it," he said on Sunrise.
In terms of the actual costs, Morrison pointed to the various types of bread available, which he said made answering the question difficult.
"I mean, how many different types of bread have people got in their homes these days? How many types of different milk?" he added.
I mean, not even all milk actually comes from a cow anymore. I mean, there are so many different things that people have available, but, you know, if it's two bucks 60, three bucks 40, you know, you go down to my electorate, you'll get petrol for about $1.60 to $1.80."
Words by Vivienne Kelly
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