PM gets personal in spat with Miles: ‘Politics is not a TV game show’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accused Queensland’s deputy premier of treating “politics like a reality TV show” ahead of the state election.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison takes a ride in a Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle during the opening of Rheinmetall Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Redbank, Queensland on Sunday. (Photo: AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)
Morrison called Deputy Premier Steven Miles “careless and juvenile” and told him to “grow up” on Sunday after he accused the prime minister of taking time off from leading the country to campaign for the Liberal National Party.
The prime minister doubled down on his criticism of Miles after being asked about the spat on Monday.
“Politics is not a game, and I just see with some politicians like this character. You know they just treat it like a, you know, some sort of reality television show. It’s not, it’s really serious, people’s lives, livelihoods, in the middle of a COVID-19 recession,” Morrison told 4BC radio.
The prime minister had a flurry of TV and radio interviews, where he insisted the main purpose of his visit to Queensland was to spruik the federal budget.
His visit to the Sunshine State comes after a drop in the polls for Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklingon last week.
“Oh, well, that’s a matter for Deb Frecklington and the people of Queensland. I mean, I’m here talking about the budget we’ve had. It’s a budget to get people back into jobs and get Queenslanders working again,” he told Channel Nine’s Today program.
Morrison also claimed he was “not looking to get into an argument at all” about the state Labor government’s hard border policy, but he again called for hard borders to remain only as long as necessary in line with health advice.
He insisted he had been consistent in supporting the border policy and had only diverged over the matter of compassionate exemptions.
“On a couple of occasions there I’ve raised specific cases, which I thought were raised with me and sought compassion. On both those occasions we eventually got a better outcome,” the prime minister said.
Morrison will inspect the University of Queensland’s COVID-19 vaccine trial before joining Frecklington on the campaign trail near Hervey Bay on Monday.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is starting Monday campaigning in the state’s southeast before flying to the regions.
The Queensland Electoral Commission will start sending out postal votes from Monday.
Queenslanders go to the polls on October 31.
-AAP
