Karl Stefanovic has grilled Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his approach to the upcoming federal election, calling into question his “character” and “uninspiring” campaign pitch.
Appearing on the Today show on Monday morning, the host made the dig at the PM, whose government is trailing in the polls and facing an uphill task to retain power at the May 21st election.
“If this election is based on character which is a pretty easy task for Labor, you lose don’t you?” Karl asked.
ScoMo brushed off the question not knowing how to answer, and instead took the opportunity to champion the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, while slating his opponent Anthony Albanese.
“This guy, no-one knows really what he’s about, what he stands for or what his plans are and if you can’t do that, he’s had three years to tell the Australian people what he’s about and they still don’t know,” he said.
“I’ve got a strong team that’s delivered for Australia, kept us strong.”
“What it would need is continued strength in leadership not the weakness on economic management and each-way bet we’ve seen from those who oppose us.”
During his announcement of the election date, Scott Morrison claimed that the upcoming poll was about the voters and not him, but also defended his approach to leading Australia.
“My character, I’m happy to stand by every single day,” he said. “Every single day because it’s the strength that we’ve needed to get through this pandemic.”
“Not everybody agrees with everything I’ve done and not everybody will necessarily like me.”
Stefanovic called the Prime Minister’s election campaign uninspiring, summarising the Coalition’s re-election pitch as “we’ve made mistakes, but stick with us”.
The prime minister was eager to cast this election as a case of “the devil you know” against Labor and Anthony Albanese, who remains an untested opposition.
Mr Morrison has pulled ahead of Mr Albanese as preferred prime minister according to the latest Newspoll.
The Newspoll conducted for The Australian showed Mr Albanese fell three points to 39 per cent while Mr Morrison rose a point to 44 per cent.
The survey showed Labor’s primary vote dropping further to 37 per cent, just a point ahead of that of the Coalition.
Image credits: The Today Show – Nine
This article first appeared on OverSixty.