Scott Morrison has attacked Anthony Albanese’s recent weight loss transformation, characterising it as a political stunt.
The Prime Minister claimed Mr Albanese’s impressive weight loss meant that the opposition leader didn’t know who he was.
“I’m not pretending to be anyone else,’ Mr Morrison said on Sky’s Paul Murray Live.
“I’m still wearing the same sunglasses. Sadly, the same suits. I weigh about the same size and I don’t mind a bit of Italian cuisine … I’m not pretending to be anyone else.
“And when you’re Prime Minister, you can’t pretend to be anyone else. You’ve got to know who you are, because if you don’t know who you are, then how are other people going to know?”
Mr Morrison pressed on with what commenters are viewing as a dig against Mr Albanese, saying that he can’t compare himself to former Labor leader Bob Hawke and other popular prime ministers.
“You can’t all of a sudden turn up at an election and say, ‘Oh, I’m not that person I was for 20 years or 30 years’ and all of a sudden pretend you’re everybody from John Howard, Bob Hawke or Kevin Rudd.”
Nine political reporter Chris O’Keefe then slammed the Prime Minister’s comments as being “well beneath” him as a leader, and that in fact he was “bullying” Mr Albanese.
“That was a low go from the Prime Minister,” Mr O’Keefe said on Today.
“Albo has lost 14 kilograms because he went on a health kick. Good luck to him. It’s called discipline. Isn’t that what you want in a prime minister?”
“If Scott Morrison wants to have a go at Albo, how about we ask what the hell is he going to do for us as Australians if we vote for him, because I still have no idea.”
Mr Morrison also went on to outline two key policies in the light of the upcoming election, stating that getting the economy back on track following the pandemic would be a priority.
“That’s what enables us to get back to where we need to get back to where we want to be,” he said.
The PM insisted that he still backs coal and would support coal for stabilising renewable energy in the grid.
“What you need in today’s energy economy is you need to continue to run your coal-fired power stations for as long as you possibly can. And that is our policy – we want them to run as long as they possibly can,” he said.
He also added that Australia’s emissions reduction plan remained one of “choice, not mandates”, and that he would not force drivers to choose an electric vehicle.
“Under our policies, I’m not forcing anyone to drive anything,” he said.
“Our policy when it comes to emissions reduction is about choice, not mandates.”
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